So much for that Carolina Comeback. North Carolina lost thousands of jobs in June. In addition, the workforce is continuing to shrink.
Pat McCrory and the Republicans have been claiming that the shrinking unemployment rate is due to massive hiring. But those claims have been debunked. In his column yesterday, Rob Christensen cited the chair of the UNC-CH economics department as saying the decline in unemployment rate is due to a labor force that is falling faster than the country as a whole. And Bob Geary cites renowned economist Dean Baker as saying, “There is zero evidence that cutting unemployment benefits in North Carolina or the rest of the country did anything to spur job growth.” And, finally, analyst John Quinterno notes that there are still fewer jobs today than there were before the recession and hiring has not picked up appreciably. So much for all of that spin.
As I’ve said before, as far as politics are concerned, the numbers don’t matter. How people are feeling about their personal situations do. And too many North Carolinians are feeling pretty unsure about the future and still beaten up by the past. As Newsweek recently noted, the average American family lost almost half its wealth during the Great Recession and they certainly haven’t made much of it up during our sluggish recovery.
In addition, the Republican legislature and Governor Pat McCrory blew a $500 million hole in the budget with tax cuts for the rich. They claimed it would spur the economy. Instead, it’s left North Carolina Republicans arguing over which painful cuts to pursue. And with taxes shrinking again next year, this is probably only the beginning.
We’re about to become the next Kansas. So what’s happening in Kansas, you ask?
Well, they were a year ahead of North Carolina’s GOP but trying the same remedies. They, too, were going to slash taxes to cause an economic boom that would actually increase revenue. So what happened? Revenue collapsed, job growth lags behind the country as a whole and, now, 100 Republicans are endorsing the Democrat challenging Republican Governor Sam Brownback.
North Carolina has followed the Kansas model. Watch for similar results. And all those platitudes about job growth? They don’t matter until average families see their incomes rising, their jobs more secure, their schools better funded and their opportunities increasing. Right now, those benefits are reserved for people who make their income off the stock market, not people drawing a paycheck.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
I am one of the 100 formerly elected Kansas Republicans who are now doing the unthinkable, supporting a Democrat for governor. Our current governor calls himself a republican, but is in fact acting like a libertarian, calling for no government instead of a conservative one. He intends to continue cutting state revenue which will force further cuts to state services including education and the disabled.
Thanks for reading and thanks for your insight. Good luck with Kansas and wish us well in NC.
We can only hope that the same backlash happening in Kansas happens here in NC:
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Kansas-Republicans-back-Davis-in-governor-s-race-5622977.php
You are so right, and those expert sources you cite are not the only ones that would contest GOP assertions of a Carolina Comeback. Hearing McCrory, Berger, Tillis, Rucho, Brown, Dollar and other GOP’ers in the news crowing about how wonderful NC’s economy has become since their reign began in 2010 and since their tax reform took effect just makes me shake my head in disgust and disbelief. Plus, watching them wrangle over the budget and how to pay for teacher raises when it was their very own actions that created the revenue deficit makes it even more vexing.