NC State University Economist Michael Walden spoke to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce Wednesday about the State’s economic outlook. According to Dr. Walden, “We’re going to see a better economy this year,” and North Carolina will likely add 90,000 jobs in 2013. That’s great news for struggling North Carolinians who have suffered under one of the nation’s [...]
Committee Proposes Major Changes to Unemployment Insurance Program
Today’s Revenue Laws Committee meeting included a rollout of proposed changes to North Carolina’s unemployment insurance program. Recall that NC is facing a $2.5 billion debt to the federal government that must be repaid. Under the current repayment guidelines set up by the federal government, the debt would be repaid through an annual increase in [...]
Massive Unemployment Insurance Debt Awaits New Guv, Legislature
The state’s Revenue Laws Study Committee met again this morning, primarily to discuss the state’s unemployment insurance debt to the federal government. As most of you already know, many states (including NC) had to borrow billions of dollars from the federal government to cover expanding unemployment insurance benefits during the great recession. During a presentation to the [...]
Jim Hunt Sends Mixed Message in Obama Endorsement
Former NC Governor Jim Hunt pens this endorsement for Pres. Obama in today’s N&O. The article is chock full of typicall politcial bloviating – a lot of words with little substance (Obama cares, invest in the future, etc.) But this sentence near the end caught my attention. Hunt declares: In short, Obama’s blueprint for our [...]
Unemployment Insurance: Another Government Failure
Lew Ebert, President and CEO of the North Carolina Chamber, outlines some major problems with NC’s unemployment insurance program in this N&O guest column. Among the problems, Ebert points out the massive $2.4 billion debt NC owes the federal government for UI benefits (which has already triggered a tax increase on employers), the annual deficit of [...]
