Joseph Coletti

“We might need a rating agency to threaten [North Carolina’s AAA bond rating] for us to see both sides return to the table in earnest.” Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi, an economics professor at Winston-Salem State University, told the Winston-Salem Journal. This begs the question: What about current spending threatens North Carolina’s…

North Carolina had the sixth-best funded pension for state employees and teachers in the country in 2017, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Past and present state leaders deserve credit for regularly setting aside enough money to meet those pension obligations. The pension system also holds up well in…

Gov. Roy Cooper offered a budget counteroffer that would be hard to classify as a compromise. It still includes Medicaid expansion, a $3.5 billion bond (10% less than his original $3.9 billion plan), rejects a franchise tax reduction, and refuses to expand the number of Opportunity Scholarships. The proposal…

When a politician starts talking about free things, you know to check your wallet. Medicaid expansion, in all its varieties, is no different. It would add $4.2 billion to state spending in fiscal year 2020-21, a 27 percent increase over Medicaid without expansion, and 7.4 percent more than total state…

We hear a lot about the need to return spending to pre-recession levels. And spending grew a lot just before the recession. The budget grew 8.9% in fiscal year 2006-07 and another 9.0% in fiscal year 2007-08. What doesn’t get mentioned is that the Democratic General Assembly and Democratic Gov.

Did you hear the one about the nineteen billionaires who loved their wealth so much they could not voluntarily part with it? George Soros, his son, one unnamed person and 16 others signed a letter claiming they “believe it is our duty to step up and support a wealth…

Since 2013, the number of government job postings has increased 11% but the number of applicants has fallen 35%. A recent report the National Association of State Chief Admistrators considers why this is and what governments can do to attract more people. Job applicants see government work as safe…

James Lileks writes with more style and humor than just about anyone. He’s one of those writers other writers quote and say “I wish I had written that” —literally. He recently made more astute observations than I could about the lack of brio among car salesmen. Not that…