Jobs and Economic Growth

Some good news this morning, as new unemployment claims beat expectations last week. If you don’t care for the details, at least do me a favor and skip down to read the last two paragraphs of this post. Here’s the latest… Jobless claims are reported weekly by the U.S. Department of Labor. We watch these reports closely because they often represent a near real-time… Read more »

Lots of competing ideas right now about unemployment benefits.  I realize this is a lengthy post, but if you just want the high-level points, look for the blue diamonds 🔹 below. 🔹 One of the recent coronavirus bills passed by Congress, the CARES Act, provided an additional $600 per week in unemployment compensation. That’s in addition to what someone was already eligible to… Read more »

Below is a full replay of my telephone town hall, which took place on Thursday, July 30th. During this call, I covered a wide variety of issues including our COVID-19 response, our economy and jobs, our federal spending and national debt, along with several other important topics. Read more »

More good news... About two weeks ago, I shared the national jobs report for June. It was OUTSTANDING, with 4.8 million jobs being restored in June, according to the Labor Department. That was nationally, which of course begs the question: How are we doing here in South Carolina? Well, we now have that data, and it too is very encouraging. According to a report released yesterday from… Read more »

If someone had been earning up to $48,000 annually, but is now receiving unemployment benefits during this pandemic, that individual is currently pulling in MORE money on unemployment than he or she did while working. $48K is the approximate threshold here in South Carolina. (Individual cases vary, obviously.) So why is this happening? Why are roughly half of those on unemployment now… Read more »

Here’s the debate: (A) Should we be taking measured, reasonable steps to re-open America and get people safely back to work, knowing this path must be monitored very closely and isn’t without some risk? Or (B) should we extend efforts to keep Americans at home and “non-essential” businesses closed, knowing the financial damage this will cause to American families and our economy? The… Read more »

Lt. Governor Pamela Evette is such an incredible asset for South Carolina. It was a pleasure to speak with her by video conference on May 12th.  She had excellent insight into topics like: South Carolina’s plan for a safe, reasonable, phased re-opening Our state’s resources and PPE supplies Coordination with North Carolina (since several counties in the 5th district… Read more »

When someone proposes a 1,800-page bill that 1️⃣ was negotiated in secret 2️⃣ will cost more than $3 trillion dollars, before we even understand the impact of earlier expenditures 3️⃣ has more than 70 appropriations in excess of a billion dollars each 4️⃣ contains countless partisan measures that are completely unrelated to the bill’s stated… Read more »

Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) said it perfectly yesterday: “We are too often presented with a false dichotomy: either saving our economy or saving lives.” He was talking with Dr. Anthony Fauci during a Senate hearing, and what Sen. Scott said was exactly right. Those who believe preventative measures should never have been taken are ignoring the immeasurable toll that would have had on human… Read more »

This Friday afternoon, top-ranking liberals in the House of Representatives are trying to finalize a 5th piece of COVID-19 legislation. They’ve nicknamed it “CARES 2” to coattail on the popularity of the original CARES Act, which passed overwhelmingly in late March. This is unfortunately not the bi-partisan effort it should be. Negotiations are taking place behind the scenes and most of… Read more »