Joseph Coletti

Should private philanthropy seek to replace government-provided social services? I have argued in this space that it should, and have sought in my outside activity to make this possible. Others, however, think philanthropy should test innovative ideas so government can add to its activities. Rob Reich, co-director of Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy…

They were good while they lasted. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina announced last week that it would end all of its grandfathered health insurance plans December 31. All of the 50,000 people who still have one of these plans will need to enroll in an ObamaCare plan for January 1,…

You should know Stancho. I met Stancho this morning. He lived the first two decades of his life in communist Bulgaria, then another ten or fifteen years there as the country tried to become a liberal democracy with a market economy. He came to North Carolina about a dozen years ago. Stancho…

My colleague Jon Sanders wonders whether policies to help the poor actually help, finds that  “policy is a small part of the overall social equation,” and concludes that the most effective ways to reduce poverty are free enterprise and voluntary action. Jon recommends ending policies that get in the way of private…

Brink Lindsey makes some good points as he explains “why libertarians and conservatives should stop opposing the welfare state,” and cites one of my favorite books, Richard Cornuelle’s Reclaiming the American Dream. We have to replace the welfare state before we can repeal it. I disagree with Lindsey’s conclusion…

Gov. Roy Cooper yesterday amended his constitutional challenge against the General Assembly to include three additional claims about separation of powers and the budgeting of funds for opportunity scholarships, federal block grants, and settlement funds from Volkswagen. On the opportunity scholarships, Section 6.6(b) states, “When developing the base budget,…

North Carolina’s pension plans for government employees did well this past fiscal year, growing 10.6% to $93.9 billion. That was below the median gain for all public pension funds in the country of 12.4% through June 30. One good year, however, does not eliminate the need to continue…

Super-intern Jordan Roberts and I have spent the last month understanding TANF in North Carolina. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program was the creation of welfare reform 20 years ago. It replaced the much-maligned Assistance for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with a federal block grant to complement state…