While Gov. Martin O’Malley revs up his 2016 presidential campaign with barbecue dinners in Iowa and major speeches in Charlotte, his home state of Maryland is experiencing an economic failure. A few weeks ago the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the state’s unemployment rate was creeping back to its all-time high, set right after the start of the financial crisis.
To struggling residents of Maryland, this bad economic news is not a surprise. Since he was first elected, O’Malley’s fiscal policies have led many to believe that failure was not a question of ‘if’, but ‘when.’ His fiscally conservative predecessor, Gov. Bob Ehrlich, left him with a budget surplus and a relatively vibrant private sector. However, six years, 24 tax hikes and over $180 billion later, O’Malley’s economic plan is failing the citizens of Maryland.
At his core, O’Malley believes that government can create prosperity. The “O’Malleynomics” theory relies on government employees to fill the bulk of the tax base, massive government spending to spur economic activity and failed welfare programs to make it appear as if government can solve all of our problems. O’Malleynomics is also politically convenient and designed to allow O’Malley to get the most number of votes in an election year, enrich his political friends, and skip out on Maryland to run for higher office just before it goes bankrupt.
O’Malleynomics heavily depends upon a large federal workforce to keep state government working. O’Malley has been a major beneficiary of the bloated D.C. bureaucracy and its never-ending supply of cash – many federal agencies are located in Maryland and their workers call the Free State home. To curry favor from the government employee unions who spend heavily in elections, O’Malley has turned Maryland into one the most anti-business states in the country. The non-partisan Tax Foundation ranks Maryland 42nd out of 50 for small business tax climate, and CNBC puts the Free State in the bottom tier of competitive states. O’Malleynomics emboldens public sector unions to dominate the discussion at the state capital, which is why tax hikes, spending increases and high unemployment are the norm.
2 comments:
OweMalley and Comrade Obama have many similarities to Fidel Castro. Beware of both of these men, remember, the Cuban people loved Castro at first. They thought he was there to liberate them. And then they found out the truth the hard way, government seizing of property and mass murder and imprisonment of dissenting voices. OweMalley and Obama should be looked at as traitors for what they have done to state and country.
Doesn't Maryland have a surplus?
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