Bill filing period is here at the NCGA, and with it some of the standard fulfilling-campaign-promises filings. No surprise that our friends on the left immediately got to work expanding government. And yesterday, first term Senator Wiley Nickel tweeted: That sound you’re hearing is the now Daily Mantra of Liberals. “Conservatives! Hail Ohio’s Medicaid Expansion. Beware Kansas’s Tax Cuts.” But … Read More
WHEN $1.3 BILLION ISN’T ENOUGH
It seems the conservative reformers on Jones Street are getting serious about a Constitutional Amendment that gives voters the chance to cap tax rates and handcuff big-spending politicians. The House Finance Committee approved the tax cap last week, and the entire House is poised to sign off soon. This is good news for taxpayers, good news for the state’s economy … Read More
COOPER SELLS OUT AGRICULTURE FOR LAWYERS
When Mountaire Farms, one of the big poultry producers, announced 65 new jobs, Governor Cooper sang their praise and the importance of agriculture. “These new, good-paying jobs mean better opportunities for hard-working people and their communities in Scotland County,” Cooper said. “Agriculture has a long and proud history in North Carolina and Mountaire Farms’ new state-of-the-art operations are a sign … Read More
NORTH CAROLINA FOLLOWING GROWTH STRATEGIES
Scott Minard of Guggenheim Partners is a respected Wall Street voice. He recently wrote about the key points of increasing economic growth. Minard discusses sensible land use to help create millions of energy related jobs. North Carolina reformers have already passed careful energy development rules. He says “Governments at all levels should incentivize private sector investment by reducing regulatory hurdles, … Read More
STRANGLING MARKET RAISES HEALTHCARE COSTS
While Governor Cooper wants to grow welfare by spending $3-$6 billion of our money to give free healthcare to able-bodied adults who won’t work, working people who aren’t on Cooper’s radar and don’t get free stuff pay above average healthcare costs. Look what the Charlotte Observer found out about high health care costs in North Carolina: “For a CT scan … Read More
CHOICES AND COOPERATION
In his budget and State of the State address, Governor Cooper dumped a grab bag full of spending notions on the table while avoiding choices. Example: The Governor wants double-digit raises for teachers who already average about $50,000 a year. Equal raises for good teachers and bad teachers. Nothing about rewarding our best with bigger raises or changing the tenure … Read More
WILL COOPER CHOOSE PEOPLE OR THE WATERDOGS?
Roy Cooper will soon face a choice between the thousands of jobs the Atlantic Coast Natural Gas Pipeline will produce for North Carolina families… and the waterdogs. The Neuse River Waterdog doesn’t wag its tail, beg or bark. Maybe it hisses. It’s a salamander. Here it is. And because the waterdog is so precious, so necessary and so rare, environmental … Read More
DOES EDF AGREE WITH PUTIN?
While the media isn’t ballyhooing it, the Intelligence Report on Russian hacking says Russian propaganda promotes anti-fracking hysteria to damage American energy producers to squelch their competition against Russia. The report said ”“RT runs anti-fracking programming, highlighting environmental issues and the impacts on public health,” the report noted, referring to hydraulic fracturing, an innovative oil and gas extraction technique. “This … Read More
COOPER’S DISINGENUOUS TAX ON HOSPITAL PATIENTS
In Roy Cooper’s patently illegal plan to expand Medicaid, nothing is more disingenuous than Cooper’s claim that hospitals, not taxpayers, will pay for it. Let’s just ignore the fact that state law prohibits any state agency from expanding Medicaid under ObamaCare. With a rubber stamp State Supreme Court behind him, Cooper obviously doesn’t have to worry about obeying the law … Read More
COOPER’S COMING WAR ON FARMERS, LANDOWNERS?
Judging from Governor Cooper’s pick of Michael Regan to run the Department of Environmental Quality, farmers and timber growing landowners better hold on to their wallets because massive new regulations may be close at hand. Regan, a former honcho at the Environmental Defense Fund, has a record of advocating more regulations on farmers and North Carolina’s timber growing industry, which … Read More