Today’s fun fact: Federal stimulus money to K-12 public schools in the United States totals $68 billion. That’s $68 billion over and above what the feds normally spend on public education.
What are Americans getting for the extra spending? Not much. That’s the conclusion reached by Chester Finn and Frederick Hess in [...]
ABC News reporter Johnathan Karl sheds light on a provision in the Senate health care bill revealing how our rulers in DC “debate” legislation:
What does it take to get a wavering senator to vote for health care [...]
Do you think we have seen the last of the undercover videos exposing ACORN’s true nature? Not by a long shot. Check out this interview from ReasonTV with Biggovernment.com editor Mike Flynn.
One of the revelations in the interview is that Biggovernment.com has several more videos that [...]
New data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statisticsshows that North Carolina’s unemployment rate climbed to 11% in Oct., up from 10.8% in the previous month.
The 11% places NC with the nation’s 8th highest unemployment rate – topping the list is Michigan at 15.1%. The national rate stands [...]
For those curious about where the NC’s federal stimulus money is being spent, check out stimuluswatch.org.2.0 to follow the money.
The site documents the more than 1,700 items (mostly grants) being funded by the federal stimulus bill – The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The site is interactive, allowing visitors to [...]
© Marianne Suarez for Civitas Review Online, 2009. | Permalink | No comment
[...]It appears that there are some within the NC GOP that want to go back to the days of excluding unaffiliated voters from the party’s primary elections. This would be a bad idea for a number of reasons.
1. The numbers of voters registering as unaffiliated is exploding. Just in [...]
The federal debt now tops $12 trillion. That’s a 12 plus 12 zeroes. You would have to earn a million dollars a year for 12 million years to accumulate that much money. $12 trillion also works out to $87,000 for every U.S. worker (as of Oct.)
North Carolina has a bit [...]
In August, we were all told by the leadership of the General Assembly that $1.1 billion in tax increases were necessary in order to stave off massive, destructive cuts to “critical” state services.
Apparently we were lied to.
According to the Gov. Perdue’s budget director, the state has about $600 million [...]
Today’s Garner-Clayton Record published my letter to the editor (third letter down) discussing why a Garner’s centralized “downtown revitalization” efforts are anything but market-based.
John Hodges, executive director of the Garner Revitalization Association, attempts to assure readers that his organization is embracing a “market-based approach” to Garner’s “downtown revitalization” (A market-based [...]
It is too easy to cheat in North Carolina Elections – just ask Clay Aiken.
In North Carolina, voters are required to sign an Authorization to Vote form before they are handed a ballot – the wording goes something like this:
I hereby certify that the address listed on the label is [...]
Our friends at Watchdog.org have done a great job of exposing the shoddy recordkeeping and the awarding of stimulus funds to phantom congressional districts in various states. After reading the story, I did a little digging myself and learned some interesting things about stimulus funds in North Carolina. First, [...]
This CNN report highlights another dog-bites-man story: the federal government is wasting billions of your dollars in improper payments and fraud:
The federal government made $98 billion in improper payments in fiscal 2009, and President Obama will issue an executive order in coming days to combat the problem, his budget [...]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began a task force to analyze 83 studies of contraceptive-based sexual education programs. The report concludes that group-based comprehensive risk reduction programs will reduce some of the negative consequences of adolescent sexual activity, writes the North Carolina Family Policy Council.
However, two [...]
That may well be the motto for the “health care rationing commission” that may be coming under Obamacare – as outlined in this Wall Street Journal article:
As usual, the most dangerous parts of ObamaCare aren’t receiving the scrutiny they deserve—and one of the least examined is a new commission to [...]
That’s the only sound you will hear coming out of the left-wingers today as another NC based business decides to expand its operations in our neighbor to the south.
According to the AP:
A research firm that develops advanced textiles for the automotive, aeronautics and defense industries says it will open [...]
According to the Capital Trail Motions Index posted online by the North Carolina Court System, defendants seeking to make a motion under the new Racial Justice Act should consult hire “CDPL’s Trial Assistance Unit” prior to filing.
