Car insurance

According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the average car insurance expenditure in S.C. is still below the national average. In S.C., drivers on average spend $761.81 per year on car insurance, while the national average is $794.98, $33 more than in S.C. Comparisons are made based on 2007 numbers, the latest available. N.C. spends less, $591.11 on average, and Fla. spends much more, $1,042.74.

Recovery

A study by Forbes magazine recently concluded S.C.’s five largest metro areas are among the nation’s cities recovering the fastest from the Great Recession. The Columbia metropolitan statistical area is ranked No. 35 in rapid recovery out of the country’s largest 100 MSAs. The most rapid recovery in the country, No. 1, is Omaha, Nebraska. The slowest, No. 100, is Lakeland, Florida.

Graham says...

...energy independence for the country is a desirable and achievable goal. When he declared as much on Monday, Nov. 30, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R–S.C.) was standing with U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. Graham and Chu were visiting Greenville’s GE Energy turbine plant, Chu also participated in the groundbreaking of the biomass plant at the Savannah River National Laboratory and in the Energy Summit put on by Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research, where 250 local business leaders, lawmakers, and educators gathered for Chu’s and Grahams’ speeches. Chu is a Nobel Prize winner in physics.

Current business trends

At the corner of Columbus and East Bay in Charleston stands the former cigar factory, recently under refurbishment by The Simpson Organization of Atlanta. Developer Simpson bought the property for $20 million and was putting another $55 million into a new mix of shops, luxury condominiums, and a posh restaurant. Silverton Bank of Atlanta agreed to lend up to $37 million, but Silverton was taken over by Federal regulators last May, which stopped funding, leaving Simpson to fund $14 million on its own. Simpson continued to develop the property until the last week in November when the project was stopped. So far, Simpson has not walked away but has been seeking alternative financing.

What price glory?

Almost $2 million has been spent since 2005 on the exterior of the Woodrow Wilson boyhood home on Hampton Street. Now, for the interior renovations, another $1.5 million is needed to fully restore the home. And to finish the job, grounds and all, $200,000 more is targeted for the 1870s–era gardens. Assuming mild inflation and routine cost overruns, the restored Wilson home appears to be about a $4 million project. Wilson lived there between 1870 and 1874 with his parents and two siblings.

Again, what price glory?

Tameika Isaac Devine, member of Columbia City Council, looked on as the City of Columbia paid back $280,000 to the federal government, acknowledging its improper loan to Devine’s mother. Beforehand, last month, Veronica Isaac reimbursed the city, clearing any further accusations of wrongdoing. The money was made available to Devine’s mother through the Sumter– Columbia Empowerment Zone, a program intended to create jobs. But the Devines effectively moved a law firm, Tameika Isaac Devine and her partners and employees, from one office to a new office financed by the city and the Empowerment Zone program. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development expressed regret and encouraged the city to improve its paperwork and management of the Empowerment Zone program. Problems with the city began several years ago in the Empowerment Program. HUD put an end to the city’s $3 million program in 2003 that paid families to send their kids to summer youth programs.

Honest disclosure

Duke Energy Carolinas filed a proposed settlement with the Office of Regulatory Staff and the S.C. Energy Users Committee on Wednesday, November 25. Assuming final approval, the general rate increase is an average of 5.2 percent or $74.1 million beginning February 1. The press coverage has cited the proposed return on common equity, 11 percent, as part of Duke’s agreement. For reasons never explained, even though the return on common equity is the real target in most rate negotiations among the country’s shareholder–owned utility monopolies, SCANA (SCE&G) rarely sees its agreed–upon return on common equity published when rate increases are approved.