RALEIGH — For universities, state governments, localities, medical providers, and other institutions receiving lots of federal money, it’s time to batten down the hatches. Storm’s a-brewing.
All by John Hood
John Hood: Pacesetting States Offer Growth Lessons
RALEIGH — North Carolina is one of the fastest-growing states in the country. If present trends continue, we’ll surpass Georgia and become the eighth-most-populous state by 2030. There’s even an outside chance we’ll overtake seventh-ranked Ohio.
John Hood: Set Clear Priorities for Road Funding
RALEIGH — In recent weeks, I’ve written several columns flagging areas where North Carolina lags behind other states. We don’t do a good job of providing patients access to telehealth services, for example, and our education system — previously among the best in the country in converting public investment into reading and math performance — has tumbled in the rankings since the school shutdowns of the COVID era.
John Hood: North Carolina Fails Telehealth Exam
North Carolina has become a national leader in such policy areas as tax reform, school choice, and transportation funding. Unfortunately, we lag far behind in providing telehealth options to patients.
John Hood: Raise Teacher Pay the Right Way
Four Republicans members of the North Carolina House of Representatives — Erin Paré and Mike Schietzelt of Wake County, Donny Lambeth of Forsyth County, and Tricia Cotham of Mecklenburg County — have just launched this year’s policy debate on teacher pay in our state.
John Hood: Institute Fosters Stronger Public Leadership
RALEIGH — “What’s in a name?” wrote the Bard in his masterpiece Romeo and Juliet. “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
John Hood: Realism Needed for Sound State Budget
RALEIGH — What does it mean to be a conservative? “I’ve always believed that conservatism is the politics of reality,” wrote National Review founder William F. Buckley, “and that reality ultimately asserts itself in a reasonably free society.” Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher put it succinctly: “The facts of life are conservative.”
John Hood: Voters Deserve Information on Fiscal Crisis
Every citizen who meets the basic requirements — adulthood, residency, and the completion of sentence after a felony conviction — can cast a ballot in North Carolina. There’s no test of civic knowledge required to exercise the civil right to vote, nor should there be.
John Hood: Senator Tillis speaks truth on Ukraine
RALEIGH — There is room for reasonable debate about how the United States should respond to the current Russo-Ukrainian War and other challenges to our longstanding interests and alliances in Europe, the Middle East, East Asia, and elsewhere. Our leaders must allocate scarce resources across multiple priorities.
John Hood: North Carolina Lacks Unitary Executive
RALEIGH — The asymmetry is striking. In Washington, many Republicans take a maximalist position on the executive power of the president of the United States. All departments and agencies — even if created by Congress with the intent of limiting presidential authority over them — are as a constitutional matter subordinate to the president, who can fire their officers and overrule their decisions at will.
Help Workers Truly Earn Higher Wages
RALEIGH — The minimum wage in North Carolina is $7.25 an hour — no different than the federal minimum. Other jurisdictions have set higher wage floors, by legislation or referendum. In the District of Columbia, nearly all employers must pay at least $17.50 an hour.
John Hood: Let’s Change How the Legislature Works
North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall earned at least two rounds of bipartisan applause at the start of this year’s legislative session. One was for assuming his new leadership post. The other was for releasing a House calendar for the next six months, complete with specific deadlines and a pledge to “give you some certainty in your schedule.”
John Hood: Federal Funds Bring Federal Strings
RALEIGH — President Donald Trump’s executive orders on education have some North Carolinians crying foul.
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.