Posts by Carter Wrenn
The Vanishing Cuts
If Bev Perdue had a few more Cabinet Secretaries like Lanier Cansler she’d never have to cut spending a penny – no matter what Republican legislators said. Last summer the Republicans told Cansler to cut the state’s $12.9 billion Medicaid budget by $350 million. The other day a team of legislators came back to…
Read MoreThe Last Two Candidates?
Judging by the Las Vegas debate, the seven guys and the one lady running for President in the Republican Primaries are getting testy. Right off, with no pleasantries, everyone lit into Herman Cain – which seems to be the paradigm for Republican Presidential campaigns. The pundits and bloggers and Fox News anoint a flavor…
Read MoreOne Rip-off, Two Villains
Here’s an unusual experiment in ethics: Is Citibank guilty or innocent of bilking investors by selling home mortgage bond packages? The answer, the bank says, is neither. It’s neither innocent nor guilty. In fact, it’s neutral on the issue. But, the bank adds, it will pay a $285 million fine to put the past behind…
Read MoreBail Bonding
Some ne’er-do-well over in Johnston County got himself arrested, thrown into jail, hired a bail bondsman, then skipped town leaving the bondsman holding the bag. Which left the bondsman with 20 days to file a motion to get his money back – if he could show the bail jumper had died unexpectedly or been locked…
Read MoreBeating Around the Bush
Back in the old days hardly anyone noticed when a Governor took a stand. But times have changed. Just look at the newspaper headline: Perdue Announces She Will Take a Stand. From there the process gets more puzzling. Before she would announce whether she was for or against the Constitutional Amendment banning gay…
Read MoreFlawless Logic
First President Obama announced he was going to raise taxes on everyone making over $200,000 – then he fell victim to logic; Senator Charles Schumer did the math, looked at the numbers and to Schumer the message was clear: There are a lot more people making over $200,000 than there are people making over $1…
Read MoreFair Warning
The other morning after she finished reading the obituaries my wife turned to the front page of the newspaper and frowned then declared, That is ridiculous. Buried in the sports page I muttered, What’s ridiculous? John Edwards says he can’t be prosecuted because the government didn’t give him ‘fair warning’ he was violating…
Read MoreThe Greatest Threat
There’s been an outbreak of populism on – of all places on earth – Wall Street. It started when a hardy band of protesters camped out in a small park near the Stock Exchange, waving anti-Obama, anti-Republican, anti-Democrat and anti-Wall Street greed signs. For a while no one paid attention. Then, suddenly, the protesters became…
Read MoreHow to Win Friends Political Style (It Beats Dale Carnegie)
It didn’t work out too well when Congress went into the home loan business a couple of years ago – so it seems odd the Raleigh City Council wants to do the same thing. However, just about everyone in town seems to think passing a bond to borrow millions so the Council can make…
Read MoreHow to Make Friends the Political Way – Part II
The other borrowing the Raleigh City Council has put on the ballot is a Transportation Bond. Which sounds like the Council wants to borrow money to repair potholes and build new streets. Except the newspaper reported three-fourths of the money isn’t for roads. Almost everyone it seems is for this bond too. And if…
Read More