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Spending isn’t stimulating
This article first appeared in the June 26 News & Observer. RALEIGH -- Nearly a year and a half has passed since President Barack Obama signed the federal stimulus package into law. How is that working out? The president's own economic advisers assured us that the deficit spending would help boost economic recovery and keep the nation's unemployment rate under 8 percent. As of May, it stands at 9.7 percent.
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Federal Earmarks Make State Economies Worse Off
Want to get North Carolina state lawmakers as excited as a kid on Christmas morning? Tell them that some "free" federal government money is coming to the state. Indeed, many of us can recall last year when Gov. Bev Perdue excitedly declared she would "drive a truck" down to South Carolina because she was so giddy over the prospect of North Carolina taking any federal recovery funds our southern neighbors may refuse...
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Unnecessary Burdensome Fees and Regulations Hurt Small Business
Regulation of Appraisal Management Industry Hurts Small Business and Consumers While Big Business Gets Bigger. Small business will be priced out of the market by $5,000 registration fees, a $2,500 annual fee and numerous compliance costs. Consumers will suffer as taxes and fees are ultimately passed along to them.
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State Employment Grows while More North Carolinians Lose Jobs
The number of state government employees in North Carolina has risen at a healthy clip at the same time the private sector lost 50,000 jobs. North Carolina state government added 34,824 full-time equivalent positions from 2001 through 2009, an increase of 12.3%...
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Tax Credits To Hollywood Fat Cats Fails To Create Jobs
HB 713 would expand North Carolina’s existing tax credit to corporations shooting movies or television shows in North Carolina. The tax credit is being expanded under the guise of “creating jobs.” Studies show, however, that film incentives do not create jobs, and end up being a drag on state budgets. In the current economic climate, it seems especially harsh to expect hard-working North Carolinians to pay for a tax break to wealthy Hollywood executives.
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Life Sciences Development Act Puts Tax Dollars At Risk While Expanding Government Control Of Industry
The NC House is set to take up HB 530 on the first day of session. This bill would establish an investment vehicle by which investors can provide capital to startup life sciences corporations, but their risk in investing will be guaranteed by taxpayers. The state of North Carolina would guarantee through tax credits that investors would receive a specified rate of return on their capital.
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Governor Perdue’s Budget Plan Increases Spending Again During “Great Recession”
On April 20, Governor Bev Perdue released her recommended adjustments for the fiscal year 2010-11 North Carolina state budget. Included in her recommendations are an increase in spending over the current year’s expected appropriations, the elimination of roughly 600 mostly vacant state positions, a cut to public education and public safety, and a misguided attempt to “create jobs” via credits aimed at small businesses.
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Gov. Perdue’s 2010-11 Budget Recommendations: Transportation
Governor Perdue’s total proposed FY 2010-11 budget for Transportation is $2.8 billion. This includes a $7 increase (from $28 to $35) in annual registration fees for cars and light trucks.
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Gov. Perdue’s 2010-11 Budget Recommendations: Natural and Economic Resources
Governor Perdue’s recommended spending adjustments to the FY 2010-11 budget includes a 7.3% increase for the Department of Natural and Economic Resources (NER), the largest such recommended expansion, percentage-wise, among all state agencies.
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Why Gov. Perdue’s “Back to Work” Incentive Fund Will Not Work
Included in Gov. Perdue’s Recommended Adjustments for the 2010-11 state budget was a line item for $15 million for a “Back to Work” incentive fund. The fund was included as part of Perdue’s “JobsNow” proposal to bolster job growth in the state. In her budget, she describes the purpose of the new fund as to “provide a direct rebate to small businesses that hire long-term unemployed workers.”
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10 Worst Federal Stimulus Projects in North Carolina
One year later, the debate over the stimulus bill’s effectiveness rages on. A close inspection of stimulus grants and contracts awarded to North Carolina reveals a rather questionable strategy for the disbursement of stimulus funds. Many projects seem completely unrelated to avoiding an economic “catastrophe,” but rather an ad hoc satisfaction of countless dubious wish lists.
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20 Changes For 2010: Protecting Private Property
Our Nation’s forefathers and framers of the U.S. Constitution regarded the defense of property rights as one of the few and fundamentally unchanging roles of our government. Changing regulations and ambiguous language in the state’s general statutes threaten to diminish the property rights of North Carolina residents.
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Conservative Group Says Three Triad Projects Waste Stimulus Money
Conservative Group Says Three Triad Projects Waste Stimulus Money
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Hot Flashes, Dead Bugs, and Cocaine for Monkeys: The 10 Worst Federal Stimulus Projects in North Carolina
The debate over the stimulus bill’s effectiveness rages on. A close inspection of stimulus grants and contracts awarded to North Carolina reveals a rather questionable strategy for the disbursement of stimulus funds. Many projects seem completely unrelated to avoiding an economic “catastrophe,” but rather an ad hoc satisfaction of countless dubious wish lists.
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20 Changes For 2010: Jobs
The first two recommendations in the Civitas Institute 2010 Agenda: “20 Changes for 2010: A Primer for State Reform” focus on policies that will promote job creation. The Problem: High Unemployment and Slow Job Growth
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@NCCivitas
- SB 306 “Capital Punishments/Amendments” – You Will Never Live Long Enough to See Justice Done http://t.co/jxGeLAgmXs #ncpol
- Rapidly Growing Burden of State Retiree Benefits http://t.co/PzpZV9OqdI #ncpol
- Medicaid Blues http://t.co/iX6ffoOOT8 #ncpol #ncgop
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