April 1, 2010

Woods sees no end to the stimulus silliness any time soon

Posted by Mitch Kokai at 4:13 PM

Carolina Journal Radio listeners will have a chance soon to hear the expert commentary of Thomas Woods, senior fellow at the Mises Institute, author of books such as Meltdown and The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, and the featured speaker at this week's Adam Smith Club annual banquet at Campbell University.

The following video clip features an interview segment cut from the radio program. Carolina Journal Radio asked Woods whether he sees any likelihood that government will abandon stimulus programs and other big-government spending plans to return to a more sustainable path.

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Re: Obama comes to Charlotte

Posted by Paul Chesser at 3:28 PM

Hey, that's twice in less than two weeks that the president and vice president have visited North Carolina to praise rent-seeking companies for their unique skills at the game of Government Gimme!

We should feel speh-shul.

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Origins of socialized medicine

Posted by George Leef at 12:19 AM

Here is a superb and revealing article posted on the von Mises site. It's from a book written in 1950 by Melchior Palyi. The parallels between Bismarck and Obama are strong.

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Obama comes to Charlotte to celebrate corporate welfare

Posted by Dr. Roy Cordato at 11:22 AM

The Charlotte Observer reports today that President Obama will be in Charlotte on Friday to visit a corporate leach called Celgard. According to the article "The company makes porous membranes for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in notebook computers, digital cameras and other devices." The paper suggests that the administration views Calgard as a green jobs success story. It notes that "Obama could point to Celgard as an example of a company that has prospered with federal help." Apparently the company has been the beneficiary of a $49 million grant from the Feds. Now let's see, Celgard is a success not because it is providing a sound product at a reasonable price, but because the government is using the coercive powers of the state to forcibly transfer hard earned money from citizens in exchange for the right not to go to jail for refusing to fork it over. It seems to me that this is nothing to brag about. Indeed, the pyramid industry could succeed under these same circumstances. Although I think the pyramids were built more honestly. At least the people whose efforts were going into that success story were clearly recognized by their masters as slaves, no one was pretending that they were free. Hey Mr. President, the real heroes are the companies that, in spite of all the damage that you are inflicting on the economy, are prospering without federal help.

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Lucy Allen's departure adds spice to House-49 race

Posted by David N. Bass at 09:41 AM

Four-term incumbent state Rep. Lucy Allen, D-Franklin, is leaving the House. Gov. Bev Perdue appointed Allen to the N.C. Utilities Commission effective April 12.

That makes Allen the 12th Democrat in the General Assembly either to resign or retire this year. Allen is chairwoman of the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee

Her departure could edge the district even more into the swing category. The Civitas Institute's partisan index ranks House 49 as "D+3," meaning Democrats have a slight advantage there. The district encompasses all or part of Franklin, Halifax, and Nash counties.

In 2008, Allen beat her opponent handily — 59 percent to 41 percent. She pervailed by an almost identical margin in 2006.

Allen's replacement has yet to be announced. Glen Bradley is the only candidate on the Republican side vying for the seat.

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The medical industrial complex II

Posted by Joseph Coletti at 09:31 AM

The insurance arm of the medical industrial complex, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is now firmly joined at the hip to the Left's FamiliesUSA, the organization that annually shows what a moneymaker Medicaid for state government, despite the program's　projected $250 million shortfall this year.

AHIP will participate in, and likely contribute millions of dollars to, Enroll America which seeks to entrench ObamaCare by getting people enrolled in its programs in all 50 states as quickly as possible.

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Would the Founders love Obamacare?

Posted by George Leef at 09:20 AM

That's the question Daniel Henninger asks in his WSJ column today. (The answer is NO.)

The column isn't so much about history, though, as the current uproar against the ever-expanding entitlement/nanny/warden state. Henninger writes, "The political issue rumbling toward both the Supreme Court and the electorate is whether Washington's size and power has finally grown beyond the comfort zone of the American people."

Yes and no. There are a lot of Americans who are perfectly comfortable with the size and power of the government and want to see it bigger yet. They're the tax consumers. They think they're entitled to more and more of the wealth that's produced by others and confiscated and redistributed by politicians. It doesn't bother them in the least that this regime is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. They don't concern themselves with the long-run vitality of the economy.

