RALEIGH — Brace yourself. The arrival of Labor Day traditionally begins the homestretch of electoral campaigns. You may well join millions of fellow voters in utter exhaustion with the politics of 2024. But I promise you the candidates and their surrogates are raring to run this final leg of the race.
In reaction to an array of economic indicators pointing toward an upcoming recession, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated during an August press conference that the Federal Reserve would be shifting its focus from quelling inflation to promoting employment. This change in language signals a transition toward interest-rate cuts soon.
Now that fall term has begun for most colleges and universities, we’re about to witness one of the most predictable phenomena in modern American politics: for every raucous or violent campus protest that gets significant media attention, Democratic candidates will lose voters.
Jane Wettach of Duke Law School’s Children’s Law Clinic was on the attack again. "School Vouchers in North Carolina – The First Three Years” was authored by Professor Jane R. Wettach of the Children's Law Clinic, Duke Law School in March, 2017. In May 2020 she released another broadside.
For years, the Carolina Journal has been following Democratic Party efforts to keep third parties off the ballot. The Democrat strategy makes some sense practically, since the fewer left-of-center options there are, the more Democrats can dominate that voter pool. But it was always a strategy with some risks.
Four years ago, communities in North Carolina and beyond were reeling from the COVID-induced Great Suppression. After spiking into double digits in April 2020, the state’s headline jobless rate was still a painful 7.3% by August, with some 376,000 fewer North Carolinians employed than on the eve of the pandemic.
RALEIGH — Before the United States had a Congress, North Carolina had a Congress — and this week marks its 250th birthday.
North Carolina is home to numerous healthcare companies and research institutions. The state’s biopharmaceutical industry generates about $80.2 billion worth of economic output and supports over a quarter million jobs, making its continued success critical to our state as well the larger national economy.
RALEIGH — In 2021, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted a budget that funded core state responsibilities, instigated critical repairs and renovations of government facilities, built up savings reserves, and slashed tax rates on personal and corporate income.
RALEIGH — Our state levies a motor-fuels tax of 40.65 cents per gallon. This is one of the highest rates in the nation — but don’t jump to conclusions. North Carolina doesn’t spend more on highways than the average state. And motorists aren’t being overcharged.
RALEIGH — If you look at North Carolina’s state flag, you’ll see two dates: May 20, 1775 and April 12, 1776. Each signifies a moment when North Carolinians played a key role in the emerging American Revolution. Each strengthens the claim that our state was, in this context, “First in Freedom.”
RALEIGH — I have no idea who will be elected president this November. Respectfully, neither do you.
