every bmw built in the upstate is built by a south carolinian who might otherwise not have a job, and might otherwise not have a paycheck to spend in area stores, pay toward a mortgage on a house built in south carolina, or pay income taxes to the south carolina government. i’m not xenophobic enough to consider that a bad thing, and i’m not myopic enough to think “buying american” has anything to do with general motors or ford.

if i’m an upstate congressman, i’m buying a bmw. if i’m in alabama, i’m buying a benz. hell, these days toyota’s more of an american car than anything detroit’s turning out.

and friend cooter, as i said, there’s clearly some abuse–there is in every single system of any kind anywhere on earth–but you gotta think about what their expenses are before you can say money they’re given is excessive. hell, the office i worked in had a total of 6 tvs in it. now, they weren’t 46 inch tvs–of course, no tvs were 46 inches back then–but it was an essential part of what we were doing. again, there’s plenty of targets without screwing with the money they’re spending on 99% necessary stuff, particularly if it cuts into the staff’s pay.