South Carolina's Sen. Jim Demint leads the far right fridges of the Republican Party and Tea Party movement. His state has been dominated by extremely conservative political leadership for over 200 years and is home to some of the most severe poverty, public health problems and unemployment in the U.S.A. Add to that massive failures in education and public health and the most violent crime in the nation, and you can get an idea of what Demint’s vision for the rest of the country looks like.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has a new study touting his state’s “right to work” environment as a model of economic development. But the truth is DeMint is promoting policies that force hard-working Americans to compete against each other for low-wage jobs with scant benefits and no hope for a secure retirement.
South Carolina Gov.-elect Nikki Haley says her new Cabinet pick to run the state's labor agency will lead efforts to fight unions, particularly at Boeing's new North Charleston plant.
Does a low wage anti-union policy bring prosperity? So far South Carolina's aggressive anti-labor stance has left it far behind states where organized labor is stronger. It won't work in Jim Demint and Nikki Haley's South Carolina and it won't work anywhere else in the country.
By JIM DAVENPORT
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. —
South Carolina Gov.-elect Nikki Haley says her new Cabinet pick to run the state's labor agency will lead efforts to fight unions, particularly at Boeing's new North Charleston plant.
Haley said Wednesday the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation will play a big role in keeping unions out of the Boeing Co. plant that assembles the company's new 787 Dreamliner. Haley notes director nominee Catherine Templeton, a lawyer who has specialized in union fights, has fought United Auto Worker organizing attempts.
This video documents a police "clean up" of violent street crime in South Carolina's capitol. Yet violence continues to plague the city despite the crackdown. Could it be that chronic poverty and poor education that plague the State spawn new generations of criminals and leave the police and FBI picking up the mess without any long term solution to the problem?
Jim Demint's South Carolina leads the nation in violent crime according to FBI statistics and the State Capitol, Columbia sets the example for the rest of the State.
Hear Allendale, SC Mayor Ronnie Jackson discuss the need for stimulus money to help alleviate depression era unemployment levels in his county. Will South Carolina Senators Demint and Graham listen to his plea?
Allendale County, South Carolina is the 10th poorest county in the United States according to the latest census report.
The median income for a household in the county was $20,898, and the median income for a family was $27,348. 34.5 percent of Allendale Co. lived below the poverty line, including 48.1 percent of those under age 18 and 26.00 percent of those residents age 65 or over.
Even by the standards of South Carolina, the fifth poorest state in the U.S.A. where the median income is only $41,548, Allendale stands out in its almost complete absence of economic activity. In fact, there are no functioning businesses to be found on the road into the City of Allendale itself. (income data: US Census)
Perhaps because it has been consistently neglected by the conservative elites that have been running South Carolina for centuries, Allendale County, SC has consistently voted for the Democratic candidate since 1976.
Remember what Obama said the night he secured the Democratic presidential nomination: “This [is] the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” Only a liberal would believe that tinkering with the levers of government could ever accomplish such planetary change.
Senator Demint refuses to acknowledge that climate change caused by human activity is a direct threat to the environment even when unusually rapid patterns of erosion damage South Carolina's precious beaches. Scientists believe the threat to the beaches is due to hurricanes which have increased in severity in recent years due to global warming and to rising ocean tides.
Unusually vicious hurricanes like Hurricane Katrina that destroyed New Orleans are more likely to occur due to man made climate change. Yet it seems that Sen. Jim Demint would rather see South Carolina vulnerable to this kind of destruction than do anything about it.
Senator Demint scoffs at scientific evidence even when it damages his home state. The State of South Carolina and the federal government will now have to invest millions to build up (renourish) South Carolina shorelines, an essential component of the tourism industry which has been recognized as one of the only bright spots on the State's economy. And the question that looms large: will the funds be there? The loss of critical federal stimulus money has meant South Carolina has had to cut back on boosting tourism in the State. Read about it in the Daily Me.
South Carolina continues to place the burden of low taxes on the backs of the elderly and disabled. Is this what their Senator, Jim Demint has in mind for the rest of the country? Read about it below.
South Carolinians speak out about how medicaid saves lives, removes the awful choice between food and medicines and boosts the State's health and economy.
Compounding the misery in Senator Demint's South Carolina
72,000 South Carolinians are scheduled to lose their unemployment benefits this month. Inevitably those people will end up on reduced public assistance. In addition to compounding their misery this move will undoubtedly help to prolong a recession that is the longest and deepest since the Great Depression.
