The urgent need to address China UnionPay’s influence in the credit card industry
July 2, 2024By Kyle Johnson As lawmakers continue to crackdown on China’s growing threat to the U.S., it’s time for Congress to turn its attention to the credit card industry, another area…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: government, on-the-move, op-ed
How women are shaping South Carolina real estate through legacy and influence
March 19, 2024By Reah Smith 2024 President of the South Carolina Association of REALTORS® As temperatures are increasing and interest rates are stabilizing, South Carolina’s real estate market is bracing for…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc, laurenscountybuzz Category: on-the-move, op-ed
They are ABLE
October 2, 2023By State Treasurer Curtis Loftis Administrator for the Palmetto ABLE Savings Program How important is stability, peace of mind or independence to you? These qualities are always top of…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc, laurenscountybuzz Category: conversations, on-the-move, op-ed
Two thought-provoking questions by Governor McMaster
January 31, 2023By Alan Cooper Publisher [I spoke about this topic on the South Carolina Business Review on Monday, January 30 – listen here] During the State of the State address, Governor…
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How South Carolina businesses can prepare for an economic downturn
January 12, 2023By Thomas Anderson Following a global pandemic, South Carolina finance executives have redefined adaptability with warp-speed reconfiguration of capital investment plans. With a potential economic slowdown on the horizon in…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc Category: advice, banking-and-finance, economic-development, on-the-move, op-ed
Rural South Carolina: Building Healthier Communities for the People Who Power America
November 17, 2022By Dr. Saundra Glover South Carolina State Director USDA Rural Development As we celebrate National Rural Health Day this year, we are reminded that a strong community is rooted in…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, op-ed
Teamwork – effective and fun!
October 27, 2022By Jeff Becraft One of the most epic moments in my life happened in a grocery store. It was on an alumni trip back in the Youth Corps days. There…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, on-the-move, op-ed, the-arts
Supporting financial stability for South Carolinians with disabilities
August 15, 2022By State Treasurer Curtis Loftis Nearly 800,000 people in South Carolina live with a physical or mental disability. Many of them are able and willing to work, yet our state…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc, laurenscountybuzz Category: government, on-the-move, op-ed
Low-quality patents are a threat for small businesses
July 22, 2022By Austin Meyer Since founding X-Plane in 1995, a flight simulator that allows pilots to practice without getting in a plane, my work has always been focused on increasing safety…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, op-ed
With summer here, time for officials to focus on power reliability
July 11, 2022By Cline Jones In the wake of COVID, most Americans for the first time have been forced to face an ugly truth: supply chains are more fragile than we ever…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: energy, on-the-move, op-ed
Government charge cards require stringent oversight
April 20, 2022By Richard Eckstrom, S.C. Comptroller Government procurement cards, known as p-cards, are intended to streamline routine purchases such as for office supplies and small dollar items. Functioning like credit cards…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: accounting, government, on-the-move, op-ed
Pension plan shortfall demands lawmakers’ attention
March 8, 2022By Richard Eckstrom, S.C. Comptroller It definitely doesn’t get the attention it deserves, but it’s among the most severe financial problems facing South Carolina today: The state retiree pension plan…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: banking-and-finance, government, on-the-move, op-ed
Op-Ed: The time is here to let voters decide on Sunday liquor store sales
March 7, 2022Opinion Editorial By Ed McMullen Chairman, Cheers! Let South Carolina Decide Elected representatives in Columbia are currently debating legislation that will help South Carolina businesses compete in the 21st century.…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: economic-development, government, law, on-the-move, op-ed
Is the omicron variant Mother Nature’s way of vaccinating the masses and curbing the pandemic?
