The Front Porch Swing By: Ann Barinowski Bryant

From the front porch swing you would look out and see barefoot boys dressed with pots for helmets and sticks as swords. They marched with dignity fighting their country’s foes. Full of valor, bravery, and honor. Marching together for a country of freedom. Responsible to defend for God and country.

The front porch swing with long talks and life discussed with those who had gone before. Time spent with neighbors and friends. Time a lone in devotion to the One who gives wisdom. Time with a husband strong and true.

The front porch swing is gone. Replaced with fast pace gatherings of meaningless talks. Self motivated sport activities with the hope of making it big, having lots of money and fame. Gadgets galore to keep from boredom.

Perhaps families and country would be better if we brought back the front porch swing.

October was certainly an interesting time in Washington. I’d like to take this opportunity to update you on what I’ve been doing.

The month started off with the government shutdown. Not surprisingly, there was a lot of misinformation in the media regarding what the shutdown was “about.” Most reporting suggested it was about repealing Obamacare. The truth is that the shutdown was about fairness. I, along with my colleagues in the House, thought that individuals should be treated the same as big businesses, unions — and bars and restaurants in Nancy Pelosi’s district. President Obama delayed the law for his political friends, donors, and allies, yet wouldn’t consider treating regular citizens the same way. I tried to address that in this CNN interview. I only wish we had been able to get that message out better.

To make a long story short, folks in Washington struck another “deal” to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling so we can continue to borrow money at an unsustainable rate. That makes roughly $1 trillion in debt ceiling increases this year – without a single penny of offsetting savings. I didn’t like that very much, and that’s why I could not support the deal. Here’s my statement.

Once the country was focused on the disastrous rollout of Obamacare, I joined Congressman Trey Gowdy and Congressman Jason Chaffetz in sending a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. After all, she said some outrageous things — including trying to blame Republicans and the government shutdown for the website debacle – and you just can’t let assertions like that go unchallenged. Here’s the text of the letter.

Finally, I usually pride myself on keeping an even keel when it comes to dealing with the craziness in Washington, but I admit sometimes that is beyond my capabilities. Earlier this week was one of those times: the Federal Housing Authority Commissioner came before our Committee on Financial Services — to ask for a $1.7 billion dollar bailout for her agency. That was bad enough, but in the process, she pointed out that she “gets paid the same whether she does a good job or a bad job” and that she “doesn’t make that much in the first place.” That was too much for me. Check out the video.

Last but not least, it’s back to business in Washington, and I’m continuing to work on my top priority – bringing attention to our national debt and working to find solutions to our debt problem. I’ve been trying to get folks in Washington to look at the Fed’s so-called “remittances” and perhaps more importantly, what may well be a future bailout of the Federal Reserve. I’ve been pushing this for about a year; the LA Times finally picked up the story: Here’s the article.

More soon.
I’m hosting a BBQ in Sumter Tuesday. I hope to see you there.

Mergon Corporation Expanding Operations In Anderson County
$4.4 million investment expected to create 22 new jobs

COLUMBIA, S.C. – An international plastic blow molding and injection molding company is expanding its existing facility in Anderson County.

Mergon Corporation, which specializes in supplying solutions and products to the automotive, industrial and healthcare markets, today announced that it will invest $4.4 million to expand its existing manufacturing facility in Anderson County, generating 22 new jobs in the area.

“This latest expansion investment is testament to the business opportunities for manufacturing in this area and to the excellent associates we’ve been able to attract and train to the high standard required to supply our demanding customers,” said Pat Beirne, CEO of Mergon Group. “Mergon has been very pleased with the decision to locate and grow in Anderson County and appreciate the support we’ve received.”

Mergon Corporation’s U.S. manufacturing site is located at 5350 Old Pearman Dairy Road in Anderson. The company first located to the county in 1998.

“In South Carolina, we celebrate when existing businesses grow and continue to find success here,” said Gov. Nikki Haley. “We appreciate Mergon’s commitment to our state and the creation of jobs in and around Anderson County.”

Since January 2011, South Carolina has recruited more than $10 billion in capital investment and more than 28,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector.

“South Carolina is at the center of the nation’s manufacturing renaissance,” said Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt. “Mergon’s presence in our state for the past 15 years reinforces that South Carolinians make things and make them well.”

“Anderson County is delighted to assist Mergon with its expansion; they have proven to be an excellent industry and corporate citizen,” said County Councilman Tommy Dunn of District 5. “Every new job created in Anderson County is very important; every job that is retained is even more important. We offer thanks and congratulations to Mergon on their continued growth in our county.”

