N&O Needs Serious History Lesson | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: This post, by Brian Balfour, was originally published in the State Spending section of Civitas's online edition.

    Today's N&O features this ridiculous editorial lambasting the NC General Assembly for being too financially responsible.

    The focus of their criticism is a bill that would require future legislatures to set aside a minimum amount of any annual increase in revenue collections. The horrors!

• This is ridiculous....What are they? Fifteen-year-old kids with summer jobs whose parents require them to put aside a set amount from their paychecks so they don't spend it all? Good grief.

    That comparison falls flat, because at least the fifteen-year-old is spending his own money. The current legislature has exercised fiscal restraint, but this bill is necessary as a check for times when less responsible legislators are in charge.

    If the N&O finds the notion of state budget writers going on a reckless spending spree with taxpayer dollars impossible, perhaps this chart will help refresh their memory:


    As the chart shows, in the 30-years prior to the Great Recession, those oh-so-fiscally responsible legislators who should have no need for legal restraint on their spending of taxpayer dollars, increased the state budget at a rate three times population growth, even after adjusting for inflation.