February 1, 2022The characteristics of the COVID-19 omicron variant has many people wondering if it could act as a vaccine of sorts, inoculating enough people to effectively bring about herd immunity. By…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: health-care, on-the-move, op-ed
State Guard volunteers help people during emergencies
January 17, 2022By Richard Eckstrom, S.C. Comptroller One Saturday a month, hundreds of folks from across the state come together at sites in Charleston, Columbia and Greenville for a day of military-style…
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Let’s Put South Carolina First
January 13, 2022By John Boyanoski, Rosylin Weston and Chip Felkel The State of South Carolina has roughly $6 billion dollars in relatively unexpected money to spend in the next five years due…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc, laurenscountybuzz Category: government, on-the-move, op-ed
S.C. a national leader on timely financial reporting
November 29, 2021By Richard Eckstrom, S.C. Comptroller Each fall, my office releases the state’s financial report for the prior fiscal year. The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, commonly called a CAFR, is a…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: banking-and-finance, government, on-the-move, op-ed
South Carolina’s role in the fight against suicide
November 17, 2021By Jim Harris The statistics concerning suicide are sobering, and the issue impacts many more people than most of us realize. We see the headlines when we lose celebrities like…
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Building I-73 is in the state’s best interest
October 25, 2021By Richard Eckstrom – S.C. Comptroller Supporters of a proposed stretch of interstate connecting I-95 to Myrtle Beach recently got a couple of pieces of welcome, long-awaited news. A judge…
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Colliers Op-Ed: Three Things Hoteliers Should Start Doing Today
May 6, 2021Some hoteliers hit the pause button in March 2020 with COVID-19’s arrival to wait and see what would happen, but now is the time to set things into motion again.…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: advice, commercial-real-estate, on-the-move, op-ed
What Critical Thinking Really Is
February 22, 2021By Steven J. Pearlman, PhD I’ll let you in on a secret: defining critical thinking is typically a trap. It’s a trap because critical thinking encompasses so many things. For…
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Make Learning to Save Fun and Easy for Kids this America Saves Week
February 16, 2021By State Treasurer Curtis Loftis When it comes to learning something new, you often hear, “it’s never too late.” But when it comes to smart money habits, it’s almost never…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc, laurenscountybuzz Category: banking-and-finance, education, on-the-move, op-ed
Why Your Child Doesn’t Learn Critical Thinking in School
February 11, 2021By Steven J. Pearlman, PhD If you’re like most parents, you want your child to learn to think critically, and if you’re expecting that their education should play a vital…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, op-ed
Palmetto State Teachers Association Statement on Governor’s Budget, 1/8/21
January 8, 2021By Kathy Maness, Executive Director Palmetto State Teachers Association As our state continues to grapple with the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, our citizens are experiencing a natural desire…
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Act UNITED for more affordable housing
October 26, 2020By Sarah DeWolf Trident United Way, Public Policy Committee Chair You can make a difference this election day by supporting affordable housing in the form of two referenda in Charleston…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc Category: non-profit, on-the-move, op-ed, residential-real-estate
The protests have exposed the flaws that we Americans must keep working to repair
June 9, 2020By U.S. Rep. James Clyburn In my memoir “Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black,” I share a philosophy I developed as a student protester on the campus of South…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: advice, government, on-the-move, op-ed
COVID-19 Impact on Energy Storage Sector
May 7, 2020By Ron MacDonald Despite the wrecking ball that the pandemic has been on the global economy, businesses and residences will continue to operate as long as there is reliable power…
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College athletics faces significant problems coming out of the coronavirus crisis
April 30, 2020By Rick Jones, founder, FishBait Marketing All across America, college athletic administrators are struggling with two major issues: Firstly, how to keep their student-athletes, coaches, support staff, students and…
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Opportunities in Our Own Lowcountry Backyard
April 21, 2020By Jim White, Ph.D. As the COVID-19 crisis sweeps the country, people living in thousands of impoverished American communities are likely feeling even more anxious than ever. Distressed communities may…
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The COVID-19 Crisis Requires a New Way of Life
April 2, 2020By Sam Konduros Unprecedented steps are being taken by all of us – businesses and families alike – as we collectively combat the Coronavirus global pandemic that is hitting far…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: hi-tech-information-tech, on-the-move, op-ed
South Carolina voting rights under the axe
January 25, 2020By Chuck Saylors SCSBA President and Greenville County Schools Board Member In America, choosing our government is a sacred right and duty. Our vote is our voice, guaranteeing that we…
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Let’s make 2020 the year of the community
December 13, 2019By Quint Studer If you looked only at the big picture, you’d have to say we live in deeply troubled times. It seems we’ve never been more polarized. Political discourse…
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South Carolina – A Decade in Review
December 10, 2019By Alan Cooper Publisher WhosOnTheMove.com As South Carolina turns the page on the decade, I’d like to paint a picture of where we were in 2010, where we are…
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The inflation mystery
October 23, 2019By Robert Samuelson The virtual elimination of inflation is one of the great uncovered stories of our time. If you go back to the 1970s and the early 1980s…
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Why the global economy remains so weak
October 16, 2019By Robert Samuelson We’ve seen this movie before. The top economists at the International Monetary Fund — the global agency created after World War II to promote stability and…
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Is Trump’s tail wagging Erdogan?
