They own Discover, Macy’s , Humana, the list is endless.

TOO BIG TO FAIL>

So far, FMR, Fidelity Management and Research, LLC is the offender,.
FMR owned or held significant interests in the following:
Enron, Countrywide Mortgages, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Circuit City, GM, Chrysler, AIG.

FMR also has beneficial ownership statements on file for the following banks who are going to require capital: Bank of America, American Express, Wells Fargo, Citi,GMAC, Bank of New York Melon, US Bancorp, Suntrust, Regions, KeyCorp, Morgan Stanley and Fifth Third.

FMR also is holding the Social Security Medicare Trust Fund. There are politicans in South Carolina who approved of this.

FMR also owns Unum Provident who owns Colonial, who holds HOW MANY disability income insurance plans?????

But, you are right….it keeps some people out of the running, including, I suspect, most of us who comment on this blog. I couldn’t keep food on the table for a family, pay for kids’ college, etc. if I became a legislator. So, what’s the answer? I don’t think it’s financial incentive. Man, if you think we have folks running for the wrong reasons NOW, imagine what we’d end up with if we made a true career out of it. No one could afford to ever lose their seat, right? They’d do pretty much anything to move up the leadership chain — I mean more than they do now. Think if your paycheck really were on the line if you displeased the leadership.

Better solution? Shorten the session! Those guys do not need to be there half the year, or even every year. We have a two-year session. Let’s cut that in half, and let them meet every other year. If we truly restructured government so the executive branch controlled the agencies and ran government, we wouldn’t need those guys here! They do it in other states like Texas (which has a lot more people than we do. If they can do it, we can do it.). You’d give more people a chance that way. Three months, every other year is reasonable and I suspect many more “average joes” could run if we did that.

Restructure government, shorten the session. Big reforms? Sure. But we need to start thinking a lot bigger than we have in the past, and stop saying “yeah, that’s the right thing to do but we’ll never get it done, so let’s do something halfway instead.”

I’m in if the rest of you are! Regardless of political party, we’d all come out ahead if we came together and supported those kinds of changes.

As to rigid ideology, that depends: I don’t actually believe politicians should compromise on their true principles. Sure, we can all agree to some give-and-take, but that isn’t what is meant by “compromise” these days at the Statehouse. What that means today is “I’ll vote for your special project, you vote for mine, and no one will be criticizing anyone else because we are all in the mud together.” That attitude is what got us into this mess. Too much pragmatism leads to a distant attitude toward the real world and people in it, and robs public servants of their passion to genuinely make the state a better place. I am not saying we want leaders who don’t use their intellect and reason to reach conclusions. Just the opposite — our elected officials should make decisions after an honest, vigorous public debate based on facts, research and a full knowledge of the subject. But their decisions have to come from a place of principle, not “well, yeah, we all know it would be the right thing to do to cut spending on things we don’t need, but that won’t fly in the politicial world….” Too much of that has led to the mess we are in.

The electorate could change things, Gillon. You are right. But to what degree in a state that is completely run by the General Assembly, which controls every single thing in South Carolina? There’s no balance of power, and thus corruption is a cake walk. I think that implementing a fully open government that is truly governed by three distinct branches would give our state a fighting chance. I hope that is something we can agree on.

The House went to Hell in ‘94 and the Senate followed suit in 2000. Prior to those dates Republicans and Democrats actually worked together to try and solve issues. The Lesislative and Executive branches even worked together for the common good.

That’s being a Republican, Gillon. Now, as to why the people keep electing them — you have a fair point there. I believe it is largely because they have never known what happens in the Statehouse. They can’t see the budget anymore than most rank-and-file legislators can. No transparency = no accountability. But I think voters are starting to catch on, Gillon. Some of them lost last year. More of them will lose next year if they aren’t careful. They threw them out in DC, and they’ll do it here eventually.

My kind is not in charge of the government right now. If we were, there would be real competition in the marketplace, no “economic development” from government and thus more actual jobs. I think you are probably a Democrat, Gillon. And fair enough. Your party stands for government solutions, and it is getting them. But to be honest with you, I’m not sure your party leaders are any more faithful to philosophy than Republicans. Do Democrats in the Statehouse stand for lower income, blue collar workers anymore, or do they stand for themselves and their friends? You should ask what any of them have done for real workers in this state. I’d be curious to see what you think that is.