Editorial

A LAWSUIT filed in Camden might help clarify how hospitality taxes can be used, but ultimately the Legislature must make changes to address confusion and, more importantly, give cities and counties what they really need: more flexibility in what they can spend the money on.

Social Security’s disability program is a political quagmire — and a metaphor for why federal spending and budget deficits are so difficult to control. The numbers are too big; the details too complicated; and the choices, when faced, too wrenching. President Obama’s new budget, projected at $3.5 trillion or more, will raise all these problems. Experience suggests that little will be done to rein in long-term spending and deficits.

Cockfighting is repulsive to many South Carolina residents, and it is a shameful part of this state’s past. Even worse, it is still going on in our state, sometimes hidden in plain sight in rural areas or out-of-the-way neighborhoods. It also is protected by forces in the Legislature that either support this ancient blood sport or don’t want to offend powerful interests that benefit from it.…

During the recession, you may have had clients who needed your services but couldn’t afford them. You may have accepted less, or told them to pay when they could. How would you feel if they took that help, and then threw lavish parties for their friends?

Persistent poverty is America’s great moral challenge, but it’s far more than that.