Going Under

As goth beauty Amy Lee once sang, South Carolina is “going under” people.

Oh, and “drowning you” with record unemployment and stagnant income levels.

After a record explosion in state spending over the previous four years, South Carolina is now having to stare down the consequences of its reckless government growth … which is obviously a lot less pleasurable than staring down Miss Lee.

Anyway, after “cutting” $488 million off of the state’s $7.1. billion budget already this year, another $135 million now needs to be “cut” by December, according to the State’s Board of Economic Advisors.

And for those of you who are new to FITS, we put the word “cut” in parentheses because these aren’t really cuts, they’re “reductions in excess” from previous years.

Yet as South Carolina politicians position themselves in response to this latest revenue reduction, there’s a potentially much bigger storm cloud ahead on the horizon – next year’s revenue estimates.

According to sources we’ve spoken with, South Carolina’s revenues will fall by anywhere between $600 and $800 million in FY 2009-10, which is obviously great news from the standpoint of slowing the growth of an out-of-control government, but bad news in terms of what it means for our state’s economy.

And even worse news because there’s literally no chance in hell that lawmakers have learned their lesson from the spending roller coaster of the past decade.

So what should South Carolina do?

Well, we’ll be rolling out a comprehesive legislative agenda here at FITS (our first ever) in the coming weeks, which will address our revenue situation as well as several other major issues.

Obviously, we’ll be pulling a lot of ideas from our 95 Theses, but we want to hear your ideas as well … so shoot us an e-mail and tell us what you think should be included on our agenda.

In the meantime, here’s a few more pics of Amy Lee to enjoy … because goth girls rock. And be sure to click here and here to watch Amy in action.

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