Carolina Journal Radio No. 763: Year-end special revisits intriguing 2017 topics

As we welcome a new year, Carolina Journal Radio reviews some of the most interesting topics from 2017. Politically active corporate CEOs made news during the past year. In some cases, the political activism could mean bad news for the corporate bottom line. Jon Pritchett, John Locke Foundation senior vice president, argued in a co-authored Wall Street Journal column that corporate shareholders negatively affected by a CEO’s activism should be able to take legal action. He explains why. Some pundits and politicians worry about the American trade deficit. Donald Boudreaux, professor of economics at George Mason University, says those worries are misplaced. Boudreaux addresses common myths surrounding trade and the desirability of surpluses rather than deficits. North Carolina needs a full-scale rewrite of its criminal code. That’s the argument from Jessica Smith, professor at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government. During a public forum this year in Raleigh, Smith explained how recodification would clarify and simplify the state’s current system for identifying crimes. Thanks in part to a widely lauded Broadway musical, American Founder Alexander Hamilton has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. But many of those singing Hamilton’s praises misread his political philosophy. Richard Salsman, visiting assistant professor of political science at Duke University, explains why Hamilton, a “classical liberal,” set the stage for today’s right-of-center political thinkers rather than the progressives who have championed him in recent years. A report this year from the N.C. Hospital Association and Research Triangle Institute appeared to suggest that the North Carolina economy benefits when people get sick. Roy Cordato, John Locke Foundation senior economist, labels this an “outrageous implication.” Cordato questions the economic analysis used in assembling the report.