JLF > John Hood's Daily Journal

Taxes and Growth: More Evidence

Fri, 24 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Does state tax policy affect state economic growth? Fiscal conservatives tend to say yes. Fiscal liberals tend to say no. No big surprise there. People with different philosophies of government and approaches to public-policy analysis will tend to form different conclusions about what government ought to...

Raleigh Street, Park Names Loaded With History

Thu, 23 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - We can be surrounded by our past yet remain clueless. Street signs, for instance, help commuters and travelers find their final destinations. Those signs can be much more than guideposts, though. They often provide interesting clues into an area's history. During the 1780s and early 1790s, state legislators had lengthy and intense debates regarding where to establish a permanent...

President Obama's Good Ideas

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - President Barack Obama's 2013-14 budget plan may be dead on arrival in Congress. Given its unwise tax hikes and unsustainable spending levels, I won't be sad to see last rites administered to the proposal. But there are at least two provisions of the Obama budget that deserve to outlive their host body. One involves public housing. The other involves the tax code. Let's start with...

Is Learning Better With A Box?

Tue, 21 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - In the field of K-12 innovation, the digital device dominates. An increasing number of school districts nationwide are leveraging electronic platforms to deliver educational content to students. No child is too young for screen-based instruction: Districts in states from Maine to South Carolina to California now give iPads to kindergartners, claiming the tablets boost literacy and...

When Liberals Love Privatization

Mon, 20 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Remember Where's Waldo? Imagine for a moment that he had the word "privatization" stitched on his colorful little cap, and see if you can spot him in this word picture: North Carolina spends billions of dollars a year funding a critical service. But rather than deliver the service directly, the state allows North Carolina recipients to choose among public,...

Assessing the House Tax Plan

Fri, 17 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Last week, I assessed the tax reform plan offered by Senate leader Phil Berger and his colleagues. While crediting the Senate plan for setting the proper goals - to reduce North Carolina's punitive tax rates on investment and to produce a net tax cut - I criticized it for increasing the tax-compliance burden...

McCrory Plan Uses Highway Dollars Wisely

Thu, 16 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - In April, the McCrory administration outlined a new state transportation policy. While as always, the devil is in the details, this plan is a welcome step forward for transportation policy in North Carolina. The last time the state seriously rethought its road policy was in 1989 with the creation of the Highway Trust Fund. The idea was that for a limited period the state would...

Let's Have Teachable Tuesdays

Wed, 15 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - The North Carolina chapter of the NAACP is spearheading a weekly series of protests called "Moral Mondays" directed against Republican-supported legislation such as tax reform and voter ID. Might I respectfully suggest that the participants agree to a weekly series of instructional sessions about free speech in a constitutional republic? Let's call them "Teachable Tuesdays." The need...

A Pivotal Two Weeks

Mon, 13 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Decisions made by the North Carolina General Assembly over the next two weeks will likely determine not only the political fate of its Republican majority but also how the core functions of state government will operate for years to come. Some analysts have chosen not to wait to assess these matters. Liberal critics, biased media outlets, and Democrats desperate to reestablish their...

Assessing the Senate Tax Plan

Fri, 10 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - For months, North Carolina's political establishment has been lying in wait for the state's new Republican leaders to act on their long-promised initiative for tax reform. When Senate leader Phil Berger outlined his tax-reform proposal via website and video message on May 6, the establishment...

Iron Man? No, the Real Hero is the Super Multiplier

Tue, 14 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - So which is it? Is North Carolina's Film Credit responsible for only 55 to 70 new jobs ("290 to 350 fewer jobs than would have been created though an across-the-board tax reduction of the same magnitude"), as a Fiscal Research study by fiscal analyst Patrick McHugh found, or is it responsible for over 2,000...

Addressing the Keys to Economic Recovery

Thu, 9 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - The General Assembly is three months into the long session. More than 1,700 bills have been filed with fewer than 50 (as of this writing) now law. The first bill signed into law encourages students to develop job skills through expansion of career and technical education. The next ones include a measure shoring up a $2.4 billion unemployment insurance debt; a bill to shift funding...

