Kinston Free Press: Policies hampering the ‘jobs governor’

Kinston Free Press editors say that Governor Perdue is failing to live up to her self-imposed nickname because she is pursuing the wrong policies and her ideas are failing to create jobs for North Carolinians.

Gov. Bev Perdue’s self-proclaimed moniker as the “jobs governor” has given her critics quite a chuckle. Friday’s revelation that the state’s unemployment rate has risen to 11.2 percent will only increase the intensity of that criticism. …

One place the Democratic governor could start is with the tax increases that she and the General Assembly approved last year. Raising taxes during a recession only further stifles an economy. It puts the desires of the political class to spend other people’s money ahead of the needs of the taxpayers and consumers who earned that money.

It also allows the governor and lawmakers to skirt their duty of setting spending priorities.

We’d also like to see Perdue stop going after every federal stimulus dollar she can get her hands on. North Carolina taxpayers have to foot their share of the bill for the irresponsible stimulus spending.

With the federal debt ballooning, it looks like taxpayers in North Carolina will be paying for our current irresponsible behavior for generations to come. …

It’s interesting to note that a recent Harvard University study concluded that tax cuts were a better method for pulling an economy out of recession than massive government spending.

Perdue wants to be known as the jobs governor. We wish her success in that endeavor.

Unfortunately, her fiscal policies are hampering that effort. A change in those policies could result in a more positive direction for the state’s economy.

Click here to read the full editorial…

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