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Opinion
Loss
of textile jobs adds to credit rating problem
July
19, 2005
South
Carolina recently lost one of its top-rated AAA credit
standings. Standard and Poor’s Rating Service lowered it to
AA-plus. Two other rating services kept it at AAA.
Some
legislative members of his own Republican Party put the blame
squarely on Gov. Mark Sanford. Heading the list is new Speaker
of the House Bobby Harrell. He says he’s not picking on
Sanford, but …
Most of Sanford’s critics agree with S &
P that it’s high unemployment in the state that causes the
problem. In short, they say it’s a lack of jobs. They blame
the governor for not doing enough to attract new industry and
create new jobs. Standard and Poor’s doesn’t like tax cuts,
either, something that Sanford has proposed.
LIVING IN A COMMUNITY that
historically has depended on the textile industry to supply
the most jobs, it would seem that the decline in the domestic
textile industry is one of the major culprits. With factories
that produce textiles moving abroad, there’s not much that any
governor can do. It’s clear, too, that legislators can’t do
anything, either. They are, after all, in a state where the
legislature is the dominant power. They are in a far better
position to do something to help offset the tremendous loss of
textiles jobs, not to mention other industries that have also
been negatively affected by the emerging global
economy.
You expect the opposition, in this case Democrats,
to point the finger at a sitting Republican governor. You
don’t, however, expect the leaders of his own party to berate
him as a major cause of state worries.
LIKE IT
OR NOT, SANFORD is a governor who seems to be trying
to keep the bond he made with voters. He campaigned on tax
cuts. He also promised to work to make state government more
efficient and productive through challenging the way business
has always been done in Columbia. Considering that the
Legislature has always been the power in South Carolina, it
wasn’t likely that it would relinquish any government reins
without putting up a fight. Whether anyone expected it to be
as contrary or antagonistic as it has become, though, is hard
to say. Maybe it is simply a product of the times, when
nitpicking, back-biting, character assassination and worse
have become the rule instead of the exception.
Whatever,
the whole attitude thing is a drain on civility almost every
which way you turn. There’s no wonder that voters get fed up
with government. They don’t have much of a choice.
Editorial expression in this feature represents
our own views.
Opinions are limited to this page.
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