Has the next bubble arrived?
March 27, 2019By 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…
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Requiem for an investigation
March 26, 2019By 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…
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Has America gone socialist?
March 22, 2019By 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…
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Too rich to run in 2020
March 20, 2019By 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.…
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How to fix the college admissions scandal (warning: you may hate it)
March 19, 2019By Robert Samuelson We all know that “getting into the right college” is as traumatic for parents — or more so — as it is for their children. But who…
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Hasta luego, Beto
March 18, 2019By 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…
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The fate of Brexit?
March 18, 2019By 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…
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Trump’s fantasy budget
March 14, 2019By 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…
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Thank you, Bubba and Tuck
March 14, 2019By 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…
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Prescribed Fire: The Prescription for a Healthy Forest
March 11, 2019By 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 MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: advice, environmental, op-ed
Why the trade deficit is good news
March 8, 2019By Robert Samuelson If nothing else, the latest U.S. trade deficit — $621 billion in 2018 for goods and services — should give President Trump a lesson in the economics…
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Don’t tell Martha McSally she can’t
March 8, 2019By Kathleen Parker Last December, I asked a question related to Martha McSally as she was about to fill the Senate seat left vacant by the late John McCain:…
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The buyback battle: a primer
March 6, 2019By Robert Samuelson The latest pitched battle between Corporate America and its critics involves stock buybacks: Large companies’ purchases of their own shares on the stock market. The aim is…
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Hallie Hill Animal Sanctuary seeking sponsors and players for Putting for Paws golf tournament
March 4, 2019Hallie Hill’s Annual Golf Fundraiser Set for April 1 at Seabrook Island Club’s Crooked Oaks Golf Course Hallie Hill Animal Sanctuary is set to host their annual Putting for Paws…
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Who brought us this boom?
March 3, 2019By Robert Samuelson Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Princeton economist Alan Blinder calls it “The Obama-Trump Economic Boom.” This may be the best bad label for what may soon…
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Drafting women to end all wars
February 27, 2019By Kathleen Parker Last week, a district court judge ruled that it is unconstitutional for only men to have to register with the Selective Service, opening the possibility that…
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Understanding the Brexit crackup
February 27, 2019By Robert Samuelson They promised complexity, confusion and uncertainty — and, by golly, they delivered. What we’re talking about is Brexit; that’s shorthand for Britain’s decision to leave the European…
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Foreign Aid Should Only Go to Friends
February 26, 2019By Nikki Haley In December 2017, President Trump courageously announced that the United States would officially recognize the truth that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and that we…
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Economic policies or pipedreams?
February 24, 2019By Robert Samuelson As Democrats swing left, it becomes increasingly difficult to imagine what their triumph in the next election would mean for America. The presidential candidates endorse a variety…
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The MAGA curse
February 24, 2019By Kathleen Parker Humans do the strangest things. In two recent why-dunits, the curious have wondered why: (1) a successful TV star would allegedly orchestrate a fake, hate-inspired attack…
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Will the Dreamers ever catch a break?
February 20, 2019By Robert Samuelson The “Dreamers” lost again. As you will recall, the Dreamers are illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as young children. Most have grown up…
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Our political identity needs to be American first
February 19, 2019By Kathleen Parker There’s identity — and then there’s identity politics. The difference between them may well be the crux of our next presidential election. Identity is, obviously, who…
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The three amigas
February 18, 2019By Kathleen Parker By the Republican response to the three most-famous Democratic freshmen in Congress — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (or AOC) of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida…
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The Green New Deal is make-believe
February 18, 2019By Robert Samuelson The “Green New Deal” is upon us, and the question is what to make of it. The Democratic proposal mandates that, within a decade, virtually all fossil…
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The Social Security fantasy
February 10, 2019By Robert Samuelson One of the great challenges of our time is to prevent Social Security and other programs for the elderly from taking over the national government. It may…
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Yearbook politics
February 5, 2019By Kathleen Parker In 1983, just before winning a third term as Louisiana’s governor, Edwin Edwards famously said the only way he could lose the race was “if I’m…
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The banality of evil, 2019
February 1, 2019By Kathleen Parker C.S. Lewis was only partly right when he wrote: The greatest evil … is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed…
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Job creation is job one
February 1, 2019By Robert Samuelson Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome (“Jay”) Powell didn’t waste much time getting to the point at last week’s press conference. “My colleagues and I have one overarching goal:…
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Spoiler alert — or not?
