Posted on 07/18/2011 5:55:48 PM PDT by markomalley
Fourth in the nation for receipt of per-capita federal spending, Maryland has long enjoyed the benefits of its deep dependency on a constant inflow of federal tax dollars collected from residents of other states. But now that same dependency on the federal Treasury threatens the state's economic future.
As Examiner staff writer Hayley Peterson reported Sunday, Moody's Investor Service reaffirmed Maryland's AAA bond rating earlier this month, but the credit rating agency also pointedly warned that Maryland's economy "continues to be proportionately more affected by the activities of the federal government than any other state." A June 30 report by Wells Fargo comes to the same conclusion, noting that "the ongoing absence of a diversified industry base, beyond the federal government sector, will continue to restrain Maryland's pace of economic growth in the future."
Maryland officials have already announced they will postpone sales of more than $600 million in bonds scheduled this month if Congress fails to reach a deal on the debt ceiling before Aug. 2. The postponement is being blamed on "chaos" in the bond markets if that happens, which is partially true. The other, unspoken reason is that Maryland would be more adversely affected than any other state by a federal default -- or even a necessary pullback in federal spending.
Gov. Martin O'Malley responded by blaming Republican governors, including Virginia's Bob McDonnell, for not chastising "the dinosaur wing of their party" -- which demands cuts in unsustainable federal spending and opposes tax hikes. But the real dinosaurs are professional liberal politicians like O'Malley, whose reckless spending has turned the Old Line State into a microcosm of federal economic dysfunction. Maryland taxpayers already owe $26.7 billion, or nearly twice as much in long-term debt as their Virginia counterparts, making them the 13th most indebted state residents in the nation.
And that staggering amount doesn't even include $18 billion in unfunded liabilities for state public employees' pension and health care systems.
Paying off these gargantuan debts requires increasing revenue from a citizenry that is already too heavily concentrated with government workers and, thanks to O'Malley's punitive tax policies, has too few real wealth producers. In March, the governor admitted he "shifted" expenses to bonds that should have been paid out of general funds (or cut from the budget) as a supposedly "temporary" solution to the state's own looming fiscal crisis. But Maryland taxpayers will be paying for O'Malley's poor judgment long after the last of the big spenders leaves the governor's mansion.
Owe’Malley...
I have heard this clown wants to be the Dem’s presidential candidate in 2016.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
And he or a clone will be elected/re-elected.
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