Well, we survived the holiday migration! We lost a day of travel due to complications from the winter storm, but we still made it out. It took us about 15 hours to get to NC, then about 6 hours on Christmas Eve night to SC, then another 14 hours home (or thereabouts)...all over the course of seven days. That's over 35 hours of potholes and passing lanes! My car could really use some love from the car wash people. :)
In any event, while in upstate SC, I couldn't help but notice how the state is being affected by the recession. It's a nasty downward spiral. No money, no jobs; no jobs, no money. One street that used to be my hometown's commercial hub is now just block after block of "title loan" and "payday advance" signs. The original destination stores are gone, although a couple relocated into a block of new development (where the old mall was razed).
South Carolina's 8.4 percent unemployment rate was the nation's third-highest in November, the S.C. Employment Security Commission reported Friday...As the state's unemployment rate continues to sit at a 25-year high, economists do not expect the upward trend to end in 2009. "There's no question the unemployment rate will go higher," USC economist Doug Woodward said. Read more...
They're getting it from all sides. An influx of illegal immigrants taxing local resources (see: Mexico, South Carolina). The third-highest unemployment rate. Inadequate funding at the state level, leading to services and infrastructure cutbacks. Serious air pollution problems. An insatiable drought that's turned grass to hay and lakes to puddles. Even the photos don't tell the whole story of mandatory water restrictions and starving crops.
Budget gap (as a % of the total budget): 11.70%
Total gap: $804 million
With the economy weakening, state officials said that the $7 billion budget might need to be cut by a further $250 million. The state has already cut state university funding and programs for the elderly and disabled. Read more...
Rock Hill High School (York County School District 3) ranks 18 out of 100 for worst air pollution. Only 22,543 of 127,800 schools have worse air. Read more...
The heart of South Carolina is still beating. It's as warm, in all its Bible-belt glory, as ever. But I worry about its body of people and how they'll find their way through all of these challenges. On the surface, there are a lot of parallels with the early dust-bowl depression. Although, if you ask the survivors of that time, they'd say we've just hit a rough patch.