Opinion
NC can set example on Social Security this November
2032 is not just the projected Social Security insolvency date. It coincides with the final year of the term of those elected to the Senate this November.
Opinion
Voters deserve information on fiscal crisis
Every citizen who meets the basic requirements — adulthood, residency, and the completion of sentence after a felony conviction — can cast a ballot in North Carolina. There’s no test of civic knowledge required to exercise the civil right to vote, nor should there be. (Our state constitution still contains a Jim Crow-era literacy test...
Opinion
States should reclaim responsibility
Under no circumstances should the ordinary operation of state and local government be contingent on federal funding (or borrowing).
Opinion
It’s time to get serious about the federal budget deficit
Polling shows 52% of NC likely voters consider addressing federal deficit “very important,” more than foreign policy or climate change.
Opinion
Helene shows value of fiscal restraint
The devastation wreaked on North Carolina by Hurricane Helene will take weeks to assess, months to clear out, and years to repair or rebuild. Second only to the value of the lives lost will be the exorbitant fiscal and economic costs of our recovery. Our state government is reasonably well-prepared to shoulder its share. Our...
Opinion
NC Senate should reconsider obstructing Convention of States
What has changed since 2017 when the resolution first passed the Senate? The national debt was about $20 trillion then. It is now close to $35 trillion.
Opinion
A new year should remind us of old truths about government
Our ability to self-govern is the enduring question we continually grapple with yet struggle to answer decisively.
Opinion
State tax cut a must after citizens told to sacrifice
In the name of safety and at times part political theater, North Carolinians spent over a year following stringent emergency orders because of the coronavirus pandemic. Businesses shuttered, citizens lost their livelihood, millions eschewed social events or celebrations of any kind. Many young people are still hampered by mask mandates in schools. A silver lining...
Opinion
Federal bailout will punish our state
In the aftermath of the Great Recession, we learned it was both unfair and dangerous to let bankers take big risks backed by promises of bailouts. That same lesson applies to state and local politicians.
Opinion
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 conversation. Congressional leaders from both parties crafted a series...
Opinion
Washington Borrows, Raleigh Spends
Access to the proceeds of federal borrowing helps make state and local budgets larger than they otherwise would be.
