All tagged business

North Carolina legislative chambers agree to spending amount

With the end of the state’s fiscal year just three weeks away, the N.C. House and Senate have reached a deal for the next budget. After weeks of closed negotiations, N.C. Senate and House leaders have agreed to a top-line spending number of $25.7 billion in the first year and $26.7 in the second year. That’s a spending increase of 3.45% in the first year of the biennium and 3.65% in year two.

Will hybrids drive the economy?

Plenty of politicians, planners, and business folks think they know what North Carolina’s post-pandemic economy will look like. But few seem entirely sure. They are noticeably hedging their predictions, which I consider to be a wise precaution. They ought to be hedging their bets, as well.

Still Room to Improve on Regs

When it comes to our business climate and economic prospects, North Carolinians are used to receiving accolades. Let’s add another to the list. The Cato Institute just released a study of regulatory barriers facing entrepreneurs. North Carolina fared well in the analysis, ranking 12th-best in the nation.

John Hood: Picking winners Is for losers

Taxing the income, sales, or property of a business is a means of paying for government services associated with that business activity. It pays for police, courts, and other means of protecting property and adjudicating disputes. It pays to train current workers and educate future ones. It helps pay for local streets and other infrastructure.

North Carolina, which saw a tightening of the presidential race in the 2020 election, was among the states that saw an influx of money from Mark Zuckerberg in the months leading up to the voting. Capital Research Center noted that Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated $350 million to the Center for Technology and Civic Life, which in turn gave the money to local election officials. CRC argues that the formerly small group “became an activist juggernaut with the means to effectively manage the election in numerous cities and battleground states across the nation.”

CRC said $4.3 million of these “Zuck bucks” went to 34 North Carolina cities and counties, in addition to a $1 million grant to the state board of elections. CRC said Biden gained about 80,000 votes in the counties that received the grants.

John Hood: Nonprofits must go the distance

The COVID-19 crisis has brought death, economic destruction, and wrenching social change. As a combination of post-illness immunity and rising vaccinations begins to suppress the pandemic, we’re going to feel a powerful impulse to put as much of this horrendous experience as possible behind us.

Attorney General Josh Stein sues Facebook

Attorney General Josh Stein today sued Facebook Inc., alleging that the company used its monopoly power to buy competitors and cut services to others to maintain its monopoly, which ultimately harms people by reducing privacy protections, degrading services, and stifling competition. Attorney General Stein was part of the executive committee leading the multistate investigation into Facebook.