January 29, 2019By Kathleen Parker Billionaire coffee magnate Howard Schultz has two problems: Ross Perot and Ralph Nader. Schultz, a lifelong Democrat, said on CBS’ “60 Minutes” Sunday that he’s seriously…
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The debt — still out of control
January 29, 2019By Robert Samuelson At the start of every year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) publishes its annual “The Budget and Economic Outlook,” a tome full of statistics, tables and charts.…
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Let them eat cake
January 25, 2019By Kathleen Parker When F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me,” he inadvertently foreshadowed the government shutdown…
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The Covington controversy and the narrative fallacy
January 23, 2019By Kathleen Parker When a white, Catholic-school boy wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap is shown staring down a Native American Vietnam War veteran, sending the media scrambling…
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Columbia must rethink exemption-friendly mindset
January 21, 2019By Moe Baddourah Columbia City Council We all hope the Bull Street development lives up to its billing as a shopping and dining hub generating thousands of jobs and $20…
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Reality checks in with congressional fresh(wo)men
January 21, 2019By Kathleen Parker As the new freshman class of congressional women bopped, hopped and doo-wopped into town, old sourpusses smirked — they’ll meet reality soon enough. Actually, ’twas I…
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Global warming forever?
January 18, 2019By Robert Samuelson On global climate change, I’ve changed my mind — just slightly. I’ve written about this issue for more than two decades, and my theme has been monotonously…
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Will the global credit boom go bust?
January 16, 2019By Robert Samuelson We are in the midst of a worldwide credit boom that may be without precedent. The debt explosion suggests that the global economy — all the national…
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What did they do with Lindsey Graham?
January 16, 2019By Kathleen Parker If loyalty only goes so far, Sen. Lindsey Graham’s goes every which way — depending on the day, week, month — or proximity to Election Day.…
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That stupidity of the wall
January 14, 2019By Kathleen Parker As The Wall dominated the week’s news, a pitiful juxtaposition of two realities — one the hard truth, the other a lie — emerged to clarify…
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Why China clings to state capitalism
January 9, 2019By Robert Samuelson American officials traveled to China this week in an effort to end the bitter trade war between the two countries. The main obstacle to a settlement is…
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Dealing with identity theft during the shutdown
January 9, 2019By Kathleen Parker I’m betraying no secrets by observing that the government shutdown provides a window of opportunity for identity and electronic theft. Trust me, the crooks already know…
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The euro — still vulnerable after all these years
January 7, 2019By Robert Samuelson On its 20th birthday, the best that can be said of the euro — the European currency used by 19 countries — is that it has survived.…
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South Carolina against the tides
January 7, 2019By Kathleen Parker Tom Mullikin is that guy — you know, the one who finishes Christmas dinner, then takes off to scale Mount Everest, conducting business by satellite phone to…
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Our unhappy new year
January 2, 2019By Robert Samuelson As we enter 2019, the question that looms over America is simple: Can we govern? The answer is no. Unless this changes — truly a long shot…
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Good luck to the Fed
December 17, 2018By Robert Samuelson The nine-year economic recovery is dead. Long live the recovery. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) — the Federal Reserve’s main policymaking body — meets this week…
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A vote for animals is a vote for humanity
December 12, 2018By Kathleen Parker For people who support the humane treatment of animals, including those that end up on America’s dinner plates, passage this week of the farm bill would…
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Epstein accusers deserve due process
December 9, 2018By Kathleen Parker Recent revelations about billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s sweetheart deal with government prosecutors — thanks to a cadre of all-star defense attorneys who basically treated underage…
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More data exposing the income stagnation myth
December 9, 2018By Robert Samuelson We in the media have a problem. Actually, it’s a big problem for all of us. We have become addicted to the notion that, except for the…
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The stock market decline means … what?
December 5, 2018By Robert Samuelson The stock market giveth; the stock market taketh away. With Wednesday a federal holiday to honor former President George H.W. Bush, the U.S. stock market will be…
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Trump vs. the Fed
December 3, 2018By Robert Samuelson President Trump, do yourself a favor. Stop attacking the Federal Reserve and its chairman, Jerome Powell (yes, the same Powell you nominated). The result would be better…
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Lies, lies — and dadgum lies
December 3, 2018By Kathleen Parker Michael Cohen’s guilty plea Thursday that he lied to Congress about Donald Trump’s interests in building a Moscow tower comes as little surprise — everyone attached…
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