The Center for Death Penalty Litigation, a North Carolina based non-profit, [...]
Recent news indicates that the Obama administration in interested in trying to re-inflate the real estate bubble.
Potential home buyers got an extra incentive Friday when President Barack Obama signed a bill extending a tax credit for first-time buyers and creating a new one for existing homeowners.
….
The bill gives a [...]
Sheldon Richman makes the case that “health care reform” is not about health care, medical care or health insurance at all. It’s about government power.
If the politicians who are bent on redesigning the medical and medical-insurance industries really wanted only to curb rising prices and help the uninsured get [...]
The General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division yesterday released its revenue report for the current fiscal year (which began July 1). The early returns are not encouraging.
• Revenues through the first four months of the fiscal year are 1.5 percent below target.
• Collections through October are running $95 million below a $5.9 [...]
The face behind the “selling grades” fundraiser at Rosewood Middle School in Goldsboro, North Carolina is now retiring. The fundraiser would have allowed students to donate $20 to the school in exchange for 20 extra credit points. Susie Shepherd, the principal, stood behind the fundraiser insisting that the program was not [...]
In only the second time in our nearly four and a half years of polling at the Civitas Institute, Republicans lead the generic legislative ballot here in North Carolina.
Our latest poll has it at 40.7% Republican, 37.8% Democratic.
Coincidentally (or not?) the only two times the Republicans have led the generic [...]
In this excellent piece, John Stossel dusts off his Hayek to discredit the current health care “reform” efforts being foisted upon us.
The 1,990-page bill is breathtaking in its bone-headed audacity. The notion that a small group of politicians can know enough to design something so complex and so personal [...]
Gov. Bev Perdue is honoring veterans today by pandering for military votes telling businesses that they should hire more veterans by participating in a new program called “I Hire Military.”
That’s great and all, but has the Governor noticed unemployment in North Carolina is 10.8% (8th highest in the [...]
In an N&O article, Sen. Kay Hagan says, “I think people have to get their heads around this, that we can’t continue where we are right now …We’re in a window of opportunity right now, and it’s time for health care reform in our country.”
Reform – yes. The type [...]
Media stories and political spin about government budget “cuts” often need a translator for taxpayers to understand the true picture. It’s common practice to label something a “cut” when in reality it simply means that government is spending less on something than it had previously hoped to spend – even [...]
‘Desperate times call for desperate measures’ seems to be the motto at Rosewood Middle School located in Goldsboro, North Carolina. The N&O reports,
“A $20 donation to the middle school will get a student 20 test points- 10 extra points on two tests of the student’s choosing. That could raise [...]
The Cato Institute’s Dan Mitchell talks about the real cost of government run health care…
© Marianne Suarez for Civitas Review Online, 2009. | Permalink | No comment
[...]Robert Higgs of the Independent Institute is a distinguished economic historian, author of several books, expert on the Great Depression and arguably the creator of the concept of “regime uncertainty.”
This concept simply states that economic investment (and therefore growth) is stymied because entrepreneurs are uncertain (and often nervous) about the [...]
The Civitas Institute has posted this study examining the true debt burden of state and local governments across North Carolina.
State and local governments across North Carolina have accumulated nearly $90 billion in debt and unfunded liabilities. That’s equivalent to more than $9,600 for every man, woman, and child across [...]
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) which is the mother-organization of the state employees association (SEANC) apparently feels it is above the law when it comes to complying with North Carolina’s campaign finance laws.
The SEIU’s political action committee, like all PACs, is required to file regular reports with the NC [...]
This WRAL story highlights state government waste relating to the state’s motor fleet.
North Carolina’s state motor fleet is more than 8,500 vehicles strong and travels more than 100 million miles each year.
A WRAL News investigation found that some state agencies paid millions for miles they did not drive and others [...]
Though it’s far from perfect, the North Carolina School Report Card is usually a helpful place to get information about how students are performing in public schools across the state. Last week the Department of Public Instruction released the 2008-2009 data. One of the most interesting tidbits to come out [...]
