House and Senate negotiators continue to haggle over the final version of the state budget. John Locke Foundation Fiscal and Health Care Policy Analyst Joseph Coletti will share his views about the budget during an appearance at 6 p.m. today (repeated 11 a.m. Sunday) on News 14 Carolina’s “Political Connections.” Coletti also took his budget and health care messages on the road for a recent presentation to the Wayne County Republican Party. The Goldsboro News-Argus promoted the speech ahead of time and covered it. Meanwhile, a News-Argus guest columnist also cited Coletti’s work on documenting the problems associated with government overspending. (In a John Locke Foundation report that was published in September 2006, Joseph Coletti nailed it on the head when he said, “Contrary to the popular rhetoric about ‘tax and spend’ policies, lawmakers actually spend first and tax later. During economic booms, legislators use rising tax revenues to create new programs that cannot be sustained during an economic bust.”)
