The cheerleaders for expanding government power at the N&O offer this pat on the back for Gov. Perdue’s recent empty rhetoric “advice” for the next governor.
Her words of wisdom? Basically: continue the spend and tax cycle that has ruined North Carolina’s economy. Of course, the N&O editors’ greatest fear is that the ruling class sees their decades-long, meteoric rise in power curbed by even the tiniest bit.
As it happens, slippage might be more of a worry with Republicans in charge in the capital, given their aversion to anything resembling a tax increase. In boom times, revenue will grow of its own accord. But when the economy slumps, hard calls must be made about keeping taxes at adequate levels.
Let’s run this short paragraph through the liberal – to -english translator. “Slippage” here of course refers to any slowdown in the state government’s accumuluation of even more of its subject’s earned income. The last two sentences mean: In boom times, the ruling class should spend every dime they rake in, recklessly expanding the size and scope of the state government, creating new permanent spending obligations on completely non-essential programs using funds they know will dry up when the next economic downturn hits. Then when the economy does slump and the massively bloated government that has expanded far beyond any reasonable person’s view of merely providing “essential services” is revealed to be unsustainable, punish taxpayers during a recession by forcing them to pay even more to sustain the government largesse (make “hard calls” about keeping taxes at “adequate levels”). But if anybody dares mention even curtailing the growth rate of government, cry and wail about teachers and roads.
We have followed the Perdue/N&O prescription for generations. For instance, see this article to see how the state budget grew at more than three times the rate of population growth – even after adjusting for inflation – from 1979 to 2009. When times are good, the state ratchets up spending at a dramatic rate, then when recession hits they raise taxes rather than curb their insatiable appetite for spending hardworking taxpayer dollars. As a result, North Carolina has some of the highest tax rates in the nation, and suffers from the 7th worst business tax climate in the country. It’s no coincidence that NC currently has the fifth-highest unemployment rate in the U.S.
In spite of all of this, Perdue and the N&O somehow beleive that the state’s woes could be cured if only the ruling class would take more of the income earned by its hardworking taxpayers.
Let me get this straight – Beverly Perdue is giving our next Governor advice? Oh my! My advice to the most unpopular and probably the most unsuccessful Governor in North Carolina’s history is to: just go away – quietly.