Charleston Currents – Frank Hefner

BRACK: Make smart investments with robust economy

By Andy Brack

DEC. 21, 2015 | The good thing about budgeting on the conservative side is that when things go well, there’s a little extra money left over.
On a national level, the stock market is relatively robust. Overall growth is pretty steady. The dollar is strong. And the federal deficit is the lowest since 2007. Things seem to be going so well that the Federal Reserve this week finally lifted its benchmark interest rate from zero to 0.25 percent, a long-expected minor rise intended to rein in the economy a little bit.

by Andy Brack · 12/21/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

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.