heyjk:

I think his point is good about how stimulus spending at the state level should go more toward state debt, rather than finite projects and short-term (24-month) programs.

I believe he is right that many of the ideas put forward for how the money is to be spent (as dictated by Washington), are only postponing the problem, “kicking the can down the road,” as he calls it.

I also found it interesting that he acknowledges that his term in office will be up before the problem pops back up. It’s amazing, it’s almost as though this man is actually doing what he thinks is best for his state, and not just his political career.

Sanford is taking the Hoover approach.  Via AZspot:

“In 1929, President Herbert Hoover thought that the best response to a collapsing economy was to balance the federal budget. With incomes and tax receipts falling sharply, that meant cutting federal spending. But as almost all economists now recognize, President Hoover was profoundly mistaken. When a downturn throws people out of work, they spend less, causing still others to be thrown out of work, and so on, in a downward spiral. Failure to use short-run deficits to stimulate spending amplifies that spiral, causing further declines in tax receipts and even bigger deficits. That this path makes no sense is a settled issue.”

— Robert Frank

Also, Sanford likely has political ambitions beyond Governor.