NC economy

Guess who wants to give YOU some real tax relief?

If you're a $50-$100k/year household -- You, the middle of the middle class, the folks among us who spend money at local stores, eat in local restaurants and who usually spend a chunk of vacation money every year right here in the US of A, feeding our economy and keeping it moving -- Obama and the Democrats see the strain on your income and they'll do something to help.

The past couple of days around here have made it tricky to focus on some of the less glamorous aspects of governance, but you'll be glad to know that others haven't let up. In fact, Mark Binker's Capital Beat blog has one of his strongest stories in months. It's a good analysis that lays out some of the financial challenges the legislature may find itself facing this summer. In particular, Binker points to two paragraphs in the state's current economic projections that we all should be keeping in mind.

Clearly, a protracted and significant slowdown or recession will dampen expectations for revenue growth in FY 2008-09 and may mean that the tentative 4.6% growth rate will need to be lowered. Continued monitoring of both the credit crisis and the impact of rising food and gasoline prices on consumer spending and job growth is crucial.

WACHOVIA BANK CORP - Riches for CEO, Unemployment for workers -

Wachovia CEO gets $18 Million March 10, 2007. CHARLOTTE - The chairman and chief executive of Wachovia Corp., Ken Thompson, received compensation that the company valued at nearly $18.4 million in 2006, according to a regulatory filing yesterday.
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173350135956&path=!business&s=1037645507703

AND, SOON TO OUTSOURCE NORTH CAROLINA PROCESSING JOBS TO INDIA

Businessweek JANUARY 30, 2006

Wachovia will have outsourced 500 to 1,000 jobs, with plans to move an additional 3,000 or so by the end of 2007. ..Most, but not all, of those jobs are going to India....

Of all the reasons to lament the pathetic Child King in the White House, one that resonates most with me is his complete shredding of our country's reputation throughout the world. One of my favorite publications, The Chronicle of Higher Education spells it out.

. . . as of October 2001, weeks after 9/11 and just before the U.S. war against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, a massive Europewide resentment of America commenced that reached well beyond American policies, American politics, and the American government, proliferating in virtually all segments of Western European publics. From grandmothers who vote for the archconservative Bavarian Christian Social Union to 30-year-old socialist Pasok activists in Greece, from Finnish Social Democrats to French Gaullists, from globalization opponents to business managers — all are joining in the ever louder chorus of anti-Americanism.

Friday Follies at NC Policy Watch has a lot of good stuff this week, including a bit about the North Carolina economy. Here's the punchline:

The 2007 Economic Forecast Lunch this week sponsored by North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry and the North Carolina Bankers Association presented some mixed messages. The prediction from economists was that North Carolina’s economy would grow faster than the nation’s as a whole in 2007 and that the state’s rapid population growth would continue.

The state gained 133,000 jobs in 2006. Knight Kiplinger, one of the keynote speakers, told the crowd that North Carolina was one of 11 states that will grow more than 30 percent in jobs and population in the next 20 years. In other words, the state’s economy is faring well overall and future prospects look bright as well.