More Kemper mess
As the U.S. Justice Department looks into the failed coal gasification plant in Kemper County, a manager heavily involved with the construction claims the cost overruns and delays were well-known but covered up by the plant’s owner, Mississippi Power Co.
If the allegations are true, this nightmare might end up costing the utility company more than the $6.4 billion it already has had to swallow.
Kelli Williams, who served as a construction manager for Mississippi Power’s parent, Southern Co., told the Clarion Ledger that she saw problems with the projected costs when she reported to the Kemper site in 2010.
“Just about every bid project we put out would be more than the estimate,” Williams said.
She said she passed on her concerns to her bosses, but the message came back to hush. She suspects that’s because if word got out that both the initial $2.4 billion cost projection and the 2014 completion date were way off, investors would react negatively and Southern’s stock price would fall.
Williams account sounds credible. If the Justice Department agrees, Mississippi Power could be forced to pay back not only the nearly $400 million the federal government kicked into the project but significant penalties on top of that.
Tim Kalich
Editor and Publisher
Greenwood Commonwealth
U.S.-China trade war carries
economic risks
President Trump likes to say that China will pay the tariffs he’s set up on about $300 billion worth of the country’s exports to the United States. But both his National Economic Council director and the stock market think otherwise.
Economic council director Larry Kudlow confirmed Sunday what other analysts have said for months: Tariffs are assessed against companies importing goods made in China. But these companies pass the costs on to their buyers, and ultimately the American consumer pays the higher prices.
On Monday, China announced tariffs of its own against $60 billion worth of American goods sold in China, causing a 2 percent decline in U.S. stock markets. The two countries appear to be headed for a trade war, which could lead to higher prices, a reduction of jobs and, in the worst case, a recession.
Trump is right to complain about China’s economic practices. But his strategy of leveling the playing field with tariffs is risky business.
Jack Ryan, Enterprise-Journal
Regressing on maternal health
Women dying in childbirth is something associated with undeveloped countries or America prior to the 20th century.
That it’s still happening in this country — and not only that, but it’s actually gotten worse in the past quarter-century — is stunning.
Granted, these deaths still are rare — only about 700 maternal deaths a year out of 4 million births.
Still, it is a cause for concern when, as a Harvard Medical School doctor told The Associated Press, “an American mom today is 50% more likely to die in childbirth than her own mother was.”
How can that be?
One possibility, say those who have looked over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, is racial bias in medical treatment, since black women are about three times as likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause as women of other races.
But if there is racial bias in medical care, it can’t be any worse today than it was a generation ago, and if anything it’s probably less.
More likely this rise in maternal deaths is related to other factors cited by the CDC.
One of those is the increase in the number of C-section deliveries. As with any surgery, cutting on a person’s body creates the risk of infection and other complications.
But we suspect one of the biggest factors for the rise in maternal deaths is the soaring rate of obesity. When a non-pregnant person is seriously overweight, the risk of heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses is elevated. When the person is pregnant, the risks are multiplied even more so.
Although doctors and other medical personnel have to be attuned to this danger, the ideal would be for women in their child-bearing years to not fall into that high-risk category in the first place.
Lifestyles have changed. We’re an increasingly sedentary society. Maybe it requires more conscious effort to keep the weight off than a generation ago.
Still, this is yet another warning that obesity is an epidemic that can’t be ignored, no matter how common it has become.
Tim Kalich
Editor and Publisher
Greenwood Commonwealth
Here’s what
the money says
Money may not be everything, but in politics it sure means a lot. And if money is used as a measuring stick in this year’s elections, it points to Tate Reeves winning the governor’s race and Delbert Hosemann succeeding Reeves as lieutenant governor.
According to The Associated Press, Reeves is by far the leading fundraiser among candidates running for governor. At the end of April he had three campaign funds holding a total of $6.7 million.
His Republican primary opponent, former state Supreme Court chief justice Bill Waller Jr., had raised only $582,000 through April and reported $513,000 on hand.
Jim Hood, the attorney general who is the leading Democratic candidate for governor, also trails Reeves in finances. Hood reported about $1.2 million in cash on hand in April.
In the lieutenant governor’s race, Hosemann has an advantage similar to Reeves’.
Hosemann, currently the secretary of state, reported $2.7 million in cash at the end of April. His main opponent, Rep. Jay Hughes, D-Oxford, has only $162,000 on hand. Hughes has raised a total of $806,000 — including a big chunk of his own money — and already has spent $644,000.
If the money’s a reliable signal, it’s saying that Reeves will beat Waller in the primary and then beat Hood in the general election. It’s also saying that Hosemann will beat Hughes for the lieutenant governor’s job.
It’s too early to predict those results with great confidence. Reeves and Hosemann have the finances, the name recognition and the Republican pedigrees, but they still have to turn all that into votes this fall. However, it is impossible to overlook their financial advantages.
There’s at least one race that, based on the financial reports, appears to be a close one: attorney general.
It seems likely that the winner will come from three Republican candidates: Rep. Mark Baker of Brandon, State Treasurer Lynn Fitch and attorney Andy Taggart. This in itself is a bit of a surprise, since Hood and his predecessor Mike Moore have held the seat for Democrats since the 1980s.
Baker had $368,000 cash at the end of April. Fitch had $415,000 and Taggart had $223,000. When it comes to finances, nobody has a distinct advantage. This primary could be one of the state’s most interesting in 2019.
Jack Ryan, Enterprise-Journal
