South Carolina is especially vulnerable to cuts associated with the looming federal “sequester” – a modest spending reduction that accompanied a 2011 deal to raise the federal debt ceiling by more than $2 trillion. We’re already on the record in support of U.S. President Barack Obama and congressional leaders following through on their word and implementing these cuts – which would trim $85 billion over the next nine months from a $3.8 trillion federal budget.
In fact the sequester – which Obama referred to this week as a “meat cleaver” – would roll back just one out of every six dollars in post-2008 discretionary spending, a benchmark which was already artificially high given the fiscal excesses of the administration of former president George W. Bush.
Also there’s the fact Obama and Congress agreed to make these cuts (which they’ve already postponed once) in exchange for a record run-up in deficit spending.
Anyway …
The big government crowd in South Carolina is having a conniption fit over the sequester because the Palmetto State, in the words of The Greenville News, “has one of the lowest per-capita incomes in the nation and relies heavily on government-transfer payments for health and welfare programs.”
No argument there …
But just how “heavily reliant” is our dirt poor state? According to the big government backers, 7.5 percent of South Carolina’s economy is comprised of federal spending (while another 15 percent made up of state spending). That’s nearly one quarter of our gross state product which is directly subsidized by taxpayers (a tab which grows much larger when you add county, municipal and local education budgets to the mix).
Of course the liberal legacy press never stops to ask why we spend so much – or what free market reforms can be implemented to move our state out of the “low-income” category. Instead our mainstream media incessantly bitches and moans about how even the most infinitesimally small reductions in government spending would wreak havoc on the poor.
Meanwhile our politicians (at the state and federal level) continue to perpetuate that dependency …
Here’s an idea: What if instead of subsidizing low incomes (up to and including friggin’ cell phone service for the poor) our government decided it would incentivize work for a change? Imagine that! Of course such a fundamental shift in government’s approach might actually have the effect of raising income levels – which would reduce the need for government assistance.
And Lord knows the bureaucrats can’t have that …
We’ve made no bones of our support for the sequester.
“While this modest reduction in excess is a far cry from the draconian cuts our government really ought to be making – it is a very, very, VERY small step in the direction of fiscal sanity,” we wrote earlier this month.
Now if only our state would take a very, very, very small step in the direction of common sense …
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18 comments
Obama isn’t backing these cuts, he’s in near panic mode and wants them to go away and is asking for more money. Republicans agreed to tax increases in January, and are now stating that there will be no more increases until they start seeing spending cuts which has liberal Democrats running scared because they know that the Free Shit Army is going to go full mutiny if their Obamaphones get turned off, if their welfare checks get cut, and if little 2 year old DaQuwan doesn’t get approved for ADHD, AIDS, ADD, Alzheimers, etc…
You are a racist idiot, regurgitating what you are told by Rush, Beck, Fox and other racist idiots. Either too dumb or too lazy to research the truth yourself, you, like BigT, are one of those who have forced the Republican party to turn to the likes of Carl Rove for salvation through an effort to purge you from its ranks without imploding.
The republican party, if that is what you can call it any more, has become dominated by a coalition of hypocritical government hating libertarians out to rerun an experiment that has been performed and failed time after time, red neck racists, and corrupt business people out to buy power, and turn America into something resembling modern day Russia.
If you can’t win with facts, call names.
True, I think that is an accurate statement of the Carl Rove theory of politics as practiced when Bush was in office. That said I don’t think it is applicable to my post as I am not trying to win an argument with anyone. I am simply stating my opinion of the writer, and the current state of the Republican Party.
I support living with the sequester, however if I wanted to argue to the contrary, I would point out that the annual deficit as a percentage of GDP has gone down every year since 2009, the last Bush Budget year; and that the projected deficit this year is well below a trillion dollars.
Obama isn’t backing these cuts, he’s in near panic mode and wants them to go away and is asking for more money. Republicans agreed to tax increases in January, and are now stating that there will be no more increases until they start seeing spending cuts which has liberal Democrats running scared because they know that the Free Shit Army is going to go full mutiny if their Obamaphones get turned off, if their welfare checks get cut, and if little 2 year old DaQuwan doesn’t get approved for ADHD, AIDS, ADD, Alzheimers, etc…
You are a racist idiot, regurgitating what you are told by Rush, Beck, Fox and other racist idiots. Either too dumb or too lazy to research the truth yourself, you, like BigT, are one of those who have forced the Republican party to turn to the likes of Carl Rove for salvation through an effort to purge you from its ranks without imploding.