Another Year for the History Books

Wed, 8 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - As should be obvious by now, North Carolina is undergoing dramatic change in 2013. A new Republican governor and legislature are pursuing new approaches to state issues such as taxation, regulation, transportation, and education. North Carolina Democrats - locked out of executive, legislative, and judicial power for the first time since Reconstruction - are seeking to reorganize...

Walking the Walk on Boosting Small Business

Tue, 7 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - When I walked in the door, I could tell something was up with the owner of a small business I frequent. We talk about current events and politics when I stop by, and since he's progressive and I'm a socially conservative free marketer, our conversations are lively. This day, his grin made me think he was ready to unload about a conservative politician who'd done something silly. It...

Not All Politics Is Local

Mon, 6 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - If there was a national prize for rhetorical incoherence, one could find several excellent nominations among the ranks of North Carolina politicians and political commentators. For an example, you need look no further than the now-ubiquitous claim that North Carolina Republicans are waging a war against localities in contravention of their longstanding principle of local control....

A Wide-Open GOP Primary

Fri, 3 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Hard as it may be to believe at the moment, given all the news and chatter coming out of Jones Street, the 2013 session of the North Carolina General Assembly is about to enter its final phase. The Senate's budget will come out soon, possibly including its version of tax reform, and the House will present its ideas shortly thereafter. The two sides will dicker on fiscal items, all...

National Factors Influencing State Budget Decisions

Thu, 2 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - During the recent conference of the National Association of State Budget Officers, which I attended, the main topics of conversation were the nation's economic outlook, the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and the impact on states' budgets from discussions in Washington for the upcoming fiscal year. I will highlight some of the more interesting areas, so as not to bore you...

In the Absence of Argument

Wed, 1 May 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - "People generally quarrel," G.K. Chesterton once wryly observed, "because they cannot argue." To the extent North Carolina politics looks increasingly quarrelsome at the moment, it is because of a breakdown of argument - of constructive debate among people of good faith who happen to disagree on public policy. Instead, traditional and online media alike are filled with venom,...

A One-Word Question at the Heart of the Debate

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - If you can get beyond the horribly dated technology and the occasional lapse into hippie-inspired silliness, the classic late-1960s libertarian-themed television show "The Prisoner" still raises significant questions worth answering. The search for answers can lead to a better understanding of the relationship between the individual and the government that conspires to limit his...

Why the Energy Bill Matters

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - In a legislative session featuring proposals to rewrite the tax code, take important next steps on regulatory reform, give parents more school choice, and restructure the state's transportation and Medicaid programs, Rep. Mike Hager's idea of putting a time limit on North Carolina's renewable-energy...

Governor Should Be Mr. Fix-It

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Now that Pat McCrory has passed the oh-so-important mark of 100 days in office, the political class in Raleigh feels obligated to offer a critique of his administration. The most common one is that Gov. McCrory is playing "small ball." That is, the critics say that because the governor didn't propose a major spending program in his 2013-15 budget plan, he's not really doing anything...

Setting the Record Straight on School Vouchers

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Critics of school vouchers have been out in force recently, particularly in the pages of the News & Observer. For example, last week Yevonne Brannon and Nick Rhodes declared in an op-ed that "school vouchers are wrong for NC." Let's take a look at their...

A Case for Spending More

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Fiscal conservatism comes naturally to me. After all, my middle name is McDonald. But I am also persuaded by empirical evidence that fiscal conservatism is the best policy for promoting economic growth and opportunity. The best thing North Carolina governments can do to improve our state's...

Take the Full Measure of State Economic Incentives

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Local media consumers may have picked up a bit of trivia lately: North Carolina's new governor isn't a Democrat. This break from The Way Things Are Done 'Round Here has led to the humor of news stories written with apparent surprise and upset that the Republican Gov. Pat McCrory is doing things differently from his Democratic predecessors. One area in which McCrory is not...

Big Apple Is Less Filling

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Is New York City a better place to work than Charlotte? It depends on your priorities. For many people, the Big Apple with all its glamour and glitz may be the place they want to live. But if your goal is to maximize real income, the Queen City will be the better choice. In public policy analysis, benchmarking is an important tool. We want to know how other jurisdictions are faring - ...

