Vice President Joe Biden paid a visit to the Durham-based Cree company yesterday. Cree is a leading maker of LED lights, touted as energy efficient bulbs. According to Biden: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a success story quite like this one here at Cree,” Biden said. “It ties so much into what President Obama [...]
- Mar18
Say What?
This N&O article details a forum held at N.C. State in which “A group of Triangle academics pulled up research and data Wednesday as they urged the Wake County school board not to take the final vote to ditch its diversity-based student assignment policy next week.” Indeed, the headline declares: Scholars say, keep schools diverse. But [...]
- 1Mar18
More Money Woes for N.C.
North Carolina’s true state debt burden stands at roughly $9.4 billion, about $4,000 for every NC family of four. Per capita state debt has more than doubled in eight years. The state also has an unfunded liability for state retiree health benefits of nearly $30 billion. The state’s debt capacity is full, and threatens the state’s [...]
- Mar17
In Spite of Recession, Revenue Shortfall; Perdue to Shower Tax Dollars on Hollywood Fat Cats
At 11.1%, North Carolina’s unemployment rate is tied for eigth highest in the nation. State revenues are below projections for this year, and so sluggish that next year’s projections are likely to be revised downward. Struggling North Carolina families are scraping together funds to pay their taxes, or waiting as the state holds on to [...]
- Mar17
Obamacare: Cutting “Costs” = Cutting Care
Economist William Anderson refutes the oft-repeated fallacy that Obamacare will somehow “cut costs” in the delivery of medical care in this Freeman article. According to the Congressional Budget Office, Obama’s plan will produce “savings” in medical procedures. Not surprisingly, much of the media (and especially the New York Times), has been echoing the same chorus. [...]
- Mar16
Social Security Already Broke
This Washington Times article describes the dire situation that our Social Security system is in, and why all of those surplus collections for the past 20 years are long gone. The retirement nest egg of an entire generation is stashed away in this small town along the Ohio River: $2.5 trillion in IOUs from the federal [...]
- 1Mar15
State Revenue Update
The General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division has a report updating state revenues through the end of February. Some key findings: • General Fund revenue for the first 8 months of the fiscal year are $45 million below a $12.1 billion target for the period. – Through the efforts of the Department of Revenue and [...]
- Mar11
Hello My Name is Barack Obama, and I’m a Spendaholic
The Heritage Foundation’s Brian Riedl has this lengthy summary of President Obama’s budget in the Wall Street Journal. An excerpt: When he released his new budget proposal on February 1, President Barack Obama asserted that the government “simply cannot continue to spend as if deficits don’t have consequences; as if waste doesn’t matter; as if [...]
- Mar10
No Pay Raises Coming for State Employees (Again)
Gov. Perdue today announced that North Carolina state employees won’t be getting a pay raise in this summer’s budget. Perdue did, however, mention the possibility of paying back the unpaid two-day furlough from last year; but that remains in doubt. Perdue’s administration writes the first draft of the state budget every year, and lawmakers then make [...]
- Mar09
Where Are Those “Amazon Tax” Revenues?
The Washington D.C. based Tax Foundation released this report critiquing the “Amazon Tax,” a tax North Carolina enacted as part of the state budget last summer. Some highlights: Sponsors have promised that a revenue windfall would follow enactment of an Amazon tax, but no windfalls have been forthcoming so far. This is often because online [...]
- Mar09
Bug Off
On a somewhat related note to Civitas being mentioned on Fox News, last night Hannity began a series examining wasteful stimulus projects from around the country. The first installment highlighted a grant awarded to Michigan State University to help preserve their bug collection. Hmmm, that sounds familiar. Oh yeah, its the same as this item from the [...]
- Mar08
Civitas on Drudge
Today’s Drudge Report links to a McClatchy News article discussing my recent article on “The 10 Worst Federal Stimulus Projects in North Carolina.”
- Mar08
Krugman vs. Krugman
The radical left’s favorite partisan hackonomist, Paul Krugman of the NY Times, had some rather “bizarre” comments about unemployment benefits, as called out in the Wall Street Journal. When discussing the notion that extending unemployment benefits incentivize extended joblessness, Krugman declared: Today, Democrats and Republicans live in different universes, both intellectually and morally. Take the [...]
- Mar05
More Gloomy Recession Numbers
Following up on a recent post, economist Robert Higgs delves even deeper into the numbers regarding the current recession. As he explains: Personal income includes the various “factor returns”―wages, salaries, rents, interest, dividends, and proprietors’ income―plus transfer payments that individuals receive from the government. All of these items together constitute the income available to individuals [...]
- Mar05
More Stimulating Talk
Bill Lumaye had me on 680 WPTF yesterday afternoon to discuss “The 10 Worst Federal Stimulus Projects in North Carolina.” To listen to the segment, clicke here.
- Mar04
More Than $1 Billion Spent in N.C. Corporate Welfare
The North Carolina General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division this week released its 2010 Economic Development Inventory. The report itemizes state government’s “economic development spending,” which includes appropriations, tax credits, deductions and preferential tax treatment targeted to a particular business or industry. The report delineates between “direct incentives” and “support programs.” Direct incentives provide funds or relief directly [...]
- Mar04
State Budget Facing Another Tough Year, Lawmakers Only Have Themselves to Blame
This N&O article predicts another difficult budgetary process on tap for this summer. State budget writers will once again struggle to balance the budget as revenue will continue at a slow pace as North Carolina remains mired in recession and strapped with high unemployment. A few comments in the article deserve a little scrutiny to [...]
- 1Mar02
Worst of the Recession May Not Be Over
Economist Robert Higgs crunches some numbers regarding the current recession and suggests that the worst may not yet be behind us. Real economic progress turns on a high rate of investment—primarily business purchases of structures, equipment, software, and additions to inventories—and on this front the news has been much bleaker and the prospects for quick [...]
- Mar01
Fiscal Responsibility for N.C.
In the latest installment in the Civitas Institutes’s “20 Changes for 2010: A Primer for State Reform,” I recommend a few desperately needed checks on North Carolina’s long-term irresponsible spending trends. The pattern repeats itself time and again. During flush economic times, rather than sensibly setting aside excess funds in a rainy day fund, the state ramps [...]
- Mar01
Chapel Hill’s Failed Experiment With Taxpayer-Funded Campaigns
Yesterday’s Chapel Hill News featured an article by Civitas intern Sarah Hardin, in which she makes the case why the town’s pilot program forcing taxpayers to finance the campaigns of candidates for local offices didn’t live up to promises. Chapel Hill’s voter-owned elections program had its first run in 2009 and is already being heralded [...]