Gas tax increase would refill fund
Editorial by Washington Post, reprinted in News and Observer, December 28 2013. A major federal program is on desperate financial footing. It’s too important and popular to cut drastically. But a... Read More
NC Spin Articles
Moral Mondays and our future
by Jim Abbott, Asheville Citizen-Times, December 20, 2013. There is a mistaken assumption on the part of many that the nonpartisan Moral Monday movement is really just a Democratic Party movement in... Read More
My fearless political predictions for 2014
It's time to see how well I did with my predictions for 2013 and to offer a set of 2014 forecasts. I got 10 predictions for this year right. President Obama's job approval rating did drop—from... Read More
Poll shows Republicans begin 2014 with slight edge
Republicans may begin 2014 with an advantage in the midterm elections, new polling shows. A CNN/ORC poll found that voters would prefer a Republican congressional candidate over a Democratic one by... Read More
Stop the (textbook) presses
Stop the (textbook) presses! On their face, the numbers are frightening. During the last financial crisis, the state cut yearly funding for textbooks from $111 million to $2.5 million. While some of... Read More
Americans hopeful for a better 2014
Large number of Americans see 2013 as anything but a banner year and aren't reluctant to wave goodbye on New Year's Eve, a new AP-Times Square poll says, reflecting anxiety stretching from the... Read More
New Year means bigger sales tax bite
While many North Carolinians might take home a little more of their paycheck next year, they will likely be spending more of it as well. Lawmakers passed a major tax reform package in July that lowers... Read More
When can a college slash tuition by almost one-half without losing revenue?
A higher education riddle: When can a college slash tuition by almost half, without losing revenues? Answer: When nobody much pays full tuition anyway. When Converse College, a tiny women’s college... Read More
2013: 10 for the courts
If 2013 is remembered as the year when a conservative supermajority rolled into Raleigh and turned North Carolina’s moderate reputation on its head, it must also be appreciated as a time when those... Read More
Taxing issues
I wonder how many of the middle-class Tea Party supporters realize that they have been had. The billionaires who are the guiding hands behind Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works are looking out... Read More
