Post Tagged with: "Frank Knapp"

KNAPP: S.C. economy will survive if small businesses survive

KNAPP: S.C. economy will survive if small businesses survive

By Frank Knapp, special to Charleston Currents  |  The City of Charleston has implemented a shelter-in-place order.  Columbia has done the same. There are even calls for Gov. Henry McMaster to do so for all of South Carolina.

As a result of all governments’ actions and instructions to citizens for containing COVID-19 from spreading, small businesses are in crisis. 

by · 03/30/2020 · Comments are Disabled · My Turn, Views
Cloth masks made last week by Segal.

3/30: On printing masks; issuing the order; small business and the economy

IN THIS EDITION:
TODAY’S FOCUS: Start printing masks now
COMMENTARY, Brack: Issue stay-at-home order now, governor
IN THE SPOTLIGHT:  Charleston International Airport
MY TURN, Knapp: State’s economy will survive if small businesses survive
NEWS BRIEFS:  City has weathered past scourges
FEEDBACK:  Send us a letter
MYSTERY PHOTO: View from above
CALENDAR: Lots to do at home online

by · 03/30/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Full issue
FOCUS, Knapp: Taking a look at job numbers for August

FOCUS, Knapp: Taking a look at job numbers for August

By Frank Knapp, special to Charleston Currents  |  Like the rest of the nation, South Carolina’s economy seems to be humming along.

But there are warning signs and growing concern that we are heading to a recession.

The Labor Department released its monthly jobs report last week.  It showed that 130,000 new jobs were created in August.  However, around 25,000 were temporary census workers hired by the federal government.  That puts the August total for new private-sector jobs at about 100,000.

For his part President Trump is furious at the “fake news” for pointing out that the Labor Department numbers were well below economist expectations.

Maybe August is just a “quirky month.”  That is how Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s National Economic Council Director, described it.

by · 09/16/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Focus, Good news
9/16, full issue: On the economy, the Charleston mayor’s race, more

9/16, full issue: On the economy, the Charleston mayor’s race, more

IN THIS EDITION:

FOCUS, Knapp:  Taking a look at job numbers for August
BRACK:  Mayoral ad wars show two different kinds of candidates
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Charleston RiverDogs
GOOD NEWS:   Hispanic Heritage Month lasts through Oct. 15
FEEDBACK:  Another way to help
MYSTERY PHOTO:  Old house with brown shutters
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA:   The Battle of Ninety Six
CALENDAR:  Fresh discussion on local health disparities is Sept. 17

by · 09/16/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Full issue
BRACK:  State needs to ramp up its commitment to small businesses

BRACK:  State needs to ramp up its commitment to small businesses

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  With all of the big news in late June about $1 billion in new foreign investment in South Carolina, it’s time for the state to pay more attention to the little guy and small businesses.

The new state budget includes $40 million as a “closing fund” to seal deals with big new companies such as Samsung, which announced a $380 million investment this week in Newberry County that will create 950 new jobs.  Also in recent days, BMW announced it would invest $600 million more in its Upstate car plant, which will add 1,000 more jobs by 2021.

by · 07/03/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views
BRACK:  Why Volvo incentives make sense

BRACK: Why Volvo incentives make sense

By Andy Brack | The $204 million incentive package that state and local governments offered Volvo to make a huge investment for at least 2,000 jobs in Berkeley County masks a pesky public policy debate that few talk about in public: Are incentives a good deal or should they exist at all?

On one hand, we wouldn’t have landed BMW, Boeing or Volvo without incentives. That’s just the reality of economic development. Because of incentives, these companies hired a lot of people and served as a catalyst to generate thousands of other in-state jobs — everything from suppliers to fast-food workers to staff restaurants that serve them.

Furthermore, incentives make sense, many argue, because they will eventually be paid off through steady infusions of revenues from sales, income and property taxes from the thousands of workers who get new jobs. It will just take a little time — and it’s in the government’s interest to invest now to get a long-term return on investment.

by · 05/18/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views