Mergon Corporation is part of the Irish-owned Mergon Group, which has facilities in Ireland, the Czech Republic and Anderson, S.C. Mergon Corporation is a leading supplier of air management systems to the expanding automotive OEM’s in the U.S. Southeast in addition to their long-standing relationships with the major business equipment manufacturers for copier components.

For more information about the company, or for career opportunities, please visit www.mergon.com.

About Mergon Group:

Mergon Group provides innovative technical molding solutions in the Automotive, Industrial and Healthcare sectors in Europe and North America. Established in 1981, the company is headquartered in Ireland with major facilities in the USA and Czech Republic. With over 400 employees worldwide, Mergon is one of the leading providers of blow molded and injection molded products in the world. Our customers include BMW, Toyota, Bosch, Abbott, Briggs & Stratton and many other leading global corporations.

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Per Senator Bryant’s request that we provide information on the 2014 UI tax rates to the General Assembly, we are emailing the following information out today.

This week, the Department of Employment and Workforce will issue tax notices to employers in South Carolina for the unemployment insurance tax rates effective January 1, 2014.

It is our hope that by providing the tax notices now, businesses can better plan for what they will owe by April 30, 2014.
· The 2014 tax rates reflect a 0.6 percent decrease from the 2013 tax rates.
· It is expected that South Carolina businesses will qualify for the full 5.4 percent FUTA tax credit available for federal unemployment taxes payable by January 31, 2014. If South Carolina receives the full FUTA tax credit, South Carolina employers’ federal tax rate will be 0.6 percent again this year. The Department of Labor will notify us about the tax credit application by November 10, 2013.
· State unemployment tax rates are re-determined each calendar year based on the employer’s history as of the preceding June 30th. An employer’s exact rate depends on its experience with the unemployment insurance (UI) system as compared to all other employers, and on current economic conditions.
· The 2014 tax rates were calculated using a three year look back period, meaning an employer’s wages and experience with the UI system over the last three years (July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2013) was used to calculate their 2014 tax rate. In 2013, a 9 year look back period of available data was used to calculate rates (i.e. the period July 1, 2003 through June 30, 2012).

I hope this information is helpful in case you hear from constituents who may have questions regarding their UI tax rates. More information can be found at www.dew.sc.gov/emp-taxes.asp.

The total debt, or gross national debt, is divided into two categories: the debt held by the public (personal debt) and debt the government owes itself. Debt held by the public, (also be called personal debt, household debt, or consumer debt) can come in the form of credit card debt, home mortgages, student loans, auto loans and other loans held by individuals. When a household is deeply in debt all it can do is cease its discretionary spending to begin to reduce its debt burden as quickly as possible. High levels of household debt are actually what creates and fuels long, deep recessions.

When the government borrows from itself, it’s called “intragovernmental holdings.” The United States Treasury Department defines intragovernmental holdings as “Government Account Series securities held by Government trust funds, revolving funds, special funds, and Federal Financing Bank securities”. In plain English, the federal government borrowed money from over one hundred government trust funds and retirement accounts such as the Department of Defense Military Retirement Fund, Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, and most famously the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund (Social Security). You see, while many individuals thought that their Social Security contributions were tucked away in a safe somewhere, the reality is that the government looted $2.5 trillion from the account to pay for current spending. At this point in time Social Security is a redistribution system where contributions are taken from current workers and immediately given to eligible retirees and beneficiaries. (Total intragovernmental holdings: $4.8 trillion, which is roughly 30% of the debt.)

As citizens of the United States, arguably we are each responsible for the national debt. Every American approximately owes $189,488 and every household owes close to $751,864. No, we won’t receive a bill in the mail for this amount. The government has several ways to solve their debt problems. They will cut government programs enough to close the budget gap, raise taxes by the amount of the budget gap and print money to pay off the debt, thereby generating inflation. While it works in the government’s favor in the short term to print money, in the long term it makes most Americans poorer as their hard-earned dollars purchase less. Additionally, inflating the money supply encourages reckless speculation in the stock market, destroys savings, causes prices to rise, and generally does great economic harm. While you may avoid getting directly billed or taxed for the costs of the debt, but you will pay for the debt whenever you buy groceries, gas, a house, or anything else.

The revenues to the federal government were $2.3 and $2.45 trillion respectively. However, spending was still well above this amount at $3.6 trillion and $3.54 trillion respectively. Therefore, our intergovernmental debt continues to rise until this gap is depleted. You may hear this gap referred to as the deficit, not to be confused with the total debt.

When you woke up this morning, the gross national debt was approximately $16,200,000,000,000. That is a lot of zeros. For all you numbers people, I have included a link to a great resource to see the changes in our nations debt, GDP, Interest, as well as changes in total national assets. (http://www.usdebtclock.org/ ) (Kelsey Farnham)