In this video, while Governor Granholm and Governor Ritter talk realistically about the problems states are seeing due to the Bush Recession, Republican Governor Sanford of South Carolina tries to dodge the issue by fishing for all the red herrings he can find. What in the world does "scale of the global economy" have to do with anything? "Trash" the value of the dollar? NOW he cares about that? Did he speak out against it before when the Republicans were running up the tab? Maybe he did, I don't know, but here he cries about bailing out states such as California, claiming that the people of South Carolina will somehow abandon personal responsibility on spending if we go and do that...
Why should taxpayers across this country go and bail out a state that has grown at a far faster rate, and has provided much more in the way of benefits, than even the federal government? What it means is, the next go-around, the people in South Carolina say "I shouldn't try to hold the line or be circumspect in spending because the government will bail us out".
OK. Fair enough. Gov. Sanford claims that South Carolina can "go it alone". Once again, let's turn to the Tax Foundation...
South Carolina taxpayers receive more federal funding per dollar of federal taxes paid than the average state. Per dollar of federal tax collected in 2005, South Carolina citizens received approximately $1.35 in the way of federal spending. This ranks the state 16th highest nationally and represents a slight rise from 1995, when South Carolina received $1.20 per dollar of taxes in federal spending, ranking it 18th highest nationally.
Well, lookee there. If that is the way that the good Governor from South Carolina wants to play the game, perhaps he can rustle up all that extra federal money his state has received and send it on back to DC. Get together with Senator Shelby, and cut the check. Set that example for the citizens of your states, guys - we wouldn't want them to think you are getting a free ride on another state's taxpayer dollar or anything like that.
Better yet, just send it to us here in Michigan. Looks like we have received the short end of the stick for quite some time now, our population needs receiving well below what we are due...
The CRC concludes: “If Michigan had received the same proportion of all federal payments to states as the proportion of its population to total U.S. population, an additional $14 billion in direct payments would have been made to Michigan recipients in 2007. If Michigan had received the same proportion of all direct payments, loans, and insurance as its percent of the total population, an additional $48 billion in value would have flowed to this state.” That’s $62 billion. The auto industry wants only $25 billion, and certainly not all of that would come to Michigan.
Imagine what we could do with $62 billion dollars. We could loan some to the automakers, take care of our budget issues, maybe even fix up the roads a bit... I just hope we wouldn't be as selfish when it comes to helping out others as our neighbors in the South have been recently.