Planning for the next recession
How do we plan for the next economic downturn? It may seem a trifle premature to be tackling this task. After all, the North Carolina economy is just beginning to start its recovery from the Great...
View ArticleMutual aid remains important in tough times
These are tough times for the jobless. The recovery is weak and is not generating enough jobs so far. What are we to do address our citizens' employment worries and realities? To start, there are...
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Mistakes and lessons of the Obama stimulus package
Despite the efficacy of the Obama Administration's package in preventing a full-scale Great Depression Number Two and cutting the unemployment rate by a significant factor, it is widely regarded as a...
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Deficit reduction with fewer fears
North Carolina, like most American states, faces a very tough funding future. The state has a large budget shortfall, which it is legally required to close. Hard choices are on the horizon –...
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The case for new state jobs initiative
“Jobs!” At this juncture of a painfully slow recovery from a major recession, there is little doubt regarding what most North Carolinians wants the most from their public policymakers and the private...
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Why misguided “common knowledge” holds back our economic recovery
The American economic picture remains very grim. The recovery from the Great Recession can only be called “tepid” – especially on the job creation front. New cuts in government spending resulting from...
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After the Great Recession: What next?
Journalist Don Peck has just written one of the most important books yet published on the Great Recession. Entitled “Pinched: How the Great Recession has narrowed our futures and what we can do about...
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What next for the “Occupy” movement?
The Occupy Wall Street movement demonstrates that the United States still has a Left, despite recent electoral misfortunes, and its weaker political infrastructure. The American Left does not own a...
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Why Medicaid expansion is a no-brainer
Under the Affordable Care Act (sometimes referred to as “Obamacare” and the “ACA”), the federal government has a remarkably good deal on the table for states wishing to participate in a major...
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Building a path back to power for NC progressives
North Carolina progressives have earned a good deal of deserved praise at the national level over the last year or so for their spirited resistance to the conservative political takeover that has...
View ArticleEconomic development policy should put people first
By William Schweke, CFED Conventional wisdom says that tax breaks and other incentives are the drivers in state and local development and that their availability and size are the key determinates of...
View ArticleWe need an accurate picture of North Carolina’s business incentives budget
Few government expenditures are more controversial these days than “business incentives.” With incentives, of course, government provides direct cash payments and/or tax breaks to a private business in...
View ArticleAre we really one North Carolina?
North Carolina is a perplexing state. When one looks at its key economic, technological and workforce indicators, you would expect them to be stronger. While the state enjoys lots of good numbers...
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CFED Reports NC Tax-based Subsidies are Increasing
North Carolina needs further accountability on economic development spending A new report examining North Carolina’s economic development spending says that while state spending is rising sharply, tax...
View ArticleNorth Carolina needs more sunshine on its business subsidy programs
The first thing any personal finance expert will tell you is that before you make any decisions on how you budget your money, you first figure out how much you are spending and where it is going....
View ArticleDell’s factory sell-off and North Carolina
The recent announcement by the Dell Corporation that it was planning to sell its factories to cut costs should have come as no surprise. Today’s new global economy is characterized by a frantic effort...
View ArticleAssessing the responses to the meltdown
Ever since the global capitalist system almost collapsed when Bank of America quaked and Lehman Brothers went under, there has been no shortage of worthwhile books, articles, and pamphlets. Indeed,...
View ArticleEducation reform is the key to sustainable economic recovery
A consulting buddy of mine used to say that "there are three modes of existence in life and in economic development – you can flourish, cope or die." This is the pickle that both the U.S. and North...
View ArticleObama between a rock and a hard place on the economy
The Obama Administration already has a remarkably full plate – health care reform, cap-and-trade climate legislation, financial regulation, immigration policy, et cetera, et cetera. And that's just on...
View ArticleExtremism in the defense of “liberty†is a vice
Though it was penned nearly half a century ago in support of a losing candidate, many Americans are still familiar with the phrase, authored by speechwriter, Karl Hess, for presidential candidate,...
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