News
GOP leaders slam Biden’s ‘catastrophic’ policies ahead of POTUS arrival
North Carolina Republican leaders are speaking out about President Joe Biden’s ‘disastrous’ economic policies ahead of his arrival on Thursday afternoon.
News
Incentives package worth $1.2 billion draws electric car plant to NC
A Vietnamese automaker has announced plans to build a $4 billion electric-vehicle assembly and battery-manufacturing plant at Triangle Innovation Point in Moncure, about 30 miles west of the Triangle. To attract the newly formed company, the state and Chatham County promise to spend nearly $1.2 billion in incentives over the next 32 years. Meantime, VinFast...
News
Offshore wind turbines interfere with ships’ radar, ability to navigate, study finds
Gov. Roy Cooper and the Biden administration want to make North Carolina carbon neutral by 2050, and President Biden’s ambitious plans to combat climate change lean heavily on offshore wind generation. The turbines could be a problem for fishermen. North Carolina’s fishing industry has largely been cautious in criticizing the wind turbines, saying it wants...
Opinion
Managing trade will never work
Exports to China went up last year but exports to our other trading partners, especially in Europe, went up more. The latter didn’t happen because a bunch of politicians set sales quotas.
Video
P.J. O’Rourke (1947-2022) discusses Adam Smith’s ‘On The Wealth of Nations’ in 2007
Satirist and author P.J. O’Rourke discusses his book “On The Wealth Of Nations” during a Nov. 16, 2007, interview with Carolina Journal. O’Rourke died Tuesday from complications of lung cancer.
News
State’s solid economy means better rebound, post-pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a huge blow at the economies of many states, with North Carolina falling about the middle of the pack; better than most, but worse than others. In a recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Illinois, for example, has only recovered 70% of jobs the state lost during...
News
A highway runs through it: Farmers, landowners question effects of planned bypass
Property owners in one of the few remaining rural areas of fast-growing Wake County are questioning plans to build a bypass for U.S. 401 that would dissect several long-time family farms. The plan — orchestrated by the N.C. Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization — could expand the corridor to 19 miles of highway from Banks...
Opinion
Media ignores study about harmful lockdowns. Color me surprised.
The mainstream media, and apparently academic-types, decided to cower from a study showing lockdowns had little consequence in curbing infections during the ongoing pandemic. Researchers, Carolina Journal reported, found lockdowns “have had little to no public health effects” while imposing “enormous economic and social costs” and should be “rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.” Neither...
News
Small businesses, like Ashworth’s in Fuquay-Varina, struggling with inflation
Ashworth’s Clothing in Fuquay-Varina opened in 1937. It survived through some trying times, such as World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Great Recession. Owner Steve Ashworth says the current state of the world economy offers some unique challenges, too. “This is unusual, especially the government’s lockdown in 2020, which impacted us,” he told...
Video
Carolina Journal’s Donna King assesses supply chain issues
Donna King, Carolina Journal editor-in-chief, discusses American supply chain problems. King offered these comments during the Jan. 21, 2022, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “Front Row with Marc Rotterman.”
News
North Carolina sets record for new business creation
North Carolina set another record for new business creation in 2021. Roughly 178,300 new businesses were legally created across the state last year, up 40% from the year before — which was itself a record, according to the Secretary of State’s office. The figure is double the pace of new business filings from 2017. “The...
News
Cooper signs new order pushing state toward electric vehicles
Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order Friday, Jan. 7, that aims to reduce greenhouse gases to net-zero by 2050. Cooper also wants to transition all state vehicles to electric and to enhance goals for drivers to switch to electric and other zero-emission vehicles. Cooper, in a news release, said the action will help create...