Government union chiefs, for example, never stop demanding more and expecting the public to pay up. They find the size and power of government very comfortable.

The looming battle is between those who produce and those who want to keep living (more and more lavishly) at the expense of others.

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What's wrong with the Concord Coalition

Posted by Joseph Coletti at 09:17 AM

I attended a Concord Coalition program at UNC last night on the ever-expanding federal debt. All questions I had about why the Concord Coalition hasn't been more effective in addressing the problem were answered. It took a question from the audience, well me, to get the panelists to acknowledge that the new health care law passed CBO scrutiny only by playing a shell game, but none of them addressed the fact that Medicare is already ignoring the law and acting as if the $59 billion "doc fix" is in force.

Alternate reality is fine up to a point, but one of the speakers was Stefan Kreuger-Byrd, youth outreach coordinator for the Concord Coalition. He used two case studies to show how youth could get involved. One was a Leftish student group that is a division of the Roosevelt Institute dedicated to "carrying forward the legacy and values of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt." The other was Y.I. Want Change, another Leftish group that worked to make 26 the new age of adulthood and whose head was a guest of Nancy Pelosi at the signing of the health care bill.

The Concord Coalition was always more concerned about raising taxes than cutting spending, but the program last night showed that the Coalition cares even less about the growth in the size of government and is perfectly happy for it to grow, as long as tax collections grow faster.

The numbers are bad enough, but seeing a respected bipartisan group actively work against spending restraint is truly dispiriting.

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The new Intolerable Act

Posted by George Leef at 08:40 AM

Ed Feulner of Heritage Foundation draws a useful historical parallel between the Intolerable Acts of Parliament and the passage of Obamacare here.

Too bad that Americans didn't rebel at the earlier welfare state advances: Social Security, Medicare and many others. The nanny statists were more careful with those, with immediate benefits for a few and widespread costs over most of the population. Few people saw the trap of government dependence they were happily walking into. But now, a lot of people see the looming disaster, which will hurt many people right away in exchange for the egalitarian dream of health insurance for everyone.

The rebellion is on.

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Another respectable writer turns thumbs down on Frum

Posted by George Leef at 08:32 AM

Emmett Tyrrell calls him "odious" in this piece.

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Larry Elder calls out the Obamacrats

Posted by George Leef at 08:18 AM

The only tactic the Obamacrats have against the mountain of rational criticism of their leviathan assault on what is left of health care freedom is to smear and demonize a few of the opponents and then expect people to illogically conclude that the substance of the legislation must therefore be good since the opponents are stupid or nasty.

Larry Elder, who will no doubt be attacked as not "authentically black" for opposing Obamacare, blows the whistle on this venal agitprop campaign here.

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Cato expert touts a flat tax

Posted by Mitch Kokai at 07:49 AM

For more on state-specific tax changes, see Roy Cordato’s work on Tax Reform in North Carolina.

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Latest dispatches from the campaign trail

Posted by David N. Bass at 07:30 AM

• Congressman Mel Watt of N.C.'s 12th congressional district has a quiet town hall on health care.


• Two Republicans are challenging state Sen. Andrew Brock in the primary.


• State Board of Elections opens criminal inquiry into campaign donations.


• Congressman Howard Coble, R-6th, says he is taking all five GOP challengers in his primary seriously.


• House District 22 Republican John Szoka makes his pitch for office in the Fayetteville Observer.

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New Carolina Journal Online features

Posted by Mitch Kokai at 06:51 AM

The latest Carolina Journal Online exclusive is appropriate for April 1 (hint, hint). It's an exclusive interview with former U.S. Sen. John Edwards. 

John Hood's Daily Journal makes the case for North Carolina to scrap its arbitrary cap of 100 charter schools.

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Latest dispatches from the campaign trail

Posted by David N. Bass at 06:30 AM

• D’Annunzio and Johnson lead the money race in the 8th congressional district Republican primary.


• In related news, 8th district Congressman Larry Kissell is getting owned in fundraising.


• If you don’t mind wading through the girly ads and liberal bias, The Independent profiles the Triangle-area House races.


• The Gaston Gazaette reports on effectiveness rankings for local legislators.


• The Salisbury Post reports on a Wednesday evening forum for Senate 34 and House 77 Republican primaries.

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