Finally, a little common sense

There's a nice piece in The State today cautioning against selective tax hikes on unpopular products. But the best line is on taxes in general:

The truth is that lower taxes, including those on cigarettes, benefit our state’s economy and have a significant economic multiplier effect. High taxes — in some areas, the highest in the United States — are bad for our economy.

Someone offer this man a regular column. Now.

Where to Go For the Good Stuff

Like accuracy in The State, the frequency of updates on this blog can be inconsistent. Luckily for you, South Cackallack has a wonderful cornucopia of political blogs. The attentive among you will have noticed that a few of have been added to my side bar. Here are the best ones:

LaurinLine: This is one of the prettiest, best-designed blogs I've ever seen. Period. End of paragraph.


The MUSC Tiger: Another piece of eyecandy and a unique perspective. Good fun.


The Sports Economist: Run by Clemson's own Professor Skip Sauer. Sometimes SC politics is boring, depressing, unmanageable. A good place to take a break.


Faith in the Sound: I especially like FITS. It's brimming with 'tude; it's funny as all get-out; plus, it's unusually well-written and has A LOT of sharp insights on politics. I wish they'd get a fancy-pants web design like some of the above (not TSE) but, hey, you can't have everything.

The State to Itself: We're Out-of-Touch!

The State is dutifully covering the General Assembly's attempt to ameliorate the fallout of the dreadful Kelo decision.

No friend of property rights, The State has always advocated the right of, well, the state to push around the little guy and take his property when they thought it could "better serve the common good."

But in the survey that accompanies this article, you can see that the readers are a little more, um, protective of their rights. It's pretty clear that Warthen and Co. don't represent the readership; the readers just haven't sought fit to fire them—yet.

Knight Ridder is Sold!

Knight Ridder, the parent company of The State, has been sold.

Needless to say, a change of ownership will inevitably leads to a shift in corporate culture. First up: downsizing. Among the changes at hand, the new owners, McClatchy, are looking to sell a dozen of the chain's 32 newspapers. Alas, The State is not on the chopping block.

Brad Warthen, never one to wait for the facts before rendering judgment, offers a "preaction."

What precipitated the sale? From the MSNBC account:

The Knight Ridder auction, which began last November after pressure for a sale from the group's biggest shareholder following years of stock price declines, was regarded as a test for investor interest in the sector, which has seen a decline in print circulation and advertising dollars as these shift to the internet.

Other financial problems at KR—although none as glaring as the writing deficiences at The State— were also noted by the press:

The acquisition will increase [McClatchey's] debt relative to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to a pro forma level of 5.2 times, "significantly above tolerances for leverage that Moody's built into its outlook for McClatchy's credit profile," the ratings agency said.

So the smart money at Moody's thinks that The State and its brethren are so badly run that any company that's foolhardy enough to acquire KR may be too brave for its own good. Article here.

Here's to hoping that after the shake-up The State can go back to being a readable, informative, grown-up newspaper instead of the shoddy, propagandistic, childishly error-ridden scandal sheet that it has become. In a place with its share of problems, it's no mean feat that The State has become "the shame of South Carolina."

Alas, No Surprises

The State goes back to supporting more money for unproven Big Government programs. Sigh.