BUT THERE’S A CATCH …
S.C. House minority leader Todd Rutherford (D-Columbia) is introducing legislation aimed at legalizing casinos along South Carolina’s coast … or at least in the “Myrtle Beach area.”
There’s a catch, though … Rutherford views the issue not as an expansion of individual liberty, but as a revenue-generating scheme on behalf of the state’s corrupt, inefficient highway system.
There’s a political axe being ground as well … Rutherford said he’s outlining his proposals because S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley is “being disingenuous by promising to tackle our roads without proposing a funding strategy.”
“Governor Haley doesn’t have a plan to fix our roads,” he said. “She’s against everything and for nothing. That kind of stubbornness won’t fill our potholes, widen I-26, or create I-73. It’s time to get serious about how we’re going to pay for these repairs and Governor Haley’s mystical ‘money tree’ is not a serious plan.”
Wait … “get serious about paying for highway funding? “
Didn’t our state’s leaders just borrow half a billion dollars in new money explicitly for this purpose? Why yes … yes they did.
Ready for the shocking truth? South Carolina does not have a highway funding problem …
According to data compiled by the Reason Foundation, South Carolina ranked No. 2 in the nation in total taxpayer disbursements per mile in 2007. In 2008 and 2009 – the latest years for which data is available – the Palmetto State led the nation in tax money spent per mile of state-maintained roads.
What about bridges? Glad you asked … from 2007-09 South Carolina led the nation in taxpayer disbursements per mile of bridges.
These investments – actual outlays and money borrowed from future generations of taxpayers – have only intensified in recent years, yet the condition of the state’s roads and bridges continues to deteriorate.
Why? Because South Carolina is pissing hundreds of millions of dollars away on totally unnecessary projects … and a totally incompetent bureaucracy.
Anyway …
No one is more vocal on behalf of legalizing private sector gaming than this website: No one. In fact we wrote just this week on the pressing need for state leaders to move on this competitive advantage – eliminating the state’s corrupt government monopoly over this industry.
But the legalization of gambling (in the “Myrtle Beach area” or anywhere) is not about funneling more money to our state’s unwieldy, unaccountable politicians – it’s about employment, investment and opportunity for the people .
Our state’s leaders must make that distinction … or else no amount of “new money” routed to our roads will ever fix anything. In fact if anyone thinks all the “new money” we’ve dumped into this system over the last decade (including all those “stimulus” funds) made a difference, we’d invite you to drive a few miles on Interstate 95 … or 26 … or 85 … or … you get the picture.
Accordingly, while we have no beef with lawmakers earmarking a percentage of revenue from coastal casino operations to road repairs, we wholeheartedly oppose them pillaging this industry to support unsustainable spending on unnecessary projects.
The former is a responsible exercise of legitimate government authority, the latter is a pork-laden free-for-all … which is precisely what we have in South Carolina right now.
Rutherford deserves credit for having the guts to embrace this long-overdue reform … but we would encourage him to tread carefully as he attempts to link it to “highway needs.”
This is a liberty argument … and a prosperity argument. Period.
34 comments
Don’t the democrats want to “Take a Toke for the Kids” too. Sell pot to fund schools..LMAO…”Buy a lid for the Kids”…You can’t make this S#!t up…Hahahaha…”Mary Jane, to fund Dick and Jane”….Hahaha…
A lack of vice, ain’t the problem, Dumb@$$…. And democrat answers have proven to be pretty F*#kin’ stupid too…(see education, the economy and healthcare)….IOW: No thanks..
Getting lonely over at the companion site are you? You will never build a business by farting around over here all day.
Dumbfounded, again…aren’t you Dumb@$$…???
His site is on blogspot, even if he had the traffic he couldn’t monetize it.
Not a marketing major are you?…ever hear of AdSense???…That’s a Google product (Gadget) for Blogspot, you Dumb@$$….
I LOVE scaring the F*#k out of you Brown Shirts…You are finta’ S#!* all over yourselves when you see what is coming…LMAO…..
And oh yeah: Great approach to the Gambling story here (link below.) on SC Political Digest.
http://scdigest.blogspot.com/
Better a brown shirt than a brown short, eh Big T?
AdSense. Woo Hoo! That’s not a true monetizing plan in and of itself. You’re not as bright as you advertise yourself to be, obviously.
