Daily Archives: June 13, 2012

In January, Gov. Bev Perdue announced that open-source software giant Red Hat, headquartered in Raleigh, would receive two separate grants from the state, worth close to $15 million. In return, the company would not leave Raleigh for, say, Boston, Atlanta, or Austin, but instead would stay in Raleigh and expand. The governor donned a redContinue Reading

This is turning out to be the mantra of the Obama campaign. And by the way I agree completely. Except I don’t think we ever left them. So how much have things changed from the failed policies of the past? 1. Many if not most economists argue that it was Ben Bernanke’ Fed policies ofContinue Reading

“If the role of government isn’t to protect the health and well-being of its citizens I don’t know what it is.”–Michael  Bloomberg defending his decision to ban sugared soft drinks sold in cups that are more than 16 oz. He doesn’t know what it is? I think that even a quick glance at the DeclarationContinue Reading

It appears that politicos in several states, including North Carolina, have claimed that their state is 49th in per-pupil expenditure!  Jonathan Butcher of the Goldwater Institute satirizes their assertions brilliantly. He correctly points out that the entire debate misses the point – there is no consistent relationship between spending and student achievement. An Abbott andContinue Reading

Economist Richard Rahn explains why not in this piece.  He gets at a critical point I harp on all the time: government can do nothing that leads to more productive uses of our limited resources except to stop getting in the way. Rahn writes, “Which creates wealth — the government hiring another bureaucrat to produce moreContinue Reading

According to a recent article about the failure of the General Assembly to approve Governor Perdue’s appointments to the State Board of Education, …ignoring the appointments for more than a year runs counter to what the state Constitution intends and how the state should be run, said Phil Kirk, a past chair of the StateContinue Reading

Obama and his allies keep saying that the auto bailout “saved Detroit” — as if what is left of “The Big Three” would have vanished into thin air if the feds hadn’t bailed GM and Chrysler out. Not true, argue James Sherk and GMU law professor (and bankruptcy expert) Todd Zywicki in this paper. AllContinue Reading

Advocates of limited government agree that federal spending is out of control. Even the fiercest budget hawks often balk, however, when they’re asked which specific budget cuts they support. Here’s one:  farm subsidies. These artifacts of the Great Depression, aside from being unconstitutional, have outlived any usefulness their supporters attribute to them. With the U.S.Continue Reading