As a thirty-seven year old Governor of South Carolina in 1959 we had the same problem that the United States has nationally - jobs! I knew no CEO in New York would listen to a young Governor from a State that was operating in the red. My first task was to raise taxes and balance our budget. Fortunately, I didn't know any economists. But I heard the same objections from the Chamber of Commerce: "You had to have strong economic growth before you could raise taxes."
Be that as it may, I had breakfast after breakfast at the Governor's Mansion for the members of the State Legislature, who finally voted a tax increase in a state with no industry, no economy. Then with Jeff Bates, the State Treasurer, we went to New York and secured a "Triple A" credit rating from Moody's and Standard & Poor. In 1959 South Carolina was the first state in the South to receive this rating, and the "Triple A" rating was my calling card to get in the door of the CEOs in New York. We brought five GEs to South Carolina, four Westinghouses, and three DuPonts. We traveled to Europe, and today we have over one hundred German plants in South Carolina. Now, fifty-one years later, I'm hearing the same economics in Washington that I heard in South Carolina.
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