Excessive debt slows economic growth
The annual rate of economic growth from 1995 to 2014 was more than a percentage point lower than it would have been in the absence of America’s debt explosion.
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Category: Opinion
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A ballooning federal debt no one is talking about
The only thing more worrying than the federal government’s recent announcement that the debt had reached $22 trillion, or 104 percent of GDP, was that it generated such little attention. In the 1980s and 1990s, by contrast, the issue was a central feature of the national…
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Arguments for Prohibition in 1917 hold no place for lawmakers today
As I listened Tuesday to a N.C. House committee discuss an alcohol bill, I thought about how America debated the 18th Amendment. In 1917, and for years after that. I thought about how we spoke to each other — those influenced by the…
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Train and pay principals wisely
Few missions will be as important, and as challenging, as preparing the next generation of principals to lead North Carolina’s schools.
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Manufacturing jobs on the rise
As we learn how to produce more food, clothing, shelter, and other goods at a lower cost, that allows us to improve our standard of living by producing and consuming services.
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Teen girls face myriad challenges, pressure from many sides
It’s tough to be a teen girl today. Youth depression has risen significantly over the past decade, the uptick coming primarily from girls. The mother of a 17-year-old girl, I know pressures are high. Smartphones and social media fuel constant connection and comparison. Achievement expectations and perfectionism raise…
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Rail transit doesn’t fit state
Our state’s dispersed settlement patterns aren’t simply the result of zoning laws or road-building guiding residential development, because there is also a dispersal of employment.
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Local governments still don’t need to get in the broadband business
In 2011, a then-new Republican majority in the N.C. General Assembly was alarmed at an expensive new trend in local government. Residents in Wilson, Salisbury, Mooresville, Davidson, and Morganton were being hit with higher taxes and even electricity and water rates as their cities were bleeding money. Why? To…
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Coerced funding bad for politics
In a free society, there is no way to stamp out large-scale expenditures used to express opinions about candidates, parties, legislation, or political causes.
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Thanks to solar power deals, your electric bill is higher
Roughly $1.25 billion. That’s how much Duke Energy customers will be overpaying for electricity over the next 10 to 15 years. We can thank North Carolina law — and Gov. Roy Cooper — for the higher bills that come with long-term solar energy contracts Duke has been forced to accept.