Columns

By Dr. Mike Walden

Guest Columnist

As 2018 kicks off, there’s good news and bad news for retail sellers. The good news is that consumers opened their pockets wider for the Christmas holiday buying season than at any time in the last decade. Aggregate retail spending at the end of 2017 is expected to be up 4 percent to 5 percent when all the receipts are in.

Here we go again — or not: A weather

update I received over the weekend from the National Weather Service office in Wilmington warned of the possibility of snow returning to Brunswick County this week.

By Dr. Mike Walden

Guest Columnist

January is my busiest month of the year for making public presentations. People want to know what the economy will be like in the year ahead. For businesses, economic forecasts are important for production and hiring plans. Government officials want to know what the economy will mean for their tax revenues and public expenditures. And, of course, the relative strength or weakness of the economy is one of the key determinants of the availability, types and pay of jobs for workers.

By Rep. Frank Iler

Guest Columnist

Last week at the North Carolina General Assembly was unusual for what was happening both inside and outside the legislative buildings. Although I had only one meeting to attend, it seemed to take two days on the calendar.