Yes it is Dumb@$$ a monetizing device. But I did not say it was the only one, but that it can be used on Blogspot….and I did not say I’m even planning on using it. You seem as scared as these other Gestapos…LMAO…you should be…
Hey Tango ! What was Rush’s statement of the day ?
He said you’re a douche bag.
I’m only scared that you might still be capable of procreation.
If he could advertise himself as bright, he wouldn’t have to advertise in the comments here.
Heck, it would take godlike marketing skills to advertise him as bright. He could own his own firm with that kind of talent.
You’re not as bright as you advertise yourself to be, obviously.
Understatement of 2014, right there.
I assume you mean your brother Brown Shirts are worried you will make them look bad. As I recall the Brown Shirts and Nazis were Anti-union, Anti-communist, Anti- gay, Anti-minority, Anti-immigration, Corporatist. Sounds a lot like the KKK, the Aryan Nation, Tea Party, and Republican Party to me.
You liberals are immersed in so much myth, that your puppet masters feed you, to control you. Get cable and watch Smithsonian Channel every once and a while.
Hitler had no problem w/ homosexuals at first. He was like the Liberal-Tarians of today. One of Hitler’s top aides (no pun) was gay. But the homosexuals became so pre-occupied w/ humping and sucking each other (the danger when your sexual preference is your identity) it threatened the NAZI mission.
Also: Hitler had Stalin freed from prison to take down Russia from within with Communism. It worked. Stalin and Hitler were allies, until Hitler double-crossed Stalin, and Russia had to side w/ the winners, or be done in by the Socialists. Stalin immediately turned on us, after we bailed his sorry @$$ out. Just like a liberal…
And PS: Hitler was Anti-American…just like you, Obama and the democrat party.
Look at Emily, getting all Nazi on us.
You need a history lesson
AdSense? lol… And every ad blocking program blocks that by default. You aren’t becoming a YouTube partner, you are piddling away on a blog, one that nobody reads anyways.
Also, I thought this was someone else’s blog that just happened to write like you? Oops.
Enjoy your pocket change.
So tell us, if you’re bragging about traffic on your site, why hasn’t anyone of these many people posted a response to your articles?
Let us know when your hits on any give post reach double digits. We will then stage an online suicide watch for Sic.
Hey Boz: I BET YOU Mine is BIGGER than yours, already. Hahahaha….
What? Your wife??
In other words, go the h#ll away?
Yes, let’s build casinos to increase the politicians’ road fund, which gets funneled back to projects in their home districts and wherever their buddies own some land.
Other than the building of Casinos part, That’s been done for years in SC, ask BH. Are people of SC ” that stupid ” ?
The democrats always propose the bills for legal gambling because it is their constituents who desperately do not want it. The gambling community detests the thought of legalized competition and taxation of the earnings.
When proposed at the right time, such as when there is a ton of negative publicity around corruption associated with gambling, the bill always gets hammered, derided and defeated in a very public fashion.
Then business can continue as usual.
It was humorous to hear Danny Frazier on the famous video gaming recordings talking about how you can’t put this $#!* in the rich neighborhoods, but the poor love it will spend their whole check on it…
FITS and the liberals MUST count on the ignorant and stupid for political power. People w/ ethics or sense will tell them to get screwed.
——–without proposing a funding strategy.”———
This bill is funding strategy for both Dem’s and Rep’s campaign coffers.
Yep.
MUCH MUCH better Writng and thinking here (link Below.) This article Chides democrats for trying to find yet another way to get their hands on Tax receipts, for the Greedy government. ..using an already Trashed “Murder Beach” as the cash cow.
Great Read: http://scdigest.blogspot.com/
Maybe ol’ scarhead should just take a trip to Florida with his drinking buddy T-Bone.
This is a well written article. Good work.
SC Democrats killed casino gambling when they elected Toal who then brushed off the Catawbas. SC Democrats killed casino gambling when they elected Leatherman as Pro Tem. MB is the last place you want a casino.
You think Dems are the only ones who elected Toal?
A casino needs to be in Santee at I-95, right down the road from I-26 on the shores of Lake Marion. Make the gamblers have to buy gas to and from the casino, the length and breadth of SC in the absolute middle of the state.