The Economics of Stronger Families

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - In my latest column for Business North Carolina magazine, I argue that policymakers who seek to make North Carolina's economy more competitive can't afford to ignore the seemingly unrelated issue of family...

The Facts Surrounding Privatizing Medicaid

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - The catch phrase "privatizing Medicaid" currently thrown around in the media is misleading. A number of states - most notably Arkansas, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Florida - have proposed methods of "privatizing" the optional...

Research Guides Policy Initiatives

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - For a group of people who claim to believe in empirical study and higher learning, liberal politicians and other critics of North Carolina's new conservative leaders seem remarkably uninformed or contemptuous of the research basis for the policy initiatives now being debated in Raleigh. For example, Gov. Pat McCrory's budget for public education proposes to convert teacher-assistant...

Ignoring The Rules

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - When we are children, our parents and relatives urge us to "play by the rules." Typically, violating the rules triggers consequences that correspond to the severity of the violation. But that is how it works in the real world. In the world of state government, some agencies act as if the rules do not apply to them. Aside from the laws and statutes themselves, the most important set...

Reform Case in Four Numbers

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - In the spirit of keeping things simple, the case for reforming North Carolina's medical-assistance programs can be expressed in four numbers: 12, 15, 17, and 48. These are all national rankings. North Carolina ranks 12th in the nation in state mental health spending per capita. North Carolina ranks 15th in the nation in Medicaid payments per child or working-aged adult enrolled in...

Disability Model Isn't Working

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - I'm glad to see news reporters and policy analysts devoting increasing attention to a subject Carolina Journal readers will find familiar: the role that public policy plays in discouraging work. A key feature of the current, anemic economic "recovery" is that the share of adults who are active participants in the civilian workforce - whether employed or currently unemployed - ...

Antifederalists Would Have Appreciated Paul's Stance

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - When U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., filibustered in March, the old-fashioned way, talking for approximately 13 hours and questioning whether the president had the constitutional authority to use unmanned drones to kill American noncombatants on U.S. soil, he unnerved many politicians and talking heads. It seemed more than a few on the left and in the Republican Party deemed Paul's...

Critical Year in NC Politics

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - If you had to choose a single election cycle to spotlight as the most consequential in recent North Carolina history, which would it be? Some might say 1984, when a spectacular reelection victory by President Ronald Reagan helped Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Martin move from Washington to Raleigh as governor and blocked...

Dirty Politics on Dix Hill

Tue, 9 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - The mission statement of Dix306.org, a lobbying group pushing to preserve a lease struck in December between the Perdue administration and the city of Raleigh, reads, "Our goal is to save all 306 acres of the Dorothea Dix Campus for a World Class Destination Park for future generations." What sounds like a noble, selfless, forward-looking vision is in fact a bunch of hooey. A...

Medicaid Reform Holds Promise

Mon, 8 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - There are many unknowns regarding the proposal Gov. Pat McCrory announced last week to use competitive contracting to reform North Carolina's Medicaid program. But what I do know about it suggests the governor is heading in the right direction. His idea is to award contracts to three or four...

Background to an Eventful Week

Fri, 5 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - A resolution is not a bill. A bill introduced is not a bill enacted. And a bill enacted is not necessarily a major policy change that will affect the everyday lives of North Carolinians. Whether you are producing or consuming journalism about state politics and public policy, these are important distinctions to keep in mind. As the 2013 session of the North Carolina General Assembly...

Time to Fix Our Interstates

Thu, 4 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - I'm a strong advocate for the user-pays principle in transportation. As much as possible, those who use a particular asset - be it roads, airports, seaports, or railroads - ought to pay in rough proportion to the operating and capital costs they impose. For the most part, that's our current policy. Surcharges on airfares pay the vast majority of the cost of operating North Carolina's...

Obamanomics on Steroids: Renewable Energy and Job Creation

Wed, 3 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - According to a self-serving report paid for by the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association, $72 million in government subsidies received by their members in the solar and wind power industry have "created or retained" over 21,000 "job years" since 2007. If slippery phrases like "jobs created or retained" and "job years" sound familiar, it's because they are right out of the...

