According to Bloomberg.com, Japan is dramatically expanding its use of coal to generate electricity. The news source states that...
Published: Thursday, April 16th, 2015 @ 5:07 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
It was announced on Tuesday that Mercedes-Benz has decided to move its corporate headquarters from New Jersey to Atlanta, GA, and not to the Raleigh area, as many were hoping. According to this article in the Triangle Business Journal, Georgia offered the company $23 million in corporate welfare...
Published: Friday, April 3rd, 2015 @ 4:11 am
By: John Locke Foundation
|
Last week I reported that, based on this quote, the actions of the Governor and many state legislators in pushing new corporate welfare schemes were at odds with the Republican Party Platform. I was wrong. Shortly after my newsletter went out, I received an email telling me that, in the latest...
Published: Thursday, March 26th, 2015 @ 6:47 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
Republicans from Governor McCrory and Commerce Secretary John Skvarla to the leadership and rank and file alike in the General Assembly are falling all over themselves trying to extend and expand so-called business incentive programs, aka corporate welfare. So what does the platform of the party...
Published: Sunday, March 22nd, 2015 @ 8:03 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
The AP is reporting that, like the Locke Foundation, the Heartland Institute, and a number of other think tanks, private companies, and individual scientists, Koch Industries, headed by philanthropists and donors to free market causes David and Charles Koch, has received a letter demanding...
Published: Monday, March 16th, 2015 @ 5:08 am
By: John Locke Foundation
|
Last week the John Locke Foundation received a letter from three US Senators as part of a nationwide witch-hunt targeting scientists, universities, advocacy groups, and think tanks who are skeptical of or have presented any evidence that contradicts the alarmist line on global warming. The letter...
Published: Wednesday, March 11th, 2015 @ 8:20 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
Lovers of socialized medicine are quick to point out that the United States is the only country in the developed world that doesn't have some form of universal, government-run, i.e., single-payer, health care system. While this may be true, the U.S. system of health care payment and delivery does...
Published: Tuesday, March 10th, 2015 @ 11:54 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
Lovers of socialized medicine are quick to point out that the United States is the only country in the developed world that doesn't have some form of universal government run, i.e., single payer, health care system. While this may be true, the US system of health care payment and delivery does...
Published: Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015 @ 6:48 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
A new report, funded by the North Carolina Chamber Foundation, makes what the foundation and the report's authors at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education obviously believe to be a strong case for new spending on highway infrastructure in North Carolina. The title of the study...
Published: Friday, February 20th, 2015 @ 2:58 am
By: John Locke Foundation
|
A new report, funded by the North Carolina Chamber Foundation, makes what the Foundation and the report's authors at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) obviously believe to be a strong case for new spending on highway infrastructure in North Carolina. The title of the...
Published: Tuesday, February 17th, 2015 @ 11:46 am
By: John Locke Foundation
|
Over the past several weeks, I have been discussing some of the silliness surrounding the analysis of lower oil and gasoline prices. It was pointed out here and here that the main reason why lower prices, if sustained, will lead to economic growth is that they will reduce the cost of production...
Published: Wednesday, February 11th, 2015 @ 1:37 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
There is a proposition in public choice economics called the "special interest effect." It basically argues that government grows because, for most government programs, there are concentrated beneficiaries and diffused cost bearers.
Published: Saturday, February 7th, 2015 @ 9:54 am
By: John Locke Foundation
|
There is a proposition in public choice economics called the "special interest effect." It basically argues that government grows because, for most government programs, there are concentrated beneficiaries and diffused cost bearers. What this means is that the benefits of government programs will...
Published: Monday, February 2nd, 2015 @ 9:15 am
By: John Locke Foundation
|
As the legislature comes back into session, there is a renewed focus on what are typically referred to as economic incentives, or by many who are more skeptical of such programs, corporate welfare or simply cronyism. Programs that are and will continue to be debated are subsidies to...
Published: Tuesday, January 27th, 2015 @ 9:23 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
"We must raise the minimum wage." That is one mantra emanating from progressives across the country and here in North Carolina.
Published: Saturday, January 24th, 2015 @ 7:33 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
As of this writing, the price of gasoline in the Raleigh area has reached lows of less than $2.10 a gallon, and many states are seeing prices well under $2.
Published: Sunday, January 18th, 2015 @ 1:37 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
As of this writing, the price of gasoline in the Raleigh area has reached lows of below $2.10 a gallon, and many states are seeing prices well under $2.00. Globally, in the last year, the per barrel price of oil has fallen from over $100 a barrel to about $45 with the arrow still pointing downward.