WRAL has the breakdown of how North Carolina’s Representatives voted on the PelosiCare monstrosity over the weekend:
Eight of North Carolina’s 13 representatives, including three Democrats, voted against the health care overhaul bill approved by the House of Representatives Saturday.
According to the House’s online records, Democratic Reps. Larry Kissel, [...]
A new law signed by Gov. Purdue in May 2009 prohibits smoking in public restaurants and bars. North Carolina’s Smoke-Free Restaurants and Bars Law takes effect January 2, 2010 but local business owners are already getting ready. The N.C. Division of Public Health and the N.C. Association of Local [...]
This Under the Dome post exemplifies the hypocrisy of our state rulers.
The state’s college students don’t know enough about managing money and debt and get themselves in trouble, state Treasurer Janet Cowell learned on a debt tour of college campuses.
….
“This experience, along with national research, has demonstrated the need [...]
President Obama bragged yesterday about AARP’s endorsement of the latest health care reform proposal, claiming the endorsement should silent criticism regarding how seniors will be treated under the new plan. In his speech, Obama said:
The AARP knows this bill will make health care more affordable. They know it will make coverage [...]
The national unemployment rate for October was released today; the numbers don’t look good.
The unemployment rate has surpassed 10 percent for the first time since 1983 – and is likely to go higher….the loss of jobs last month exceeded economists’ estimates. It’s the 22nd straight month the U.S. economy has [...]
Some in and out of the the media have speculated that Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand’s move from the Senate to the Parole Board was partially motivated by the significant pay increase he would receive. His Senate salary is around $17,000 per year while the Parole Board pays in excess [...]
The North Carolina state House and Senate Finance Committees kicked off their “Study of North Carolina’s Tax Structure” with a meeting on Tuesday. This year’s study marks the third or fourth such “study” of NC’s tax system since 2000. Every time, the findings are to broaden the tax base [...]
Newly-elected members of the Wake County School Board sent a promising signal to all Wake County taxpayers on Wednesday by demanding the current school board cease all work on the troubled Forest Ridge High School in northeastern Wake County (see article) .
Lack of local support and cost overruns have [...]
In this Freeman article, economist William Anderson explains why the claims of big-government apologists that the “stimulus” is working are ill-founded.
We begin by explaining something about a real economy, not a creation of the Keynesian textbooks.
An economy is not a “blob” into which people pour money, the Keynesian [...]
This has to be one of the dumbest things I’ve seen in a very, very long time. There is now a dress code for cab drivers in Raleigh. Seriously.
Short shorts, miniskirts, short dresses, T-shirts, tank-tops and flip-flops can no longer be worn by cab drivers under a dress code the [...]
Once again the Governor’s office and NC Department of Commerce feel the need to celebrate the state’s ranking as most likely to give out corporate welfare by Site Selection magazine.
And once again, I will point the readers to a piece written by our own Brian Balfour that seriously [...]
Yesterday, the NC Auditor’s office released a new audit detailing some deficiencies in the operations of the Golden LEAF Foundation. Of note:
There is a risk that potential conflicts of interest or political influence play a role in Golden LEAF investment decisions. For example, in 2002 Golden LEAF invested [...]
I was trying my best not to dignify the results of the latest Elon “poll” with a response, but since the media seems to simply parrot their results without any scrutiny on their methodology, I feel the need to respond.
1. First, let’s discuss who is sampled. Elon polls all North [...]
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, although it still does somehow, that incentives aren’t really working. After the Parton fiasco, the Dell dilemma and the horrific performance of dozens of local and state incentive giveaways we now have a group saying that even GoldenLeaf (yeah, I’m trying [...]
In our latest poll, we have Sen. Richard Burr leading NC Sec. of State Elaine Marshall 43.7% to 33.0%.
Burr is leading among Republicans 79-6 and among Unaffiliateds 47-24. Marshall leads with Democrats but by a much smaller margin 57-17.
In fact, Burr’s hardcore support — those who say they are definitely [...]
