Message sent when S.C. governor rejects stimulus $?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
South Carolina's Republican Governor has become the nation's first to reject some of the economic stimulus money. Mark Sanford says he'll turn down about $700 million of his state's $2.8 billion share unless Washington lets him use it pay down the debt.
Gov. Mark Sanford, a potential 2012 GOP candidate, is one of several Republican governors who have criticized the $787 billion stimulus plan.
He insists taking the money would harm his state's residents in the long run by increasing the federal budget deficit and building expectations for government programs that can't be sustained.
Funny but it seems like the folks in South Carolina are hurting pretty bad right now. The state has the second highest unemployment rate in the country - having shed many jobs in manufacturing, tourism, construction and retail. Its unemployment rate is at 10.4 percent, second only to Michigan.
Sanford is one of several Republican governors who have criticized the $787 billion stimulus plan. However other governors from both parties have said they would take any money that these states rejected.
And in the end, Sanford's move is largely symbolic. That's because state legislatures can override governors and take the money. South Carolina congressman James Clyburn, a Democrat, is blasting Sanford for rejecting the money that could help residents of their state.
Clyburn says Sanford quote "will sleep well at night because he has improved his 'conservative record' and raised his national profile." Probably worth a mention that Sanford is seen as a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2012.
With all the warm, fuzzy sympathy he's displaying for the hard-pressed people of South Carolina, I wonder how he was ever elected governor.
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
U.S. need a 2nd economic stimulus package?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Some failing grades for the Obama administration when it comes to its efforts to jumpstart the economy.
President Obama speaks after receiving the economic daily briefing with Treasury Sec.Timothy Geithner in the Oval Office yesterday.
A Wall Street Journal survey of economists shows a majority of those polled are dissatisfied with the White House's policies. On average, they give President Obama a grade of 59 out of 100. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner gets an average grade of 51.
The economists also pushed back once again their forecasts for when a recovery will begin - now they're saying October. That's after saying August last month. They predict the economy will lose another 2.8 million jobs in the next year - with the unemployment rate topping nine percent. Also, these economists see a one-in-six chance that the U.S. falls into a depression.
When it comes to the $787 billion economic stimulus package - the experts are mixed, with 43 percent saying the U.S. will need another package of about $500 billion. Others were doubtful that we needed any stimulus plan at all.
But it's been all the talk in Washington this week since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested more spending might be needed. House Democrats have since backed off saying we need time to see how the first stimulus package plays out. But even talk of another massive plan was all it took to get Republicans and many Democrats all wound up.
Republicans argue this is proof that the first package isn't working while some Democrats are saying there's no appetite for another package and it's way too soon to even think about it.
Here’s my question to you: Does the U.S. need a second economic stimulus package?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
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