I have to admit, I enjoy reading the opinion pages in our state’s regional rags. There isn’t an Observer in North Carolina that doesn’t reek of progressivism. But hey, these people are objective professionals looking after the best interest of the citizens of North Carolina. Yeah, right.
I especially get a kick when these rags quote
studies from nonprofit organizations and try to pass it off as nonpartisan, as
though we’re incapable of looking up these organizations on the internet and see
who is running them. What is surprising
is how many progressive nonprofits there are in this state. I believe the Civitas Institute mapped around
170 at last count. I only know of two
conservative think tanks in North Carolina and I just cited one of them.
Think First NC is a new progressive organization. I’m not exactly sure who
is funding them, but we shouldn’t be surprised if Z Smith Reynolds Foundation
and George Soros’s Open Society is involved along with a few other suspects. Money is fungible when it comes to these
organizations. Only the mob is more creative.
Think First NC sponsored a study that was presented
by one of their minions in the News and Observer entitled, What Carolina
Comeback? NC a Poorer, More Unequal
State. Here is an excerpt:
Take what should be the
central feature of any recovery: widespread improvements in the income levels
and living standards of ordinary households. In 2014, the last year with data,
the typical (median) household in the state had an inflation-adjusted annual
income that was significantly lower than when the recession started in 2007.
Over that period, inflation-adjusted median household income fell by $4,449,
dropping from $51,005 to $46,556. The income of the typical household fell by
$2,814 during the recession and then dropped another $1,635 during the
recovery. In short, the typical household lost ground during the recession and
then kept losing ground even after the recovery took hold.
The fall in median
household income levels has affected every major racial and ethnic group, all
of which were, at a minimum, no better off in 2014 than in 2007. Specifically,
the typical non-Hispanic white, African-American and Hispanic households all
saw their incomes fall significantly over that period. And place has provided
no protection against falling median household income levels, which currently
are statistically unchanged or lower than their pre-recessionary values in 98
of 100 counties.
This is supposed to be
an indictment on Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration and the republican General
Assembly. However, one cannot separate
the policies of the Obama administration with the economy in general. No state has escaped the machinations of
Washington D.C. As a matter fact, North
Carolina has improved its economic standing in spite of Barack Obama and the
Democratic Party’s power grab.
The decisions Gov.
McCrory and the republicans in the General Assembly made improved the state’s
fiscal solvency. The Mercatus Institute
noted the only state in the Union to improve its service-solvency ranking was
North Carolina. We were also ranked 8th
in budget solvency and trust fund solvency.
That wouldn’t have happened under a Democratic administration. Had they taken over we would’ve ended up like
Puerto Rico.
Progressives love to
talk about median income while failing to discuss the purchasing power in
individual states. The Tax Foundation mapped
the price levels of goods and services throughout the United State and
contrasted that with per capita-income, adjusted for taxes and prices. As of 2015, North Carolina had a 35th
ranking a 4+ improvement in ranking.
Another factor
progressives don’t consider is state to state migration. North Carolina always ranks in the top 5 as
we did in 2015. If North Carolina is a
poorer and unequal state maybe somebody should tell all these people who are
moving here.
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