In an opinion piece by South Carolina’s Treasurer, Converse Chellis, CPA, he describes the indecision of our governor, Mark Sanford, in accepting $700 million from the government to help stimulate the economy in this state.
Full text: http://schotline.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/south-carolina-stimulus-funds/#comment-4339
Although Treasurer Chellis disagrees with the United States Congress in its method of throwing money at the problem (he’s a Republican in a Republican state), he is also a realist.
The realism is that the state allocated money from Congress may be either accepted or rejected. However, the state is still obligated to repay it, even if they reject the funds.
Treasurer Chellis wrote, “Millions of dollars appropriated in the Recovery Act have already begun flowing into South Carolina to many different entities. If the decision is made to not accept the $700 million in question for our state, those funds will go elsewhere and South Carolina taxpayers will still be obligated to pay that money back.”
Governor Sanford does not want to accept the money (perhaps on Republican principles). If he accepts the money, he says it should be used to pay down the state’s debt. Treasurer Chellis points out that the state debt is not “bad” debt like high credit obligations, but “good” debt spent for improvement projects. The debt is manageable and tracking to have 50 percent repaid in five years and 90 percent repaid in ten years, as per plan.
Treasurer Chellis advocates using the money for job creation and education, rebuilding the personal wealth of the citizens. This is what the stimulus is all about.
A parallel may be drawn to the stimulus payment currently being delivered to working and retired citizens. What will we do with the money?
Almost all of us have “bad” debt that is loading us down. The temptation is to take the extra money from each paycheck and pay down the charge cards. Will that stimulate the overall economy? One argument says that paying down debt releases money to be lent out again by the banks we owe. That only holds true if the bank lends out the money, but many are using it for their own paydown of bad debt, and reducing your limits.
Can you invest it in a tiny business operating from your own home that will generate future income? Can you invest it in your own education that will enable you to get a higher paying position? What can you use the money for to give you a brighter future? That’s what the stimulus is for, yours and mine. Take a hint from Treasurer Chellis.
Think about it.
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