Under no circumstances should the ordinary operation of state and local government be contingent on federal funding (or borrowing).
Polling shows 52% of NC likely voters consider addressing federal deficit “very important,” more than foreign policy or climate change.
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...
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.
Our ability to self-govern is the enduring question we continually grapple with yet struggle to answer decisively.
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...
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.
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...
Access to the proceeds of federal borrowing helps make state and local budgets larger than they otherwise would be.
