Since most companies know our state’s leadership are a bunch of suckers for incentive packages and will throw taxpayer money around chasing the elusive score, North Carolina has once again been used as the rabbit to run up the incentive package for another state — this time, Radio Shack has made NC its tease.
RadioShack, which has looked at Raleigh as a possible place to move its corporate headquarters, is making signs that it plans to stay in Fort Worth.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported today that the company’s lease on the Tarrant County College campus it shares with the college had been extended for five years.
So once again the state gets “played” for a package of incentives. Instead of just being used as a tool to drive up a negotiating position, it’s time the state just said no.
Our friends at Americans for Prosperity are up with a new health care ad featuring a breast cancer survivor reminding us the ramifications of passing Obamacare.
The Heritage Foundation’s Brian Riedl has this lengthy summary of President Obama’s budget in the Wall Street Journal. An excerpt:
When he released his new budget proposal on February 1, President Barack Obama asserted that the government “simply cannot continue to spend as if deficits don’t have consequences; as if waste doesn’t matter; as if the hard-earned tax dollars of the American people can be treated like Monopoly money; as if we can ignore this challenge for another generation.”
Yet the President’s new budget does exactly that– raising taxes by $3 trillion and federal spending by $1.6 trillion over the next ten years. If enacted, this budget would increase the 2010 deficit to more than $1.5 trillion, and leave a deficit of more than $1 trillion even after an assumed return to peace and prosperity. Overall, the President’s budget would double the national debt over the next decade.
Runaway debt, massive deficits, job-killing tax hikes. Oh the joys of Hope and Change.
It seems the folks at Red State have notice our cocaine and monkeys article and have written a post about it. They also were quite creative in coming up with the following image to parody this wasteful spending.
One has to wonder what legislative leaders and the governor are thinking as unemployment rises yet again to a staggering 11.1%, up from the 10.9% in December. In spite of millions upon millions in incentives and hundreds of millions from Golden Leaf and still more millions given away at the local level, the economic development of our state has become a serious concern.
North Carolina has hovered around 11 percent unemployment since last April. In January 2009, unemployment statewide was at 9.2 percent.
If one adds the Global Transpark to the mix, economic development looks even more preposterous. Rather than look at ways to bring businesses to the state, our motto seems to be that we can bribe them to come here. In spite of numerous lists depicting NC as a great place to do business our tax system is antiquated, taxes are too high and we’re not focused on making the system any better.
It’s somewhat dated news (two days) but it still is worth mentioning. As I was hosting “Take A Stand” on Monday I saw Pelosi’s comments to the National Association of Counties. Maybe a gaff, maybe an honest statement, but still worth mentioning (from USNews):
Pelosi began the windup of her healthcare pitch by alluding to the controversies over the healthcare bill and the process by which it has reached its current state. Then, just after saying, “It’s going to be very, very exciting,” Pelosi gaffed, telling the local elected officials assembled that Congress “[has] to pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it, away from the fog of controversy.”
Sometimes, comedy just appears from the pixie dust in Washington.
Peter Roff, in the same referenced column above, goes on to point out other Pelosi perspectives:
This is the same Nancy Pelosi who, only weeks earlier, was bragging about the transparency of the process that produced the bill that is currently stalled in Congress. The same Pelosi who brushed aside concerns raised by organizations like Let Freedom Ring!–where I am a senior fellow–that members of Congress actually commit to reading the bill before voting for it and that it be posted online for at least 72 hours before any vote so that the American people can read it, too.
Last night the Wake County School Board placed Del Burns on administrative leave until the effective date of his resignation as superintendent of the Wake County Schools, June 30th. While I respect Mr. Burns’ contributions to Wake County Schools, I cannot agree with his decision to refuse to sign a statement to carry out board policy, as reported on last night’s TV news. Burns’ refusal is surprising to many. It also begs the question: If Burns doesn’t think he was hired to carry out school board policy, what then, does he consider his duties to be? Burns’ responsibilities are clearly spelled out in the statutes and his current employment contract. Those provisions also underscore, without question, that the superintendent serves the board and is an employee of the school board.
Three weeks ago Burns said he couldn’t agree with the direction of the board and submitted his resignation. Since then, his intemperate remarks have left no doubt that he couldn’t and wouldn’t carry out his responsibilities. The school board had no choice but to remove Mr. Burns. It was the right thing to do.
Gov. Perdue today announced that North Carolina state employees won’t be getting a pay raise in this summer’s budget. Perdue did, however, mention the possibility of paying back the unpaid two-day furlough from last year; but that remains in doubt.
Perdue’s administration writes the first draft of the state budget every year, and lawmakers then make substantial changes before passing it. In this case, though, legislative leaders already agreed with Perdue on forgoing raises. They expressed caution about paying back the $65 million to $70 million in furlough money.
“It depends on the economy,” said Rep. Mickey Michaux, a Durham Democrat and senior budget committee chairman. “I would gladly consider it, but that’ll be tempered by what [revenue] we’re bringing in.”
The governor did not comment on whether any state workers will lose their jobs this year, an issue on which they had conflicting messages recently.
On March 25, the Civitas Institute is sponsoring a lecture by Father Robert Sirico, President of the Acton Institute who will be speaking on “Does Social Justice Require Socialism?”
Too see a bit of what Fr. Sirico is about, check out his “Tangle with Rangel” from a House Committee hearing in 2007.
To attend the lecture, sign up on the Civitas website here. The cost is $10 for individuals, $15 per couple.
The Washington D.C. based Tax Foundation released this report critiquing the “Amazon Tax,” a tax North Carolina enacted as part of the state budget last summer. Some highlights:
Sponsors have promised that a revenue windfall would follow enactment of an Amazon tax, but no windfalls have been forthcoming so far. This is often because online companies respond to Amazon tax law enactments by ending their affiliate programs.
….
Similarly, legislative officials estimated that North Carolina’s Amazon tax would raise $13 million in its first year of operation, but the termination of affiliate programs in the state makes this unlikely. Revenue officials have stated that they are not tracking Amazon tax revenues.
North Carolina lawmakers saw the Amazon tax as another revenue stream to help bail them out of a massive budget deficit last summer. It appears those funds won’t materialize. North Carolina’s current fiscal year revenue is already below projections, and may likely fall even further behind as the year unfolds. Additional layoffs and unpaid furloughs for state employees and teachers may well be on the horizon in order for the state to pay its bills. This dire situation can be blamed, in part, on legislators’ misguided belief that the Amazon tax would bring in millions in tax revenue. They can’t claim that they weren’t warned.
