John Hood: Federal Funds Bring Federal Strings
RALEIGH — President Donald Trump’s executive orders on education have some North Carolinians crying foul.
John Hood
John Hood: New Committee Will Pursue Budget Savings
RALEIGH — Last month, North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall tapped Rep. John Torbett (R-Gaston) and Rep. Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort) to lead a new select committee on government efficiency.
John Hood: States should reclaim responsibilities
RALEIGH — Reacting a few days ago to President Donald Trump’s brief attempt to suspend payment on a broad swath of federal grants, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer warned that “virtually any organization, school, state, police office, county, town or community depends on federal grant money to run its day-to-day operations, and they’re all now in danger.”
John Hood: Washington Can Control This Weather
RALEIGH — The weather hasn’t been kind to North Carolina lately — so we really can’t afford the policy storm now brewing in the nation’s capital.
John Hood: Expand Options to Ease Medical Costs
RALEIGH — As the North Carolina General Assembly begins its 2025 session, lawmakers have many pressing issues to tackle.
John Hood: State Should Keep Fostering Broad Growth
RALEIGH — As a proud native of the Charlotte area who has happily lived most of my life in the Raleigh area, I am overjoyed to report that North Carolina’s recent growth extends far beyond our two most-populous communities.
John Hood: North Carolina Should Prepare for Cuts
RALEIGH — Are we on the brink of World War III? Not necessarily, argue the coauthors of a new book, so long as we do what is necessary to deter revanchists threatening peace and freedom around the world. But America and its allies have already entered a new Cold War with the CRINK Axis — China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and their client states in Eurasia and Latin America — and policymakers inside and outside Washington need to understand fully its implications.
John Hood: To Make Homes More Affordable, Build!
RALEIGH — In places where the regulatory climate makes it easier to build new homes, it’s easier for people to find housing at affordable prices.
John Hood: Central Planning Fails in Health Care
RALEIGH — We live and work in a mostly free economy — but a spate of year-end stories demonstrated a prominent exception.
John Hood: Post COVID scores tumble in NC
RALEIGH — In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, student performance fell across much of the United States. According to a new study of 2022 math and reading scores, however, North Carolina students suffered one of the country’s biggest tumbles.
John Hood: Carolinians Start Year with Guarded Optimism
RALEIGH — Being a naturally hopeful person with much to be thankful for, I try to talk to a wide variety of people before speculating about public opinion.
John Hood: Our Electoral Future Remains Unwritten
The Republican Party enjoyed impressive electoral successes in 2024. Its candidates won the presidency, the U.S. Senate, and (narrowly) the U.S. House, while retaining control of most state governments around the country. For the first time in many decades, more Americans identified as Republicans than as Democrats in preelection polls.