Caslen should be fully embraced, not demeaned
July 11, 2019
By Bill Connor AN OPEN LETTER TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA: I am a 2005 University of South Carolina School of Law graduate. I was commissioned…
Read MorePosted in: midlandsbiz Category: education, on-the-move, op-ed
It’s the economy, stupid. Again.
July 10, 2019
By Robert Samuelson The conventional wisdom holds — with good reason — that the economy may well settle the 2020 election. If it remains strong, President Trump stands a…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Acosta displayed rare cowardice before justice — and needs to step down
July 10, 2019
By Kathleen Parker It helps to know people in high places, especially if you’re a sex offender and your name is Jeffrey Epstein. Some might say that Epstein, the…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Is Putin right that liberalism is obsolete?
July 9, 2019
By Robert Samuelson It looks as if Vladimir Putin wants to be recalled as something besides being an aggressive autocrat. He yearns, it seems, to be seen as a…
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Democrats tread on sensitive ground
July 7, 2019
By Kathleen Parker The Democratic Party’s stampede to the presidency seems to be veering of late toward a racially charged contest. Between Joe Biden’s admitted friendliness with segregationists four…
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Travels with Daddy
July 7, 2019
By Kathleen Parker “Surreal” was the word Ivanka Trump used to describe North Korea, which she briefly visited this past weekend with dear ol’ dad. It was the first…
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Trump’s endless war on regulation
July 7, 2019
By Robert Samuelson The most obscure part of President Trump’s economic agenda is deregulation. This is not because anyone is deliberately hiding it. The real reason is more mundane:…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Democratic debates reveal a galaxy of stars
July 1, 2019
By Kathleen Parker CAMDEN, S.C. — By now, the winners and losers of the first Democratic presidential debate(s) have been thoroughly hashed, roasted and served up overdone. Bottom line:…
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Ambition on display — but what else?
June 28, 2019
By Robert Samuelson What struck me about the first debates among 20 candidates for the Democratic nomination for president was how much they resembled a gaggle of graduate students.…
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Can Trump beat the economy?
June 26, 2019
By Robert Samuelson We are now passing a significant milestone. The current economic expansion has become the longest in U.S. history. Previously, the record was the decade from March…
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Why millennials may be conservatives at heart
June 26, 2019
By Kathleen Parker Several current trends among millennials do not bode well for Democrats. Indeed, they suggest a greater affinity for (many) Republican policies, notwithstanding a, perhaps, contiguous dislike…
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Tear-up the (economic) textbooks — and start over!
June 24, 2019
By Robert Samuelson Harvard professor N. Gregory Mankiw is one of the most influential economists in the United States. But the 61-year-old’s authority does not stem from advancing an…
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Can I call ya’ SON?
June 24, 2019
By Kathleen Parker The problem with a lifetime in public service is a lifetime in public service. Enter Joe Biden, whose list of former offices and distinctions exceeds my…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
A refugee from the 1930s
June 17, 2019
By Robert Samuelson Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, is a man from the 1930s. If you didn’t believe that before, you…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
The gift of laughter and a father’s legacy
June 15, 2019
By Kathleen Parker My father died with a smile on his face. But, of course, he would. A few days earlier, as his wife, my sister and I gathered…
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The fate of Japan — and everyone else
June 12, 2019
By Robert Samuelson If you want a peek at the future, try looking at Japan. It’s a sobering exercise. Here’s how economist Timothy Taylor, managing editor of the Journal…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Rapists’ rights defy reason
June 11, 2019
By Kathleen Parker In Alabama, where a new law denies abortion to women even in cases of incest or rape, a rapist may still pursue custody rights of a…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
The Democrats’ fairy-tale campaigns
June 10, 2019
By Robert Samuelson “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” John F. Kennedy’s…
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Terminate abortion, please
June 10, 2019
By Kathleen Parker The abortion issue is more divisive than ever, thanks to extreme anti-abortion legislation recently passed in some states and, lately, to Democratic presidential candidates seemingly vying…
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The little-known number at the root of S.C.’s biggest problem
June 7, 2019
By Richard Eckstrom S.C. Comptroller Seven and a quarter percent. That’s the official “assumed rate of return” for South Carolina’s retiree pension system. In other words, state officials tell…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: government, on-the-move, op-ed
The nastiness of Trump’s Mexico tariffs
June 5, 2019
By Robert Samuelson President Trump’s latest foray into trade policy is notable for its economic recklessness (it could tip Mexico into a recession, followed perhaps by the United States),…
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Swamp things storm the palace
June 4, 2019
By Kathleen Parker If there was “great love all around” during President Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom, as he tweeted Monday, the participants royal and decidedly otherwise…
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A living eulogy for Ollie Oops
May 31, 2019
By Kathleen Parker CAMDEN, S.C. — Eulogies, it has always seemed to me, are best delivered while the subject is living and can enjoy hearing the best version of…
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The brave new world of trading blocs
May 31, 2019
By Robert Samuelson We may be on the cusp of an upheaval in global trade. Since World War II, the international trading system has operated on the premise of…
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Don and Kim in 2020
May 28, 2019
By Kathleen Parker As the 2020 election gears up, it seems apparent that Mike Pence’s days as vice president are numbered. Trump’s preference is obvious: Kim Jong Un. The…
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Will China dump dollars?
May 24, 2019
By Robert Samuelson At last count, China held slightly more than $1 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities. One fear has been that, should China and the United States engage…
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Why are wage gains so weak?
May 22, 2019
By Robert Samuelson After correcting for inflation, wage gains remain sluggish. In April, average weekly earnings for nonsupervisory workers were up 3% from a year earlier, to $785.55. Meanwhile,…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Crazy in Colorado?
May 21, 2019
By Kathleen Parker Driving along Colorado’s scenic byways, one might be distracted these days by a series of billboards promoting safe abortions or, depending upon one’s route, alternatives to…
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Twilight of the boomers
May 20, 2019
By Robert Samuelson The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has just released its latest statistics on U.S. births. Boring, you say. Not so. Historic birth patterns tell…
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Bats in the belfry
May 20, 2019
By Kathleen Parker When author Mark Childress penned “Crazy in Alabama,” he wasn’t just whistling Dixie. “I haven’t been quoted this much since Roy Moore,” Childress recently told me,…
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Are we losing the trade war?
May 15, 2019
By Robert Samuelson The Trump administration is going about its trade war with China all wrong. Its strategy and tactics are muddled. If Trump were a general watching the…
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Que será, será
May 15, 2019
By Kathleen Parker Growing up in the 1950s and ’60s, there was no avoiding the adorable Doris Day. She was cute as a bug, wholesome, winsome and adored, at…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Women who run
May 13, 2019
By Kathleen Parker Conventional wisdom in my inner circle of sorcerers and sources has been that the first female president will be a Republican. This is because America is…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Economists’ ignorance gap
May 10, 2019
By Robert Samuelson The most intriguing and indisputable thing we have learned about economists in recent decades is that they don’t know nearly as much as they thought they knew.…
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Single-payer is no panacea
May 9, 2019
By Robert Samuelson The popular appeal of a single-payer system to solve the nation’s health care problems is no secret. Everyone would have insurance, recognizing — as Sen. Bernie Sanders,…
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The end of everything — or not
May 7, 2019
By Kathleen Parker PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. — A new United Nations report projecting the extinction of one-eighth of all animal and plant species should rattle the cages of any…
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The $100 ‘trillion’ question
May 3, 2019
By Robert Samuelson We live in an age obsessed with economic inequality. There is too much of it, most people seem to agree. After Donald Trump — his personality, behavior…
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Do we have a deflation problem?
May 1, 2019
By Robert Samuelson There are times when it seems we’re worrying about things that aren’t worth worrying about. A good example these days is inflation. Amazingly, the complaint is that…
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Who’s afraid of robots — and why
April 29, 2019
By Robert Samuelson An unsettling specter haunts the world economy: a future of ubiquitous robots that destroy millions of jobs. Sometimes this is called “artificial intelligence”; sometimes it isn’t. Either…
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The empathy factor in 2020
April 29, 2019
By Kathleen Parker In 2008, when Sarah Palin entered the stage to debate her fellow vice presidential candidate, Joe Biden, she asked him first thing: “Hey, can I call…
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Not a vote-getter!
April 24, 2019
By Robert Samuelson Just for the record, we ought to note that trustees for Social Security and Medicare recently released their annual reports. The two programs alone constituted 45 percent…
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Porch talk
April 23, 2019
By Kathleen Parker CAMDEN, S.C. — With the arrival of spring and the advance of summer, American life shifts toward the porch — at least for those lucky enough…
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Can the Fed stay independent?
April 22, 2019
By Robert Samuelson It’s unclear whether one or both, or neither, of President Trump’s selections for the Federal Reserve Board — Stephen Moore and Herman Cain — will win Senate…
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It is finished
April 22, 2019
By Kathleen Parker Good Friday provided the language for a week that began with the terrible fire at Notre Dame Cathedral and ended with the long-awaited Mueller report: Jesus’…
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How long until we’re all happy?
April 17, 2019
By Robert Samuelson To: David Brooks Columnist, The New York Times Dear David, We have met a few times over the years while covering the same events. I’m a big…
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Notre Dame and tankers of water
April 16, 2019
By Kathleen Parker At least he recognized the urgency. As the world gasped in horror at the sight of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral burning in a cataclysmic moment, the…
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What really caused the financial crisis?
April 15, 2019
By Robert Samuelson It is astonishing that, even though the global financial crisis occurred a decade ago, we do not yet have a clear and convincing explanation of its basic…
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The Julian Assange problem
April 15, 2019
By Kathleen Parker They say that guests are like fish; after three days they become a bit whiffy. By this measure, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange smelled like an overladen…
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What killed inflation?
April 10, 2019
By Robert Samuelson The Phillips Curve is dead; long live the Phillips Curve. One of today’s economic mysteries is: Why is inflation so low? The unemployment rate is a puny…
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Whither the philosopher-president?
April 7, 2019
By Kathleen Parker In his most famous dialogue, “The Republic,” Plato, via Socrates, explored the idea that a just state would best function under the leadership of a perfectly…
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