After Standard & Poor's (S&P) recently pulled South Carolina's AAA credit rating, many elected officials rushed to declare that they themselves weren't to blame. Instead, they blamed our economy -- and the governor's economic development program. That's unfair and misleading.

Credit rating agencies analyze numerous factors. Moody's Investor Services issued an extremely helpful 24-page report last year explaining the rating methodology. Elected officials should read this helpful report before pointing fingers.

The report explains that Moody's sometimes will offset weaknesses seen in some areas with strengths in other areas. For example, rating agencies have always considered South Carolina's economy to be relatively weak. But they've also credited us for having strengths that compensate for our economy. These compensating strengths arise from our conservative financial management.

Accordingly, rating agencies have historically cited our state Constitution's strict limits on state debt and our requirement to maintain "rainy-day" reserves to cover emergencies. They've historically cited the constitution's balanced budget requirement and its requirement for mid-year budget cuts, when necessary, to avoid overspending.