One for the Country - Thomas Friedman (NY Times)

Below is a piece of Mr. Friedman's column today ...

... But with Europe in peril, China and America wobbling, the Arab world in turmoil, energy prices spiraling and the climate changing, we are facing some real storms ahead. We need to weatherproof our American house — and fast — in order to ensure that America remains a rock of stability for the world. To do that, we’ll have to make some big, hard decisions soon — and to do that successfully will require presidential leadership in the next four years of the highest caliber.

This election has to be about those hard choices, smart investments and shared sacrifices — how we set our economy on a clear-cut path of near-term, job-growing improvements in infrastructure and education and on a long-term pathway to serious fiscal, tax and entitlement reform. The next president has to have a mandate to do all of this.

But, today, neither party is generating that mandate — talking seriously enough about the taxes that will have to be raised or the entitlement spending that will have to be cut to put us on sustainable footing, let alone offering an inspired vision of American renewal that might motivate such sacrifice. That’s why I still believe that the national debate would benefit from the entrance of a substantial independent candidate — like the straight-talking, socially moderate and fiscally conservative Bloomberg — who could challenge, and maybe even improve, both major-party presidential candidates by speaking honestly about what is needed to restore the foundations of America’s global leadership before we implode.

Read the full article here

Thanks for the prayers

Last Thursday night I heard the baby at midnight - and he never wakes overnight. When I checked on him he couldn't breathe and we went to the emergency room where we learned we would be guests for two nights. As you can see baby boogie had a great time at Palmetto Richland Hospital. He received great care and boogie was, and still is, in a great mood. He's still undergoing treatments, and is getting past it.

Thanks to everyone at Palmetto Richland, Shandon Methodist Church, and all of our friends and family and co-workers for their help, support and prayers!

Repost: On Taxes, George W. Bush has won

From Ezra Klein at Wonkbook, Washington Post today:

"I wish they weren’t called the Bush tax cuts," the 43rd president said in remarks on Tuesday. "If they were called some other body's tax cuts, they're probably less likely to be raised."

Perhaps. But George W. Bush is selling himself short here. Most of his tax cuts are, at this point, an almost foregone conclusion. No one is talking about taking the 10% bracket and raising it back to 15%. No one is talking about raising the 25% bracket back to 28%, or the 28% bracket back to 31%, or the 33% bracket back to 36%. And not only do both parties support the expanded child tax credit, but Democrats have expanded it further. The bulk of the Bush tax cuts are now a bipartisan affair.

To put it differently, Democrats have, for the most part, admitted that Bush was right, and the Clinton-era tax rates were too high on most Americans. For all that Democrats talk about returning to the Clinton-era tax rates, they only ever mean for the top two percent of taxpayers -- the folks who are now in the 35% bracket, but whom they would like to see in a 39.6% bracket.

The reality is that, on tax policy, Democrats are now closer to Bush than to Clinton. But neither side much likes to admit that. For Democrats, it means confessing to how far right they've moved on taxes. And for Republicans, it means admitting how far right Democrats have moved on taxes.

Access the entire article here.

15 February 2012

I was pleased to learn that the State Senate rejected an idea to remove the State Treasurer from the South Carolina Investment Commission. I believe that there needs to be more public accountability in the Commission, not less. So, I think it was a good day for our taxpayers.

After spending most of the day yesterday out sick, today was back to the office. We had our county-wide elected officials’ luncheon which mostly revolved around personnel and budget issues that we commonly face.

Tonight I attended a dinner at the renovated Tapps Building on Main Street where the Richland County Legislative Delegation broke bread with Columbia City Council, Richland County Council, and our county-wide elected officials. There was some discussion about the state’s funding of local government and some of the issues they were tackling at the request of local governments, but it was mostly a chance to sit with a group of leaders who all represent many of the same citizens.

Somewhere during the evening I was mistaken for my Citadel ’93 classmate, Dan Johnson, our Solicitor. I was okay with that because (even though I have much better hair) he is much skinnier than I am.

We all represent different pieces of the puzzle in South Carolina government, and we need to work together to meet the needs and aspirations of Richland County. So even when there isn’t always a lot of business to report on (like tonight) it is important we spend time together so that when we must address common issues there are familiar faces we can work with.

The last few days

Last Thursday night, I attended Councilman Norman Jackson’s State of the County address to his constituents at Lower Richland High School. It was a well put-together event with people who truly care about our community.

Then, Friday happened. …

Whenever my wife gets a well-deserved chance to go out of town, we are all very excited for her. But, with her trips there always seems to be an accompanying catastrophe at home. I call it karma because she does so much for our family 360 days a year, that when she leaves, I get a curve-ball of some sort.

So Pamela, in her role in the leadership of the Junior League of Columbia, was sent to Dallas-Ft. Worth for a three day training weekend that started last Friday. Within twenty hours of her flight out of town, our HVAC went kaput. Luckily, the heat in the kids’ rooms upstairs was working but waking up to 59 degrees downstairs was unfriendly – to put it mildly.

Still it was a good weekend with our son’s basketball game (they tied 24-24) and he and I went to see Star Wars: Episode I in 3-D. Our daughter went to see Pinkalicious with her grandmother and her friends. And, needless to say, our kids got to spend a lot of time with the grandparents.


On Sunday, we all went to the worksite at the new “Whole Foods” store where the kids climbed to the top of huge piles of mulch (it was 15 feet high) they call Mount Jaji in honor of their grandfather before they came home to play “Winter Wipeout” in the backyard on a makeshift obstacle course.

Today, while the heat folks fixed our system, I was able to work on some pending legislation by computer and phone. Tomorrow, it is back to the statehouse for a Senate Finance Committee hearing on two pieces of legislation I’ve been working on. Tonight, I went to the Haskell Heights Neighborhood meeting at the request of their president, Ellen Anderson, to talk about county business and all of the programs we offer through the Richland County Treasurer’s Office – it was a great meeting. (This is a photo of Haskell Heights First Baptist where they meet)


And, now that the heat is on, my wife is back, and the kids are tucked in their warm home, I can say that we are ready for the week ahead.