Parents Should Make the Choice

Mon, 1 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - In education policy, America sticks out like a sore thumb when compared with our international competitors. Make that two sore thumbs, actually. In both funding and administration, our education system differs substantially from those of most developed countries in Europe and the Pacific Rim. If your source of information is our education establishment, or the policy and media...

Cut Your Electric Bill: Repeal the Mandate!

Tue, 2 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH -  In 2007, with Bev Perdue as president of the Senate, Joe Hackney as speaker of the House, and Mike Easley as governor, a very liberal, Democratic-run state government imposed a mandate that by 2021, the state's investor-owned utilities must provide 12.5 percent of their energy from renewable sources or conservation measures. The legislation, Senate Bill 3, defined renewable sources...

An Entertaining Introduction to N.C. History

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Maybe more so than any other novelist below the Mason-Dixon line, including the 19th-century William Gilmore Simms of South Carolina, Inglis Fletcher of North Carolina painted the most comprehensive, historical portrait of the land on which she lived. Her novels also possibly did more than histories to introduce readers to the colonial and Revolutionary-Era history of North...

To Fix a Dishonorable Deal

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Imagine that the first-term governor of your state declined to seek reelection. In the interim between the election of his successor and his leaving office, this lame-duck governor sought to use the power of his office to make a last-minute real estate deal. Specifically, the governor identified a large parcel of state-owned land along the coast that currently housed state research...

Renewable Energy's Costly Trade-Offs

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - A bill currently before the state House, H.B. 298, introduced by Rep. Mike Hager, would eliminate North Carolina's renewable energy portfolio standards (RPS) -- a state mandate that requires electric utilities to provide 7.5 percent of their power from renewable energy...

A Good First Fiscal Step

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - When Gov. Pat McCrory released his first state budget plan on the morning March 20, I happened to be driving to Charlotte for a meeting. Perhaps it was my imagination, but at the precise moment his aides passed out the budget document in Raleigh, I think I heard a loud crash as a teetering tower of political hyperbole and conspiracy theories suddenly collapsed in a heap of...

When Nathaniel Macon Speaks...

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Over the years, I've become increasingly convinced that future gains in freedom and prosperity for North Carolina will only follow gains in appreciation of the past - of the people, events, and ideas that form our constitutional heritage. Naturally, to advance the cause, one must make pragmatic arguments, based on empirical evidence and sound reasoning, to convince policymakers and...

Airline Merger Shouldn't Hurt Charlotte

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EDT

CHARLOTTE - In February, American Airlines agreed to merge with US Airways, the dominant airline in the state with its largest hub in Charlotte. The announcement sparked some concern, as recent airline mergers often have led to the elimination of a major hub as the two carriers combined their operations. Such fear is misplaced in this case, though there's reason to expect some reduction in...

A Modest Proposal on Electric Power

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Sometimes, despite good intentions, we just get things wrong. That's what happened in 2007, when the North Carolina legislature enacted a bill to force electric utilities to buy "renewable" power from wind, solar, and other expensive and unreliable sources. When I say "we" got it wrong, I mean it in the broadest possible sense. The legislature and then-Gov. Mike Easley got it wrong...

In the Shallows on School Violence

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - In K-12 education, nothing matters more than ensuring that schools - and the children within - are safe. The recent heartrending shooting at a Connecticut elementary school serves as a tragic reminder that violence is real. And it compels us to act. Has the culture coarsened? Evidence is divided. Federal data show school violence has diminished. In North Carolina, school officials...

Don't Plan for Failure

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - Any plan for rejuvenating North Carolina's economy by drawing down and spending more federal money is a plan for failure. At most, it would generate a ripple of economic activity in the short run while damaging the state's economy in the long run. And assuming that most consumers and investors aren't irrational, it won't even generate much a ripple in the short run because they know...

The Democracy of Tweets

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EDT

RALEIGH - While gathering some performance metrics for North Carolina policy nonprofits, I noticed an interesting trend in the data from the microblogging site Twitter. While you might think that the most-followed Twitter accounts on state politics would all be associated with large institutions, it turns out that quite a few of them are personal accounts of independent bloggers and...