Thousands of North Carolina families continue to struggle as poor economic policies from the feds and the state have strangled private-sector growth and job creation. So what should we do here in our state? JLF’s John Hood lays out the options — and the solution — in this column.
The Left’s fascination with manipulating consumer demand to tame the business cycle is about 50 years out of date. Its model doesn’t account for the role of incentives in encouraging or discouraging the work, savings, and investment that create real wealth. The model assumes that raising taxes won’t change the behavior of investors, entrepreneurs, and highly productive professionals, and it assumes that increasing the value of government cash and non-cash benefits won’t change the behavior of recipients.
In other words, the Left lives in Fantasyland. Must be fun, but someone has to actually leave the amusement park and get back to work.
The good news is that the Center and the Right together vastly outnumber the Left. Here’s a common agenda for their consideration:
• Lighten North Carolina’s tax and regulatory burdens to increase the profitability – and thus the likelihood – of investment in North Carolina businesses.
• Reduce unwise government subsidies of immediate consumption (Medicaid and unemployment insurance, for example) to free up resources for valuable, job-creating investment in both public and private capital.
• Use consumer choice, competitive contracting, and other innovative mechanisms to increase the payoff from government spending on education and infrastructure. Invite private investment in physical and human capital, as well.
