carolina cronyism

Make no mistake: the state government has no business telling hospitals how many beds they think they need. Why do they do it? Because of Certificate of Need (CON) laws.

If there is one political issue that's defined North Carolina politics for nearly a year now, it's Gov. Roy Cooper's decision to veto the state budget. Cooper frames the budget debate as "a choice between further cuts in corporate taxes or investments in our teachers." PolitiFact's done nothing with Cooper's depiction. WRAL doubled down with a poll supporting it.

The case for EVs to curb climate emissions (let alone mitigate hurricanes) is too weak for Gov. Cooper to force. Worse, the trend of research makes them seem much more likely to have negative unintended consequences.

You see it, don't you? The flaw in Cooper's reasoning is glaringly obvious. Media don't, however.

Gov. Roy Cooper's policies on corporate taxes and corporate welfare can seem confusing at first. In January, he continued his befuddling practice of approving millions of dollars to individual corporations while complaining about corporate tax cuts.

The captured regulator is a pernicious failed safeguard against cronyism that cloaks corruption in the guise of government oversight.

Of the four possible combinations, we at the John Locke Foundation have always favored the Freedom & Growth combination of low corporate taxation with low corporate welfare. Gov. Roy Cooper's choice is the cardinal opposite.

Did you know there are also magic words that can make your power bill go up? They were just used in the coal-ash cleanup settlement agreement between the Cooper administration, environmental groups, Duke Energy, and not ratepayers.