Mark Sanford wants federal stimulus money put toward debt, according to Yvonne Wenger at The Post and Courier. The governor sent a letter to legislators today regarding $700 million of the state’s $2.8 billion portion of federal stimulus money. He’s expected to make a public announcement on Wednesday.
Sanford’s compulsion isn’t surprising. When millions of Americans got $600 checks last year, they too used the money to pay bills or put it into savings. It’s why the idea of tax cuts in the stimulus bill seemed so silly. Banks did something similar when they got their bailout money — deciding against lending the money out.
The argument on the flip side is that now is not the time to be paying down debt, particularly when the package the money is coming in is stamped “STIMULUS.”
What do you think?
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