O'Malley to Constellation Energy - Good Riddance!

You know Constellation Energy CEO Mayo Shattuck is looking out of the window in his office thinking, "Thank God I don't have to sit around letting Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley piss on me in front of the voters every few years anymore!"

Last week Constellation Energy announced plans to be acquired by Chicago-based Exelon Corporation. The move strips Baltimore -area of its last Fortune 500 corporation. There remain only a few money managers such as Legg Mason, which on its current track will be gone in a year or less, T. Rowe Price, and.....I can't think of anyone else. All of the other major employers in the city are smaller divisions of companies based in other states.

Martin O'Malley has always shown his cards when it comes to for-profit corporations. He hates them. He hates that they charge money for the services they provide. He hates that they have to raise their prices to cover expenses. And especially with Constellation Energy, the parent company of the soon-to-be-gone BGE, he really loved to takes dumps on them.

And as much as most rational-thinking Marylanders hate O'Malley, you have to give him credit as a skilled politician. You'll remember a few years ago BGE's decision to raise rates 72% to national average levels at the expiration of an ill-conceived bargain struck by Democrats in the Maryland General Assembly allowed O'Malley to criticize Bob Ehrlich for not fighting an ultimately kicking him out of office. You may remember the commercials that O'Malley ran vowing that he'd fight against the evil money-hungry corporations.

And now that the money-hungry corporations are gone, O'Malley must be so happy that he's peeing in his pull-ups. "We showed them!" I can hear him saying. Unfortunately, I think all of this is lost on him. What corporations can call Baltimore home? What glamor does the city have when it doesn't show up on any lists as the headquarters? Where is the concern when the top-paying jobs depart for the new headquarters in other cities and leave only entry-level, supervisory, and regional manager positions? Where are the major hometown corporate sponsors for special events in the city? From the offices in Annapolis we only hear silence or misguided happiness.

In the next session in the General Assembly, do you think we'll hear politicians discussing the demands of Marylanders to make Maryland a more business-friendly state? I seriously doubt it. Our elected officials will be more concerned with issues like raising taxes to fund the out-of-control spending and in the eyes of the Montgomery County delegation, the biggest issue confronting our society - gay marriage.

BGE - it was nice knowing you.

Lower Property Taxes in Baltimore City

This is a really interesting article with Loyola University Maryland (my alma matre) economics professor Steve Walters about how lowering property taxes in Baltimore City will help economic development in the city and influence more people to move back to the city.

When my parents moved out of Baltimore City and into Baltimore County in 1974 they said their auto insurance was cut nearly in half. When they moved from Baltimore County to Harford County in 1986, their car insurance and property taxes went down significantly. And with each move they had a quality of life improvement.

This interview provides some interesting points about such a move and the precedents for such a change.

No One Is Raising Taxes Right Now

A very funny video clip from our friends over at Red Maryland:

No One Is Raising Taxes Right Now.

Funny!

Tax Day!

Today is favorite day of many members of the Congress. It's April 15th. It's the day that the average schlep needs to submit their tax forms. Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps it's not their favorite day. And here's why....

I find it humorous that many of my friends are bragging about how much their tax refunds were. Hello? Are you saying that this is your free windfall of money that the government is going to give to you? Your 1040 indicates that the government wants to give you $4000? Yay!!! Wow!!! That's awesome!!! Not likely.

This is YOUR money. YOU gave the government an interest-free loan of several thousand dollars. Now they are giving YOUR money back to you. It's YOUR money.

I finally met someone who gets it. I asked him if he was getting any back. He said he was getting $78 from the Feds and he owes the state of Maryland about $100. Perfect!

I think the ideal tax return is when you owe the government a little bit of money. Sure - it sucks giving the government money, but think of it this way - you are returning the money that you owe them. They let you hold onto it for a little longer and let you keep the interest that you made on the money.

So don't come telling me you found out you're getting 4-grand in your refund. Because I got that same 4-grand - only spread over 24 paychecks. Now let's figure out how to owe them less money.

So why might it not be the favorite day of our elected officials? Because it's the day that the government has to give back thousands of dollars to millions of tax filers because dumb-dumb didn't take enough exemptions on their W-2's.

Joe the Tree Trimmer

We hear a lot about Joe the Plumber these days. According to Obama, Joe the Plumber does not make $250,000, so his "Tax the shit out of the rich people" plan won't affect Joe the Plumber. Well I disagree.

Assuming Joe the Plumber works alone or works for someone else, yes, this may be the case. However, let's think about this realistically. I will use my brother-in-law's business as an example. So instead of Joe the Plumber, we have Joe the Tree Trimmer.

My BIL makes over $1 million per year. Sounds awesome, doesn't it? Oh, wait. He has 12 employees. Let's say they average about $45,000 per year. That's $540,000 per year in salary. Half of his money is gone!

Let's not forget about unemployment compensation that he has to pay for each employee. And payroll taxes. And then there's the gas for the 6 trucks that runs about $6000 per month. And when he takes down a big tree he has to rent a crane. You can't exactly go out and buy a million dollar crane when you're Joe the Tree Trimmer. And disposing the debris, yes, he has to pay for that, too.

By the time all is said and done, he's way under $250,000. And because Obama refuses to provide any details about any of his plans, we are not really sure how his taxes would affect small businesses. Therefore, if you are a small business owner, be scared. Be very scared. Obama plans to run you out of business. He wants to stick it to you so that you pay your fair share.