SC Fiscal Conservatives Saddle Up
After days of getting blasted by practically every government entity and employee in the state, South Carolina’s fiscal conservative leaders are stepping up to the microphone to tell their side of the “stimulus” story.
Gov. Mark Sanford, S.C. Policy Council President Ashley Landess and nearly a dozen S.C. Senators will hold a press conference tomorrow morning to discuss $700 million in federal bureaucratic bailout funds that Sanford is currently refusing to request.
What are they going to say?
Who knows … as much as people think we’re joined at the hip with these folks, we actually don’t write the talking points – nor do we get them in advance.
Hopefully, someone will explain how all these uni-party politicians, higher ed stooges and taxpayer-funded bureaucrats making all these doomsday predictions are 100% full of it.
With or without this $700 million, our total state budget is virtually unchanged from last year – which means it’s a big, gellatenous $20 billion blob of totally uncoordinated, non-prioritized spending.
Unlike South Carolina families, small businesses and individual taxpayers, government apparently doesn’t have to live within its means during the tough times. They just leverage our future – and our kids and grandkids future – a little further down the road.
Speaking of which, we hope someone will also point out that accepting this cash will most assuredly obligate our state to enacting tax increases two years from now when this money runs out.
Obviously, that’s the last thing an already non-competitive state like South Carolina needs – a tax hike to pay for money that was borrowed to sustain unsustainable spending growth. All that does is put our already struggling economy into a deeper hole.
More fundamentally, we hope someone will point out that the only thing this federal bailout boondoggle is designed to stimulate is additional government. It’s not going to the people, it’s going to agencies.
In fact, the average South Carolinian who busts their ass every day to make their mortgage will never see a dime of it.
Finally, we hope someone will point out that for all the talk of “change” in the air last November, none of the government agencies getting this money are even discussing reforms to the way they do business.
They’re not granting parental choice, restructuring our state’s administrative functions, consolidating school districts, streamlining our health care delivery system, reforming Medicaid eligibility, creating a Board of Regents or doing any of the big ticket cost-saving reforms to make government work better.
They’re just demanding more money.
Anyway, tomorrow’s press conference is at 10:00 a.m. at the Policy Council headquarters (1323 Pendleton Street) in downtown Columbia, S.C.
Be there or be square.
Comments
By Ron on March 30th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Well said, Will~
I’d sure like to be at the press conference. Great article and thanks. SADDLE UP FISCAL CONSERVATIVES!!
Ron
By anonymous on March 31st, 2009 at 7:04 am
MARK SANFORD’S HOME MAKES NBC NEW YORK NEWS HEADLINES
“Buy Mark Sanford’s House For $3.5 Million”
South Carolina gov stands to reap a huge profit from 1997 investment
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford belongs to a dying breed.
We’re not talking here about fiscally conservative Republicans — he’ll probably have to buckle on spending $700 million from the Feds that he would rather use to pay down the state debt.
No, Sanford is something far more rare and far more precious than the fiscal conservative: he belongs to a species of mammal that once ranged proudly from the desert foothills of the American Southwest to the swamps of Florida. It was known as “the real estate speculator,” and for many months their increasingly infrequent sightings have been confined to dollar stores and bankruptcy courts.
But not Governor Sanford! He’s alive and doing fine.
He bought a house on Sullivan’s Island in 1997 for $482,500 and is now selling it for $3.5 million. Sure, 12 years of ownership and a full renovation make Governor Sanford a little different from your average house-flipper.
Unlike your circa-2006 real estate goon who would take an ugly little stucco ranch, slap some paint on it, install granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances from Home Depot and charge an extra $150,000 to the next sucker who wanted to buy it, Mark Sanford has at least legitimately classed up the joint. Heck, he probably even lived in it, or vacationed in it or whatever.
Speaking of: this 4,500-square-foot palace has a weekly vacation rental license, which means it probably wouldn’t even be that hard to pay the mortgage. In the summertime, at least.
And thus we arrive at the solution to all of South Carolina’s budget woes: Sanford donates his house to the state for a tidy tax deduction. The state rents the house to wealthy out-of-towners for $500,000 a week. They’ll pay off the state debt in no time.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/business/Buy-Mark-Sanfords-House-For-35-Million.html
By Recovering Lobbyist on March 31st, 2009 at 7:49 am
What we don’t read in our local pro-government newspapers is that the $700 million that everyone is debating is only a fraction of the overall stimulus money that is coming to South Carolina.
Nearly $8 billion will come here. About half of it will go directly to local governments and Columbia has no control over that portion of the money. About a quarter of the four-billion that Columbia does control is one-time money that we should and apparently will be taking because it is one-time money mostly in the form of infrastructure money for roads and bridges and school buildings.
But as Will states, the $700 million that everyone is fighting over is about 10 percent of the total money from the stimulus bill coming to South Carolina. That portion of the money will obligate our state to hire government employees and start up new government programs. Two years from now, when the federal money dries up, our state will be obligated to raise taxes to continue paying for those programs and employees. This is job creation Washington style.
Those who argue for taking the $700 million either want to grow government or don’t understand what the stimulus bill requires (either way, they need to be removed from office because they think we are stupid). And as consumers of news we need to start demanding of our media that they treat us like the intelligent beings that we are and take the time, and space, to explain things in detail instead of regurgitating the 30-second talking points from Washington and Columbia.
By lou on March 31st, 2009 at 8:20 am
Government did leverage your future Sic Willie, mine too and everyone’s elses in tow.
Do Conservatives believe in the rule of law anymore??? That would be a story FITS>
By anonymous on March 31st, 2009 at 9:20 am
The Mark Sanford freak show is now showing in town, it will have an exhibition of rarities, “freaks of nature” and performances that are expected to be shocking to the viewers. Mark Sanford as the ring master will have heavily tattooed and pierced people as part of this fabulous freak show, as well as fire-eating and sword-swallowing acts.
Also, featured will be two-headed cows, one-eyed pigs, and four-horned goats and the famous hoaxes of “science gone wrong” exhibits.
Hurry, buy your tickets now for the “Mark Sanford Freak Show”, the Circus is in town.