We’re down to the final 8 of the Bad Bill of the Year tournament.
The matchups keep getting tougher as the bills keep getting worse.
© Chris Hayes for Civitas Review Online, 2009. | Permalink | No comment
[...]It’s important to note how the left acts and proceeds on the most effective methodology as of yet to promote their agenda under the guise of saving the planet to end capitalism. We had already established that climate news wasn’t all that favorable and thus dropped from a lot of [...]
Today’s WSJ features an article summarizing the results of a WellPoint study estimating that Obamacare will raise health insurance premiums by as high as 200%.
At the request of Congressional delegations worried about their constituents—call it a public service—WellPoint mined its own actuarial data to model ObamaCare in the 14 states [...]
Ok, so the week’s drama in North Carolina came to a close with Easley’s campaign being fined $100k and the state democratic party fined $9k. The case will be turned over to the Wake County DA for possible prosecution. But more drama awaits in the form of the Federal [...]
What happens when health care officials ignore biological differences between men and women? We have talked about this before, here and here. Now, a recent op-ed by Sarba Klein and Phyllis Greenberger in the NY Times argues that the biological differences between men and women should result [...]
North Carolina taxpayers will be forced to subsidize an “immoral” company reaping “windfall profits.”
That’s the conclusion one could easily make in response to this announcement from the Governor’s office showing Gov. Perdue’s continued commitment to further politicize our economy.
Gov. Bev Perdue today announced that Fiserv Inc., (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading global [...]
Amazing! It appears that the Easley lawyers are trying to prove that Republican candidates took flights that were not reported. I guess Mike Easley’s mother never taught him that just because everybody else is doing something doesn’t make it right! And, this from a former Prosecuter/Attorney General/Governor.
They really should have compared apples [...]
The Board has adjourned until 3:30. The Chairman has advised the attorneys that he does not believe they will conclude business today. The talk today has concentrated on contributions and different accounts – including federal and non-federal accounts. Falmlen, at times irritable, was adament that the Democratic Party had done no [...]
It sounds like this will be the last day of hearings into the campaign finance. If this is true, there is a list of 29 subpoenas served (from the State Board of Election’s website), only 12 witnesses will appear and provide testimony. Yesterday, directly after Mike Easley testified, the Board [...]
Who wrote Easley’s finance plans? It is a mystery.
Mike Easley and every other witness have danced around this question for some reason. The best Easley could do was say that Dave Horne was much more involved in 2000 than in 2004. Mike Easley does not remember where his campaign headquarters [...]
The Daily Tar Heel breaks a story today that UNC President Erskine Bowles leads the board of directors of a real estate development company that just won a no-bid contract from a UNC controlled group to redevelop property in downtown Chapel Hill.
UNC-system President Erskine Bowles leads the board of [...]
This video is an emotional appeal to viewers and presents an argument that is entirely inaccurate. Children are covered by insurance either through their parent’s employer, as an individual or through Medicaid. In North Carolina, fewer than 12 percent of children are uninsured but can be covered under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). [...]
Easley said that Campbell called him to say that he was having trouble being paid. He called Rebecca McGhee and told her to pay Campbell. Easley said that the invoices are not related to the house. He said that the invoices were to “bill of a block of time” of [...]
The N&O reports today that the state’s largest insurer Blue Cross and Blue Shield sent out a prepaid mailer asking people to contact Kay Hagan to oppose the government Public Option plan. The mailer was received shortly after customers were informed their premiums would increase by an average of [...]
Those of you who thought Cathy Truitt’s decision to drop out of the District 2 runoff election against John Tedesco for Wake County School Board signified victory for conservatives, think again. On a 4-1 vote, yesterday the State Board of Elections moved to let the race go on with Truitt’s name on [...]
As I read my monthly Discover magazine, I often lament that comments about climate change are ALWAYS slid into unrelated stories without notation. This month was an article about evolutionary biology and how species adapt to predator, prey, parasitic and commensual relationships over time. In the article appeared the [...]
