Cronyism

As the House finalizes the votes on their budget plan (see a general overview here), there are a couple provisions receiving little fanfare that should not be included when the conference committee hammers out its final budget proposal: Establishment of a state government run retirement plan for private…

People with a medical need for mobile PET scanners are harmed while health care companies wage high-stakes battles in state courts over state agency decisions regarding a law that 15 states and the federal government have already ditched for making health care more costly and less accessible to citizens.

North Carolina’s largest “economic incentive” program continued to favor the state’s already wealthy counties, according to a new report. The Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) program is North Carolina’s premiere corporate welfare program, doling out hundreds of millions of dollars in targeted tax breaks to politically-selected…

Gov. Roy Cooper’s COVID lockdown orders forcibly closed down thousands of small businesses across North Carolina – many of which will have to close their doors forever. So imagine their reaction to the news yesterday that Apple – the largest corporation on the planet – is…

A bill was filed today that would add another $34 million to the program that gives away taxpayer dollars to wealthy Hollywood movie studios. Senate Bill 268, sponsored by Michael Lee (R-New Hanover) and Paul A Lowe, Jr. (D-Forsyth), would commit $34 million in film production…

In 2019, which was not an election year, Gov. Cooper pledged $146 million in incentives grants. In the election year of 2020, however, Cooper pledged over $519 million. That's over half a billion dollars — and over three and a half times worse than his giveaways in 2019.

Cooper’s corporate welfare tally for 2020 is jaw-dropping: $519.3 million pledged to just 48 corporations.

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