Published: Thursday, January 15th, 2015 @ 11:22 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
Progressives everywhere are calling for an increase in the minimum wage. The amount of the increase depends on who is calling for it. President Obama wants a 40 percent hike from the current minimum of $7.25 to $10.30 per hour, while others, including some trade unions, are asking for more than a...
Published: Monday, January 5th, 2015 @ 12:32 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
During a recent 24-hour period, the state of North Carolina, invoking the infinite wisdom of politicians and bureaucrats, announced plans to subsidize investments of several favored biotech and pharmaceutical firms while at the same time denying the right of a Wilmington clinic to....
Published: Tuesday, December 16th, 2014 @ 8:05 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
Progressives everywhere are calling for an increase in the minimum wage. (For a look at the progressive movement's historical support for the minimum wage see this article.) The amount of the increase depends on who is calling for it. President Obama wants a 40 percent hike from the current...
Published: Saturday, December 13th, 2014 @ 8:50 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
In the last 24 hours the state of North Carolina, invoking the infinite wisdom of politicians and bureaucrats, has announced that it is subsidizing the investments of several favored bio-tech and pharmaceutical firms while at the same time denying the right of a Wilmington clinic to pursue its...
Published: Saturday, December 6th, 2014 @ 6:18 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
With this week's vote and debate on whether or not to proceed with building the Keystone XL pipeline, most of the arguments have centered around economic claims, in particular the pipeline's impact on oil prices and jobs. Personally, my support for the pipeline has nothing to do with either of...
Published: Sunday, November 23rd, 2014 @ 12:44 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
The push is on, both nationally and in several states, to raise the minimum wage from its current $7.25 an hour to $10.30 nationally and as high as $15 in specific cities and states. I think it would be absolutely great if everyone who wanted a job could get one at a wage of $10 or $15 an hour...
Published: Sunday, November 16th, 2014 @ 9:23 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
The 2014 ozone (smog) season has come and gone. It started on April 1 and ended on October 31. The results for the season are in. There was not a single monitor location, out of 44 across the state, where the EPA standard of 75 parts per billion of ambient air was exceeded. As far as I can tell, thi
Published: Thursday, November 13th, 2014 @ 10:55 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
Many people choose not to vote. Laws that benefit only limited special interests are incredibly hard to kill. Government tends to grow, even when voters elect officials who promise fiscal restraint.
Published: Monday, November 10th, 2014 @ 1:48 am
By: John Locke Foundation
|
The push is on, both nationally and in several states, to raise the minimum wage from its current $7.25 an hour to $10.30 nationally and as high as $15 in specific cities and states. And let me say that I think it would be absolutely great if everyone who wanted a job could get one at a wage of $10
Published: Saturday, November 1st, 2014 @ 9:56 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
For decades people have been debating whether or not people have a "right" to health care. The notion of rights that is typically invoked is distinct from the question of whether people have a right to enter the market for health care services and engage in exchange activity in order to obtain...
Published: Monday, October 20th, 2014 @ 6:26 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
Over the last couple of days two articles have come across my desk, one dated September 30, 2014, and the other dated June 11, 1986. Together, these two articles tell an interesting story about just how incredibly wrong the radical global warming alarmists have been.
Published: Thursday, October 9th, 2014 @ 10:25 am
By: John Locke Foundation
|
It is being reported on the Watts Up With That blog that the no global warming trend now stands at 17 years 11 months. (See graph below.) This is in spite of the fact that CO2 emissions and atmospheric concentrations have continued to increase throughout this period. When A is theorized to cause...
Published: Saturday, September 27th, 2014 @ 12:47 am
By: John Locke Foundation
|
Those who want to place government-mandated limits on carbon dioxide (often erroneously and sometimes maliciously referred to as just "carbon") emissions claim that their goal is to keep the planet from overheating — that is, to prevent global warming.
Published: Saturday, September 20th, 2014 @ 12:11 am
By: John Locke Foundation
|
An excellent post at the Bloomberg View blog by Megan McArdle explains why the political left and the right view the outcome of the recent Hobby Lobby case so very differently.
Published: Sunday, July 27th, 2014 @ 2:07 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|
This is an excellent post at the Bloomberg View blog by Megan McArdle explaining why the left and the right view the outcome of the Hobby Lobby case so very differently. She argues that part of it has to do with each side's view of religion...
Published: Saturday, July 19th, 2014 @ 8:57 am
By: John Locke Foundation
|
Not Much Cooling Linked to New CO2 Regulations
Published: Sunday, July 6th, 2014 @ 9:05 am
By: John Locke Foundation
|
Building on positive reforms from the past few years, North Carolina's elected leaders can take more steps to help boost economic growth, improve education, and fight overregulation. The John Locke Foundation's new Agenda 2014 Policy Report offers more than 110 recommendations addressing these...
Published: Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014 @ 6:25 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
|