Southwest Airlines has introduced a “green” plane concept. By taking a standard Boeing 737-700 and replacing much of the cabin with “green” features, the plane itself ends up weighing about 472 pounds less. This saved weight translates into lower fuel costs over time. Should all of Southwest’s planes go [...]
This past Saturday 150 activists skipped the fair and instead marched in downtown Raleigh. Their goal? Asking Governor Perdue to halt construction of Duke Energy’s Cliffside coal-fired power plant in Rutherford County.
Opponents argue that if Governor Perdue would enforce the Clean Air Act it would prevent [...]
It’s a fraud. That’s what Wake Superior Court Judge Howard Manning called (See Under the Dome) the Department of Public Instruction’s (DPI) practice of not labelling schools where up to sixty percent of the students fail standardized tests as ”low performing”, simply because of year-to-year improvements in student performance (For additional information on DPI Testing [...]
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy has put together a series of videos documenting what Canadians want you to know about their health care system. The videos discuss medical tourism, wait-list insurance, doctor lotteries, and more. Here’s the first video of the series:
See the rest of the videos on their [...]
HB 168/SB 210-“Choose Life” Special Plate is the only pro-life legislation to make it to the 2010 legislative session. Introduced first in 2000, the bill allows North Carolina drivers to purchase a “Choose Life” specialty plate similar to “Breast [...]
The Greensboro News & Record reports that Dell intends to repay the $26.5 million in local tax dollars they received. Similarly, Gov. Perdue declared that Dell will pay back every “red cent” Dell received from the State.
Many observers will view this as a “no harm, no foul” situation because the [...]
For all of our friends in western North Carolina, this message is for you. Next Saturday, October 31st, the Civitas Institute is bringing Trent Seibert of Texas Watchdog and Erik Telford of Americans For Prosperity to Asheville for a day-long training dedicated to strengthening your investigative journalism and new [...]
I hope you are sitting down for this news. A recent audit of the first-time homebuyer tax credit program reveals it is laden with fraud.
Gasp! Say it ain’t so! A massive government handout encourages people to game the system for “free money”? I know, you’re all completely blindsided by [...]
New poll results from Pew show that a shrinking number of Americans think human activity is the cause of global warming. Only 36% think it is so, down 11 percentage points from last April.
Even better, the number who think global warming is not happening as seen an increase of [...]
In what has to be seen as a somewhat bizarre and highly questionable decision, the NC DOT has decided to continue with its plans to expand a Winston-Salem road that leads to the soon to be empty Dell manufacturing plant. From today’s W-S Journal:
Even though Dell said earlier this [...]
A passage from this WRAL story about Gov. Perdue’s “business recruitment” trip to Japan and China stood out:
China’s growing economy is so strong that incentives are not the key factor to luring investment, Perdue observed.
“It is very apparent that they have so much liquidity,” she said.
Rather than money and [...]
Brace yourself.
There is a store in Nashville, NC that sells guns. (I know this is hard for some people to believe but, I swear, its true.)
This same store has posters in the window featuring the main product of the store: Guns. (Again, I know its difficult to believe but, stick [...]
Despite the wooing of Gov. Bev Perdue and the undoubted promise of hundreds of millions in incentives, Boeing has eliminated North Carolina from consideration on where to build its new manufacturing facility for its 787 aircraft.
South Carolina has made the final two, however.
Apparently, not even a nearly-vacant taxpayer [...]
So, the North Carolina State Board of Elections is set to hold hearings on former Governor Mike Easley’s campaign finance irregularities that mostly relate to his use of private planes owned by big time donors.
Talk around Raleigh has it that that the US Attorney already has the goods on the [...]
With apologies to Tommy Flannigan the famous president of Liar’s Anonymous from SNL a few years back. One of the most abused and dishonest concepts of the left is the supposition that they are truly trying to help EVERYONE. From [...]
This morning the new Youth Accountability Planning Task Force met with the Juvenile Justice Department to discuss whether 16 and 17 year olds are adults and, therefore, not considered juveniles under the law. WRAL reports that North Carolina currently recognizes 16 and 17 year olds as adult offenders, but [...]
