As we enter the final weeks of the 2024 campaign, here’s the stay of play: North Carolina is a state in play.
All by John Hood
John Hood: Why College Return-on-Investment Matters
RALEIGH — The University of North Carolina system enrolled more students this fall — about 248,000 — than ever before. But continued growth is far from ordained. Indeed, as America’s college-age population levels off and then begins to decline over the next decade, many institutions will see enrollment declines. Some will be forced by shaky finances to merge or shut down.
John Hood: Helene Shows Value of Fiscal Restraint
The devastation wreaked on North Carolina by Hurricane Helene will take weeks to assess, months to clear out, and years to repair or rebuild. Second only to the value of the lives lost will be the exorbitant fiscal and economic costs of our recovery.
John Hood: Helene Brought Out the Best in Carolinians
As we mourn the deaths and grapple with the destruction inflicted on our state by Hurricane Helene, I submit that the storm has brought out much that is good about North Carolina — and much that is vile about social media.
John Hood: Remote Work Yields Benefits and Costs
RALEIGH — As economist (and North Carolina native) Thomas Sowell once observed, “there are no solutions — there are only tradeoffs.”
John Hood: Democrats Got Post-Debate Bounce
RALEIGH — Republican Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson was likely to lose the 2024 gubernatorial election to Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein before the September 19 CNN piece tying him to a series of grotesque posts made more than a dozen years ago on a pornography site.
John Hood: Pro-Hamas Protestors Strike UNC Again
On April 30, a mob of pro-Hamas protestors defaced public property at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and yanked down, for a brief time, the American flag fluttering over a prominent part of the campus called Polk Place.
John Hood: Lower taxes do attract key leaders
When Democrats attack pro-growth tax reform as “trickle-down economics,” I can understand their rhetorical intent. But the charge is silly on multiple levels — including the fact that every Democrat who ever serves in state or local office spends much time and effort trying to recruit business executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and professionals to their communities.
John Hood: NC Campuses Rank High on Speech
As recently as 2015, nearly 60% of Americans told Gallup that they had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in U.S. colleges and universities as a whole. Today, just 36% of respondents agree — not much different from the shares who say they have only “some” confidence (32%) and very little or none (32%).
John Hood - Let a Thousand Billboards Bloom
RALEIGH — Put me down as entirely unsurprised that media companies are adding commercials back into their streaming services as a means of making them profitable. Advertising has never been as unpopular as its critics imagine — a truth that North Carolina policymakers should embrace as they try to finance new infrastructure without irritating taxpayers.
John Hood: Debates will inform state voters
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.
John Hood: Campus peace for everyone
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.
John Hood: Downtowns Change, Like It or Not
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.
John Hood: First congress met in North Carolina
RALEIGH — Before the United States had a Congress, North Carolina had a Congress — and this week marks its 250th birthday.
John Hood: Taxpayers deserve better than this
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.
John Hood: North Carolina doesn't overcharge drivers
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.
John Hood: Push for Liberty Began in Rowan
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.”
John Hood: Don’t Overlook Down-Ballot Races
RALEIGH — I have no idea who will be elected president this November. Respectfully, neither do you.
John Hood: Suppress freedom at your peril
During each election cycle, we are treated to an endless parade of politicians extolling freedom. Given how many of them subsequently vote to restrict our freedom in myriad ways, we have ample reason to be skeptical about politicians.
John Hood: Shot clocks for permits make sense
North Carolina plays a starring role in the origin story of college basketball’s shot clock.