The morality of capitalism captured the attention this week of Daren Bakst, John Locke Foundation Director of Legal and Regulatory Studies. The Beaufort Observer, Cape Fear Business News, Lincoln Tribune, and N.C. Senate Republicans all picked up Bakst’s column on the topic. Bakst’s article captured the No. 1 slot in the conservative section at Reddit.com. The Daily Tar Heel interviewed Bakst about Wake County’s new panhandling ordinance, and a documentary film crew chatted with him for a production targeting the history of North Carolina’s eugenics-related forced sterilization program. Bakst also discussed the legal challenges ahead for ObamaCare during a presentation to a Wilson Tea Party group. In other research news, JLF experts continue to attract attention for their critiques of proposed sales-tax referendums on local ballots in North Carolina. Mountain XPress quoted Michael Sanera, Director of Research and Local Government Studies, in an article about Buncombe County’s sales-tax vote. An Orange County Republican Party news alert cited media coverage of JLF’s criticism of the Orange sales-tax proposal. The Heritage Foundation’s “Insider Online” promoted a recent report targeting Durham’s sales-tax plans. The Heritage “Insider” also highlighted a report from Roy Cordato, Vice President for Research and Resident Scholar, explaining the flaws in policies designed to promote energy efficiency. A separate Heritage blog entry focused on Cordato’s dissection of energy efficiency arguments. Cordato discussed competing tax plans from Republican presidential candidates Herman Cain and Rick Perry during his most recent appearance on Chad Adams’ WLTT Radio morning program. The Alter Now website featured Cordato’s concerns about renewable energy subsidies. In other news, the News & Observer‘s “Wake Ed” blog noted that Terry Stoops, Director of Education Studies, participated in a Locker Room blog debate involving school board candidate qualifications. The Daily Tar Heel quoted Stoops in an article based on Stoops’ research into the links between questionable public school graduation standards and rising community college remediation rates. Fergus Hodgson, Director of Fiscal Policy Studies, offered the classical liberal side of the story in a tax debate this week sponsored by Duke’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.