A new group has formed to inform the public of what the costs of Obama’s climate change (what happened to global warming?) legislation. The Cost of Energy Information Project (CEIP) is being formed with the help of Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour.
If you want to see how much you energy bills [...]
Yesterday’s WSJ featured an article spotlighting the state of Michigan’s continued economic woes. Its no secret that Michigan, with the highest unemployment rate in the nation, has been struggling for a while – and in fact was mired in a “one-state recession” even while the rest of the nation [...]
An article in the Wall Street Journal today discusses the flaws of the World Health Organization’s report, often cited by proponents of government run health care, which ranks the U.S. 37th in health care. More and more people are becoming aware of just how inaccurate and inconsistent these measures really [...]
A video hit youtube on Saturday, October 17th that shows an incident from Greensboro that involved abortion, guns, your rights and how the police interpret them. 26 year old small business owner, James Penn noticed a group of Christians being questioned by a Greensboro officer. The Christians had gathered near [...]
When the district you represent contains a huge military base, you tend to focus your attention on the Marines and Sailors that are stationed there. Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC3) has an interesting interview on the Marine’s V-22 Osprey aircraft on the Naval Institute’s blog.
The interview delves into [...]
The Finance Committee health care reform bill would extend Medicaid eligibility to 133% of the Federal Poverty Level (the HELP Committee bill would extend it to 150% FPL).
What does a 44.2% enrollment increase mean for the state’s Medicaid program which is [...]
The North Carolina State Fair has joined efforts to make North Carolina more “green.” WRAL reports that these “environmentally friendly” projects include collecting cooking oil to make biodiesel, using livestock manure to generate energy and making recycling bins accessible to fair patrons. Considering the recent ban on plastic bottles [...]
Today’s WSJ shows why nobody should believe the claims of health care “reform” advocates stating that their (latest) plan will somehow “save” $81 billion over the next ten years.
Washington has just run a $1.4 trillion budget deficit for fiscal 2009, even as we are told a new health-care entitlement will [...]
The town of Carrboro has a program to lend money to businesses within the town. This is another example of government undertaking activities outside of what government should do. If a business can’t get a loan through normal channels that probably means they are not a good credit risk.
The [...]
First let me say, I’m deeply grateful for the sacrifice and service of all of our veterans. All deserve our respect and we owe those confined to military hospitals a quality of care that reflects the heart of a grateful nation. That said, I don’t understand the decision by the Charles George Veterans Affairs Hospital in [...]
Voting opens today for the last grouping of bills in the first round of the Bad Bill of the Year tournament. Some great matchups this week!
© Chris Hayes for Civitas Review Online, 2009. | Permalink | No comment
[...]Simply staggering, so much so that even the media (WRAL in this case) can’t spin it:
What is $1.42 trillion? It’s more than the total national debt for the first 200 years of the Republic, more than the entire economy of India, almost as much as Canada’s, and more than [...]
This latest case of “pier pressure” shows just how far our elected officials will go with little to no further planning.
While there is currently no plan for design or construction (much less funding plans), Town officials in Carolina Beach have proposed a property tax increase of 1.5 cents per [...]
People opposed to the death penalty always like to say that sentencing someone to life in prison is worse than the death penalty therefore it is a more appropriate sentence for heinous crimes. Proponents of the death penalty, such as myself, have argued that you can’t insure that someone sentenced [...]
Today’s Triangle Business Journal(subscription required) published my article responding to a prior article critical of our study revealing that the federal stimulus will actually cost roughly 67,000 North Carolina jobs.
Guest columnist and UNC Greensboro professor Andy Brod recently took issue ( Don’t listen to Civitas, Laffer, Sept. 11, [...]
Bob Luebke, Brian Balfour, Chris Hayes, Marianne Suarez, Jessica Custer, Chad Adams, Susan Myrick, Jeff Mixon, Kasey Ginsberg, Francis De Luca, Jana Benscoter