The republican party, if that is what you can call it any more, has become dominated by a coalition of hypocritical government hating libertarians out to rerun an experiment that has been performed and failed time after time, red neck racists, and corrupt business people out to buy power, and turn America into something resembling modern day Russia.
If you can’t win with facts, call names.
True, I think that is an accurate statement of the Carl Rove theory of politics as practiced when Bush was in office. That said I don’t think it is applicable to my post as I am not trying to win an argument with anyone. I am simply stating my opinion of the writer, and the current state of the Republican Party.
I support living with the sequester, however if I wanted to argue to the contrary, I would point out that the annual deficit as a percentage of GDP has gone down every year since 2009, the last Bush Budget year; and that the projected deficit this year is well below a trillion dollars.
How much did it cost taxpayers to fly Obama aboard Air Force Once to Florida so he could play golf with Tiger Woods? Maybe Obama should foot the bill for his personal golf dates.
How much did it cost taxpayers to fly Obama aboard Air Force Once to Florida so he could play golf with Tiger Woods? Maybe Obama should foot the bill for his personal golf dates.
Incentivizing work? GREAT, but how? where is your solution? Don’t forget it was President Bill Clinton who accomplished welfare- to- work in the 1990’s , reducing welfare rolls.
Inequality is a big factor holding back our recovery.
The middle class is too weak to support the consumer spending that historically drives our economic growth. While the top 1% took home 93% of the growth in incomes in 2010, the households in the middle have lower household incomes, adjusted for inflation, than they did in 1996.
The middle class has been hollowed out since the 1970s, and so they cannot invest in their future by educating their kids or starting a business.
Third, the weakness of the middle class is holding back tax receipts, especially because those at the top like Mitt Romney are quite adept at avoiding taxes and getting Washington to give them tax breaks. Low tax receipts means the government cannot spend on infrastructure, research, education, and so on, so very vital to our future.
Stop bitching about all those “rich” people at the bottom of the shit pile who live on subsistence from the government. You may be in their place one day yourself.
Work for justice and equality in our society. Isn’t that what you devout Republican Christians are supposed to believe and practice?
Incentivizing work? GREAT, but how? where is your solution? Don’t forget it was President Bill Clinton who accomplished welfare- to- work in the 1990’s , reducing welfare rolls.
Inequality is a big factor holding back our recovery.
The middle class is too weak to support the consumer spending that historically drives our economic growth. While the top 1% took home 93% of the growth in incomes in 2010, the households in the middle have lower household incomes, adjusted for inflation, than they did in 1996.
The middle class has been hollowed out since the 1970s, and so they cannot invest in their future by educating their kids or starting a business.
Third, the weakness of the middle class is holding back tax receipts, especially because those at the top like Mitt Romney are quite adept at avoiding taxes and getting Washington to give them tax breaks. Low tax receipts means the government cannot spend on infrastructure, research, education, and so on, so very vital to our future.
Stop bitching about all those “rich” people at the bottom of the shit pile who live on subsistence from the government. You may be in their place one day yourself.
Work for justice and equality in our society. Isn’t that what you devout Republican Christians are supposed to believe and practice?
How, pray tell, did SC get so dirt poor. It’s them damn libruls of course.
How, pray tell, did SC get so dirt poor. It’s them damn libruls of course.
“…7.5 percent of South Carolina’s economy is comprised of federal spending…”
Now do you really think the majority of this comes from welfare and food stamps?
Wake up. It’s Shaw AFB, Parris Island, Charleston AFB, Naval Weapons Station, National and Air Guard toys and facilities, VA hospitals, clinics and nursing homes. That’s who gets the big federal bucks in this state.
I say let’s close ’em down.
Marine Corp Air Station
Savannah River Site
And does Westinghouse make fuel rods for ship reactors too?
The national parks, forests, and dams may largely earn their own keep.
“…7.5 percent of South Carolina’s economy is comprised of federal spending…”
Now do you really think the majority of this comes from welfare and food stamps?
Wake up. It’s Shaw AFB, Parris Island, Charleston AFB, Naval Weapons Station, National and Air Guard toys and facilities, VA hospitals, clinics and nursing homes. That’s who gets the big federal bucks in this state.
I say let’s close ’em down.
Marine Corp Air Station
Savannah River Site
And does Westinghouse make fuel rods for ship reactors too?
The national parks, forests, and dams may largely earn their own keep.