The State (Columbia, SC): Paying down debt won’t stimulate economy; jobs will

[watrwefitinfor]

Opinion piece regarding Governor Sanford's letter to President Obama, asking to use part of the stimulus funds to pay down South Carolina's debt.

(I am hesitant to post this. I know from experience there are people on DU just waiting to jump on any post about South Carolina, and use it as an excuse to vilify all of us. Please don't do that to this post - please let it stand or fall on its own merits. The fact that this is an opinion piece in a major SC newspaper should say something about the political struggles taking place in my state.)

Paying down debt won’t stimulate economy; jobs will

The State Newspaper, Columbia, SC
Sunday, Mar. 15, 2009

...snip...

When you’re starving and someone offers to buy you lunch, you don’t say, “I only want your money if I can put it into my 401(k).” But that’s essentially what Mr. Sanford wants to do with $700 million that the Congress voted to send to South Carolina to help us put people to work, or keep them from being laid off, in the hope of breaking the economic free fall.

...snip...

Let’s ignore the question of whether President Obama even has the power to grant the bizarre waiver that Mr. Sanford seeks to use stimulus funds to reduce a “sizable state debt and contingent liabilities.” Let’s ignore whether the governor is disingenuously tailoring his request to enthrall his anti-government groupies while not actually doing anything to earn the wrath of even more South Carolinians by depriving our state of federal funds that our taxes help pay for. Instead, let’s just consider how bankrupt the whole idea is.

...snip...

We could call on the president to reject Mr. Sanford’s request, but that’s hardly necessary. Better, perhaps, to just ask him not to hurt himself belly-laughing — or weeping for the people of our state.

Instead — although this hardly seems necessary either, since our legislators appear to have the good sense to do this — we will call on the Legislature to ignore his silliness and get on with requesting the funds our state has coming to it, so we can put them to use providing paychecks to South Carolinians.

http://www.thestate.com/opinion/story/715811.html

The article is worth reading in full - it explains a lot about just how Sanford wants to apply the money. (One of the comments calls for Sanford's impeachment.)

Wat

[dkf]

1. Damn I feel bad for you guys.

You obviously have a Governor who places ideology above the welfare of the people.

Its disgusting.

[Rockholm]

2. The State is a good paper. More moderate than most.

My hometown Post & Courier is a rw rag nowadays.