Category: Economic Development

It’s nearly the end of the year and South Carolina’s legislative session is rapidly approaching! The first day of session begins on January 14, 2020. Since 2019 was the first…

REMOVING CITIZENS’ POWER TO HOLD THEIR NEIGHBORS ACCOUNTABLE? UPDATE: The final version of the bill placed parameters on the bill’s scope, but the core of the proposal – the violation of…

WHAT THE McDONNELL CASE TELLS US ABOUT GOVERNMENT ‘DEVELOPING’ THE ECONOMY Last week former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell was convicted of 11 counts of corruption related to his acceptance of…

WONDER WHAT YOUR LAWMAKERS WERE UP TO IN 2013? IT’S ALL HERE. Our annual guide to the year’s legislative session, The Best & Worst of the General Assembly, has been…

 THE CREATION OF VALUE IS Although the role of government would appear to be a controversial topic in the political sphere, there’s one role commentators on both the left and…

HOW S.C. KEEPS ITS CITIZENS IN POVERTY The New York Times recently reported on a new study finding that income mobility in South Carolina is severely limited. Income mobility, as…

THEORIES ARE DEBATABLE. REALITY? NOT SO MUCH. When a public official wants to sell a big spending increase, he’ll almost inevitably justify it by claiming that it won’t just create…

WHY TAXPAYERS DESERVE DETAILS – NOT VAGUE TALKING POINTS AND HIGHER TAXES On June 25th, the mayor of Columbia, Steve Benjamin, unveiled what’s being commonly called the “Bull Street Development Deal.” The…

  WHY DOES THE STATE OPERATE ITS OWN PORTS? GOOD QUESTION. One of the major issues debated this legislative session has been the state’s infrastructure and the need for improvement.…

  FOR GOVERNMENT, IT TAKES A LOT OF MONEY TO SPEND MONEY South Carolina’s state budget now tops $24 billion – a staggering sum (and just to put that in…

 IT’S NOT WHAT POLITICIANS TELL YOU What industry would you guess is the biggest employer in South Carolina? Listening to State House politicians, you might think the answer is one…

HOW ECONOMIC INCENTIVES COMPROMISE AMERICA’S MOST IMPORTANT VALUE Equality and liberty are not always compatible and in some cases directly opposed, but there is one notion of equality that is…

WHY THE RUSH TO PUT FUTURE TAXPAYERS 120,000,000 MORE DOLLARS INTO DEBT? The news broke this week that Boeing plans to expand its existing North Charleston campus to include an…

It’s the beginning of April and lawmakers‘ two-week furlough is almost up, leaving us at roughly the half-way point of the 2013 legislative session. This was supposed to be the…

  IT’S ALL ABOUT POWER (A LOT OF IT) AND ACCOUNTABILITY (NONE OF IT) Last week, we posted a brief analysis of S.535, legislation that would create a murky new…

WHY KEEP TRYING TO ‘COMPETE’ ON OUR COMPETITORS’ TERMS? For generations, South Carolina lawmakers of both parties have shown an unwavering commitment to the idea that special tax incentives encourage…

THE ANSWER DEPENDS ON WHO YOU ARE Many government officials in South Carolina, particularly elected officials, take pride in frequently announcing that South Carolina is one of the most business…

…MORE OR LESS. In the 1990s, politicians spoke constantly about “the children” and/or “education.” Now they tend to talk about “jobs,” as if the whole purpose of government were to…

HOW SOUTH CAROLINA FELL INTO GORDON TULLOCK’S “TRANSITIONAL GAINS TRAP” At a recent debate sponsored by the Policy Council on the merits of taxpayer-financed “incentives” – the headline for the…

WHAT IS THAT THING, AND WHY ARE WE PAYING SO MUCH FOR IT? Read Quantifying the Machine, the Policy Council’s report on the costs of economic development, here. For other material…

Next year, the state of South Carolina will receive around $25 million dollars from the National Mortgage Settlement, a joint federal-state lawsuit against loan servicers awarded to parties affected by…

Our taxpayer-supported colleges and universities should get back to their mission of educating young people – and leave economic development to the market.

Last session, legislative leaders argued South Carolina needed every dollar of the state’s $2.8 billion federal stimulus package to save jobs for teachers and law enforcement personnel. Faced with such…

Last week, we demonstrated that South Carolina’s improved employment picture hasn’t really improved much at all. Rather, government hiring and a shrinking labor force are making the job numbers look…

Government-driven economic development is a secretive process in which politicians give away tax exemptions, subsidies, and other taxpayer-funded incentives to private companies. Politicians “invest” tax dollars without disclosing any meaningful…

It’s business as usual in South Carolina. Out-of-control spending, over-regulation, and an out-of-touch Legislature determined to govern behind closed doors. And while we’ve cringed at political gaffs and ugly politics…