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Mark Sanford puts SC unemployed at risk, turning down $700 million in federal stimulus bill

Submitted by Chad on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 2:23pm.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
by Chad Rubel

Mark Sanford might want to be president in 2012. But if Sanford is going to get there, he should concentrate on his day job, being Governor of South Carolina.

Right now, Sanford acts like he doesn't want to provide the necessary leadership to help his state. South Carolina has a 10.4% unemployment rate, yet Governor Sanford doesn't want to spend stimulus money on the unemployed. The 10.4% mark is the fastest growing unemployment rate in the country, and the overall mark is second to Michigan's 11.6%. When your state is slightly better off than Michigan when it comes to employment, your state is not in good shape.

The state has been forced since December to borrow $176 million from the federal government in order to pay jobless claims. Allendale County has an official unemployment rate of 23.4% in January; 75% of the state's counties had double digit unemployment rates.

As Don Schunk, a research economist at Coastal Carolina University told The State newspaper, "The speed with which things have deteriorated is unprecedented."

What is Gov. Sanford doing to help in this crisis? Whining about having to use money to help the unemployed, which he doesn't want to do. Wanting to use stimulus money -- not for stimulus -- but to pay down the debt. And let's not forget the awkward, inaccurate comparisons to Zimbabwe.

Now we have the main course: Gov. Sanford is officially turning down $700 million from the stimulus package. Yes, Sanford said no to $700 million because "We don't think it's a good idea to spend money that you don't have."

Gov. Sanford, if you say no to the money, you won't be able to spend it. The good news for the residents of South Carolina is that the state House and Senate are working on bills to override Sanford's decision, and restore some adult responsibility and leadership to the rudderless state.

If the race among these Southern Republican governors is trying to see which one plays chicken the longest, Sanford might win the prize. But when he runs for president in 2012, and reporters come to South Carolina and ask residents what they think of him, Sanford better hope they don't talk to someone who was unemployed in 2009. But at this rate, finding someone in South Carolina who isn't affected by the current crisis will be really difficult.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

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Insanity in the South Prevails

Submitted by CherMoe on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 5:01pm.
Simply amazing! This would be like a parent refusing "charity", instead choosing to let their children starve. It's a good thing we still have the right to vote in this country, and that all those folks in SC whose lives and paychecks are being affected by this depression will vote this jerk out. Better yet, he should be "recalled" and thrown out on his pompous rear end.
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Insanity in the South Prevails

Submitted by banjobailey on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 8:58pm.
Reminds me of the statement a legislator made about South Carolina just before the Civil War: "South Carolina is too big for a lunatic asylum and too small for a Republic."
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Was that bastard ever hungry?

Submitted by Malgoska on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 3:09pm.

Or was he ever threatened by sudden homelessness? If not, maybe he ought to experience both. I challenge the sheeple of SC to a) recall Sanford and b) seize his assets, so they can be distributed among the needy.

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sanford & sons.....

Submitted by christopherflynn on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 4:34pm.
unfortunately, I suspect, the people of south carolina are too ignorant to do anything about it... (but I'd love to see me proven wrong)...
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sanford & sons

Submitted by banjobailey on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 9:06pm.
I've been thinking of Sanford's strategy in three ways: l. he is attempting the "New Orleans Solution". That is: drive all the poor people out of the state; make them re-locate elsewhere. 2. challenge the Federal Government by nullifying it's authority over the states, thereby resurrecting the Confederacy and 3. angle for a spot on the 2012 Republican ticket by demonstrating to his fellow travelers that he is a fiscal genius who achieves election by making it impossible for voters without homes, or jobs, to vote at all. What do you think? What is the point of deliberately inflicting suffering on his own people? He has got to think it is to his advantage somehow.
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Monsters masquerading as people--

Submitted by Renard on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 7:46am.

People like Sanford are utterly without any sense of human compassion or sense of other people's suffering, being so intensely focused on their own ambitions and greed. They see themselves as being so tantalizingly close to their ultimate goal of totally subjugating the commoners for their own benefit that they have no concept of how their policies and pronouncements fly in the face of common human decency.

I am beginning to fear that the only thing that will stop--or at least temper--people like Sanford is the 'torch and pitchfork' approach. I am a peaceful person and am not advocating violence, but it is looking more and more like threats to their own personal safety are the only thing that these monsters will understand.

Renard

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