My Pope Center colleague Jay Schalin writes here about the budget troubles facing the University of North Carolina system. The state legislature gave it too much money when the economy was humming and now difficult cuts have to be made in on-going projects.

There’s nothing unique about North Carolina in this regard, of course. Politicians are prone to spending money on low-priority items (higher education and otherwise) because just about any spending they can imagine is more attractive than not spending and lowering taxes.