Opinion
The left misreads the nation’s new reality
From school choice to the government shutdown standoff, people are realizing that government isn’t the solution; it’s the problem.
Opinion
Give it back
Last week the non-partisan Fiscal Research Division of the North Carolina General Assembly forecast yet another $1 billion+ surplus in anticipated tax revenues for the 2024–2025 fiscal year. That’s on top of the $400+ million in surplus collections for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. The news, the latest in a decade-long run of tax revenue surpluses,...
Opinion
Dan Bishop wins Twitter with thread on Omnibus spending, and other outrageous stories
For the featured “outrageous story” of the week, we direct our attention to the crazy spending being proposed in the Senate’s omnibus spending bill, specifically, we look at N.C. Republican Congressman Dan Bishop’s viral thread drawing the public’s attention to it. As of the posting of this article, there were over 28,000 retweets and 92,000...
Opinion
Beware of the coming pork-barrel spending
The 2022 General Election has come and gone. And while the oft-prophesied national “red wave” failed to materialize, North Carolina Republicans had a successful election season. Republican Congressman Ted Budd defeated Democrat Cheri Beasley for a US Senate seat that was considered one of the most competitive in the nation. Republicans won both state Supreme...
Opinion
Consumers curb holiday spending; if only government would too
With the lights hung and rolls of wrapping paper filling spare bedrooms across the state, it can be too easy to fall victim to a last-minute flurry of spending. But we aren’t seeing that this year. According to preliminary numbers, 2022 holiday spending is the most cautious since 2013, as 41% of people say they...
News
Cato Institute ranks Cooper 6th best governor for signing Republican budget
Another free-market think tank has ranked Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper positively with regard to fiscal policy, with the Cato Institute’s new governor’s rankings putting Cooper 6th overall. Cooper was the only Democrat in the top 10 and received a “B” grade overall. Cato’s report created scores for governors “on the basis of seven...
Opinion
WRAL’s weird Cooper coup proposal is lousy advice
A political coup in North Carolina? That seems to be the suggestion of a WRAL editorial published on June 24. It bemoans the fact that state legislators aren’t spending enough money on public education. Here’s an excerpt from the editorial, which labeled the state Senate budget a “manifesto of mediocrity”: “It is an invitation to...
Opinion
Takeaways from the Senate budget
This week the Senate leadership presented the chamber’s state budget proposal. After a day or two of social media reaction and topline numbers, it’s time for a real look at what this contains before it runs the legislative gauntlet. A theme runs through this budget: Fix what’s broken, maintain what we know is working, and...
Podcast
Core Principles Guide JLF’s General Fund Budget
Sarah Curry on crafting an operating budget grounded in free markets & limited government; legislators debate home design laws; Phil Berger on ending teacher tenure; Walter Wessels on impact of right-to-work status; John Hood on transportation & growth
News
New JLF Report Shows State Spending Reached a Record High in 2012
RALEIGH — North Carolina state government is spending more money per person this budget year than ever before. A new John Locke Foundation Spotlight report documents that fact, which gets lost in ongoing debates about state budget “cuts.”
Opinion
No. 955 Tips for Conserving Taxpayers’ Paychecks
The drought in North Carolina and the rest of the South has evoked cries for water conservation. The situation is so bad that Gov. Mike Easley recently urged the state’s citizens to cut their water usage in half. Water is a precious resource, and certainly it should be used wisely when it’s in short supply.
Opinion
States Have Only Themselves to Blame
Some North Carolina politicians are joining their national counterparts in asking for a federal bailout of state budgets. This would be a colossal mistake.
