When George W. Bush – the “compassionate conservative” – became President, the national debt was $5.6 trillion. Today it is $8.3 trillion. That is $2.7 trillion in additional debt. That is a 48 percent increase. By the way, if you’re having trouble grasping how much a trillion is: It’s a million millions. Click to Read…
Read MoreThere was a time – when Raleigh had a Republican Mayor – when growth meant no new taxes. Back then, when the city grew, new people and new businesses moved here, they paid new taxes, revenues went up and the city didn’t have to raise tax rates on the rest of us. Mysteriously, this has…
Read MorePut this under the category of non-surprising news: the Mexican election might be stolen. But the news made me thankful for the wisdom of our Founding Fathers. Namely, the much-maligned Electoral College. American elections are going south – literally. Thanks to Florida 2000, every closely fought presidential election will see charges of fraud. Just like…
Read MoreRepublicans are hoping the ‘pay to play’ scandals swirling around Speaker Jim Black will help them retake control of the State House this fall. So it sounds odd that a Republican, Representative Paul Stam, has introduced a bill to delete a key provision from the legislation to end ‘pay to play.’ Money and campaign contributions…
Read MoreHere are two appropriate topics for my Fourth of July post: flag-burning and The New York Times. The two have this in common: They are the Republicans’ latest ploy to avoid an election disaster in November. Since W can’t catch Osama, pacify Iraq or convince Americans he has a plan to win the war, he…
Read MoreThe News and Observer reports the maintenance for the RBC Center is going to cost $60 million over the next 16 years (6/27/06). Who can argue with that? We built it, we’ve got to take care of it. But there’s a warning here. When the City Council or County Commissioners spend $100 million for an…
Read MoreJohn Edwards is telling Democrats they need backbone. Mr. Edwards is also running for President on the courageous platform of eliminating poverty. He says he can do it – or a lot of it – for $20 billion. Lyndon Johnston couldn’t eliminate poverty with the whole Great Society program. The trillions we’ve spent on welfare…
Read MoreThe State Senate’s budget increases government spending a whopping 9.4%. But it turns out the Senators are the ones holding the line. The Governor wants to increase spending even more: 9.6%. And the House topped him: 9.7%. The Governor and the Senate want to spend 90.5% of the state’s $2.4 billion surplus – and return…
Read MoreFour big waste management corporations – three from out of state – want to put waste dumps of the Mount Everest variety in eastern North Carolina. Then they want to haul garbage here from other states. Each of the dumps is near the coast. One is in the middle of a flood plain. It seems…
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