October 15, 2019By Kathleen Parker So let me get this straight: President Trump ordered the removal of American troops from northern Syria, knowing that Turkey would invade, seize and occupy Kurd-occupied…
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Stop naming things after politicians
October 14, 2019By Richard Eckstrom, S.C. Comptroller They’re a staple of the incumbent politician’s toolkit: the countless recognitions, resolutions, proclamations, ribbon-cuttings, and photo-ops which are more ceremonial than anything else, but which…
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The malevolent aura of Donald J. Trump
October 14, 2019By Kathleen Parker COLUMBIA, S.C. — As the world seems consumed by all things Ukraine, it’s time once again to dust off the ever-popular, evergreen headline: Rudy, Rudy, Rudy.…
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China won’t die laughing
October 9, 2019By Kathleen Parker Dictators. Always so humorous. Take China’s communist officialdom. You’ve probably heard about the “South Park” episode last week that the Chinese government didn’t find amusing. And…
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Quids and quos gone wild
October 5, 2019By Kathleen Parker It’s fair to say at this juncture that America’s Quid and Ukraine’s Quo have been caught in bed together. The fevered search for a damning quid…
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Democrats, show me the message
September 30, 2019By Kathleen Parker We long ago established that Donald Trump is a bad guy. We’ve multiple times said, “This is it. They’ve got to get rid of him.” So…
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Dissent at the Fed
September 30, 2019By Robert Samuelson The battle to control the Federal Reserve is being waged on many fronts. There’s President Trump’s relentless tirades against Fed Chairman Jerome Powell — and Powell’s…
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The other victim of the Kavanaugh saga
September 25, 2019By Kathleen Parker Every good story needs a hero, and the saga of Brett Kavanaugh’s rise to the Supreme Court has provided one: Leland Keyser. She also became a…
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The odd couple: Trump and Powell
September 23, 2019By Robert Samuelson If ever there was a case of political miscalculation, it’s the collapsing relationship between President Trump and the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Jerome (“Jay”)…
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Boomers crush millennials. Read all about it!
September 18, 2019By Robert Samuelson As a case study in the workings of modern democracy, the handling of Social Security by successive presidents and Congress over recent decades is a deeply…
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The heresy of hearsay
September 18, 2019By Kathleen Parker The recent fiasco at The New York Times, which last weekend published the latest uncorroborated sexual-assault accusation against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, was a monument…
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Should we love or hate ‘negative’ interest rates?
September 16, 2019By Robert Samuelson The idea that interest rates could be “negative” seems so counterintuitive that it defies easy understanding. Yet, here we are. Some foreign central banks (among them,…
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Trump won — again
September 16, 2019By Kathleen Parker Watching the Democratic presidential debate Thursday night left one clear impression: Donald Trump won. Please don’t shoot the messenger. My left index finger recoiled a bit…
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Will the real poverty rate please stand up?
September 11, 2019By Robert Samuelson It has always been hard to measure poverty, because poverty is as much a state of mind as a condition of material well-being. Still, we seem…
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Through Mark Sanford’s looking glass
September 11, 2019By Kathleen Parker Once upon a time, Mark Sanford might have been a contender, but there’s too much water under the bridges that stretch from this city of steeples…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed