Rapists’ rights defy reason

  June 11, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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 More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

The Democrats’ fairy-tale campaigns

  June 10, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Terminate abortion, please

  June 10, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

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 More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: government, on-the-move, op-ed

The nastiness of Trump’s Mexico tariffs

  June 5, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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),…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Swamp things storm the palace

  June 4, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

A living eulogy for Ollie Oops

  May 31, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

The brave new world of trading blocs

  May 31, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Don and Kim in 2020

  May 28, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Will China dump dollars?

  May 24, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Why are wage gains so weak?

  May 22, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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 More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Crazy in Colorado?

  May 21, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Twilight of the boomers

  May 20, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Bats in the belfry

  May 20, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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,…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Are we losing the trade war?

  May 15, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Que será, será

  May 15, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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 More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Women who run

  May 13, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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 More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Economists’ ignorance gap

  May 10, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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.…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Single-payer is no panacea

  May 9, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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,…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

The end of everything — or not

  May 7, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

The $100 ‘trillion’ question

  May 3, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Do we have a deflation problem?

  May 1, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Who’s afraid of robots — and why

  April 29, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

The empathy factor in 2020

  April 29, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Not a vote-getter!

  April 24, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Porch talk

  April 23, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Can the Fed stay independent?

  April 22, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

It is finished

  April 22, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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’…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

How long until we’re all happy?

  April 17, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Notre Dame and tankers of water

  April 16, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

What really caused the financial crisis?

  April 15, 2019
Robert Samuelson

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

The Julian Assange problem

  April 15, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Whither the philosopher-president?

  April 7, 2019
Kathleen Parker

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…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Can we fix the schools? (Maybe not.)

  April 7, 2019
Robert Samuelson

By Robert Samuelson   You can count on one familiar refrain in the 2020 presidential campaign: Fix the schools. Faith in education is one of the nation’s bedrock values. Better schools…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Has the market gone mad?

  April 3, 2019
Robert Samuelson

By Robert Samuelson   If you think you understand what’s going on with the global economy, you’re probably not paying attention. On the one hand, the stock market is powering ahead.…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Kiss me, kiss me not

  April 2, 2019

By Kathleen Parker   CAMDEN, S.C. – At a recent brunch here preceding the Carolina Cup steeplechase race, the host gave me a gift of hometown recognition and, though we…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Can I call ya Jo(k)e?

  April 1, 2019
Kathleen Parker

By Kathleen Parker   It may be a truism-in-the-making that one’s political career is over when, as a candidate, you must first apologize for your sex and race, which can…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Why Moore is less

  March 29, 2019
Robert Samuelson

By Robert Samuelson   The real reason that Stephen Moore does not belong on the Federal Reserve Board is not that he is unqualified for the job, though he is. Nor…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Has the next bubble arrived?

  March 27, 2019

By Robert Samuelson   There are still some economists who fear another crash. The latest is Eugene Steuerle of the Urban Institute, a liberal think tank in Washington. In a new…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Requiem for an investigation

  March 26, 2019

By Kathleen Parker   Cathartic, it was not. The relentlessly plodding Mueller report finally ended after a 22-month whodunit that climaxed to the sound of pffft. There is no evidence…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Has America gone socialist?

  March 22, 2019

By Robert Samuelson   We Americans are all socialists now. That’s news. Since at least 1906, scholars have contended just the opposite. What happened in 1906 was that Werner Sombart, a…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Too rich to run in 2020

  March 20, 2019
Kathleen Parker

By Kathleen Parker   Donald Trump has given success a bad name. That is, the president’s much-boasted-about wealth has soured many Americans’ taste for even the Horatio Alger bootstrapping stories.…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

The fate of Brexit?

  March 18, 2019

By Robert Samuelson   Those of us who have always thought that Brexit — Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union — was a bad idea should be feeling self-satisfied and vindicated…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Hasta luego, Beto

  March 18, 2019

By Kathleen Parker   It must be a grown-up thing, but every time I see Beto O’Rourke, I want to fix him a hamburger. He’s precious. And, if my eyes…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Thank you, Bubba and Tuck

  March 14, 2019

By Kathleen Parker   Some days you wake up and think, “Nope, not getting up.” I call these column days. Then, there are those other times when you practically hurl…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Trump’s fantasy budget

  March 14, 2019

By Robert Samuelson   The good news about President Trump’s proposed 2020 budget is that it vividly illustrates the basic causes of large, chronic deficits — a mismatch between the government’s…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: op-ed

Prescribed Fire:  The Prescription for a Healthy Forest

  March 11, 2019

By Ryan Bean, Clemson Extension   Governor Henry McMaster has proclaimed March 2019 Prescribed Fire Awareness Month in SC. Prescribed burning is a very important management tool in the Southeastern…

Read More

Posted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc   Category: advice, environmental, op-ed