Debt

Like my fellow Americans, I am deeply concerned about our nation's financial future. Our country will face a fiscal catastrophe if Washington can't address our crushing debt. Fortunately, some in Congress understand the urgency. For months, a bipartisan group of Senators known as the "Gang of Six" have been working together to produce a comprehensive plan to address the ballooning deficit. Their approach has earned the backing of No Labels, a new political group encouraging bipartisan problem-solving.

The Maryland Democratic Party turned Republican Larry Hogan's charge that the state is on the verge of bankruptcy against him Monday, pointing to the GOP gubernatorial nominee's 1994 bankruptcy filing over more than $1.5 million in debt. In a campaign news release, the Democrats also charged that has "a long history of mismanaging money," pointing to outstanding debt left over from his primary campaign. The report also criticizes the Maryland Republican Party for its track record of debt.

Ever since the Reagan administration amassed more public debt than all its precessors in history combined, the federal government has continued to run ungodly massive deficits, sometimes cutting taxes to do so. Our history includes such expensive catastrophes as the Civil War, the Great Depression and World War II, but our generation needed more money than all of them put together. We don't want our taxes raised, but we don't want our favorite government programs cut, either. Caught in this dilemma, what we needed was a group of people who could not squeal if their taxes were raised.

Noting that student loan debt in the U.S. has ballooned to roughly $1 trillion, Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Ben Cardin spoke with students at Bowie State University on Thursday to draw attention to a proposal Democrats will push next week to allow borrowers to refinance their student loans. "In this country you can refinance a yacht but you can't refinance your student loan," Mikulski said. "We want students to have a fair shot at lowering their debt interest rates. " The bill, which would allow people to refinance federal and private loans issued before 2010 at a rate below 4 percent, is not likely to gain much traction in this Congress.

Corporate Office Properties Trust, the Columbia-based office real estate investment trust, is issuing $350 million in debt, the sale of which is expected to close next week, the company announced Thursday. The senior unsecured notes are due in ten years and will pay 3.6 percent interest, according to a statement from COPT. The closing is expected on Monday, the firm said. COPT's operating partnership plans to use the funds raised by the offering to repay borrowed funds and for general corporate purposes.

Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin recently hosted an event in Annapolis to discuss the national debt and how it relates to businesses in the state. It was refreshing to finally hear a member of Congress talk about the need for politicians to work toward a bipartisan solution rather than make absolute statements that feed the flames of partisanship. Senator Cardin's leadership in addressing the issue should be applauded. At the event, which attracted dozens of concerned citizens, Mr. Cardin spoke highly of the Bowles-Simpson Commission's plan and criticized Congress for the missed opportunity of not giving it an up-or-down vote.

Doesn't Congress have enough to do with problems in the United States than to worry about flags and golf balls on the moon ("Md. congresswoman proposes national Apollo park on the moon," July 10)? Are we going to install a camera on a satellite to watch this area so no one touches anything? If some other country does touch these artifacts, who's going to arrest them? We need to concentrate our resources on this planet rather than spending millions of dollars to protect golf balls, flags, and the lunar landing site.

The Oscar nominees for best picture owe a huge debt to books -- and the creativity of authors. Most of the top films are screen versions of tales that were woven by printed words (or digitized versions). That's not taking anything away from the writers who adapt a novel or work of non-fiction. I'm slogging my way through Victor Hugo's Les Miserables now, and it is a wonder that a hit musical and movie could be distilled from the sprawling 1800s. Here are other adaptations that join Les Mis in the best picture category: -- "Lincoln," drawn from " Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

I am sure I will take some flack for this. But here goes anyhow. Our elected leaders are mostly talk and no action. Why? Because they know we as a country are short of the cash it takes to get things done. Remember it is always the money. The rest of us are just whining, and hoping somebody else will fix the problems. So here's an idea. Add a $1 tax to all the gasoline sold in this country for one year. Let the individual states collect it, keep half, and send the rest to the federal government.

The Maryland Democratic Party turned Republican Larry Hogan's charge that the state is on the verge of bankruptcy against him Monday, pointing to the GOP gubernatorial nominee's 1994 bankruptcy filing over more than $1.5 million in debt. In a campaign news release, the Democrats also charged that has "a long history of mismanaging money," pointing to outstanding debt left over from his primary campaign. The report also criticizes the Maryland Republican Party for its track record of debt.

Nearly two months after People's Community Health Centers shut the doors to five low-income health clinics in Baltimore city and Anne Arundel County, a federal agency confirmed it is no longer providing critical grant money to the nonprofit group. People's had received $2.4 million a year from the Health Services Resources Administration to treat uninsured patients - its largest source of revenue. That loss comes as the organization faces a new federal tax lien nearly that doubled the amount it owes the Internal Revenue Service and mounting claims from employees seeking back pay. Yet Andrew Sindler, attorney for People's, said Monday the nonprofit hopes to pay off or settle its debts and has "some new opportunities in the works to revive the organization" under a new name and with new investors, though he declined to offer details.

Student debt has grown to over $1 trillion in the United States and is continuing to climb. In fact, seven out of 10 undergraduates graduated with some form of student debt in 2012. Such enormous debt is likely to trigger another financial crisis as young adults and recent graduates struggle to pay back their loans. The federal, state and local governments have taken a number of steps to provide aid in the form of scholarships, grants, loans and repayment assistance programs. In Maryland, for example, the state's Janet L. Hoffman Loan Assistance Repayment Program provides loan repayment assistance for graduates working in high needs areas in targeted fields such as medicine, education and law. In Fiscal Year 2013, 193 awards were made through that program; loan repayments totaled more than $1.2 million, with an average award of roughly $6,400 per recipient.

How competent is your 18-year old? Do you trust him or her with your credit card? How about the brand new family car? Better yet, do you think he is competent enough to take out several thousands of dollars of debt with a few pen strokes? Education has long enjoyed a prominent status as the keystone in the archway to American success. What supports this idea is the concept that the barriers to higher education are surmountable, and that people who cannot afford to pay for school out of pocket can borrow money as an investment toward their future.

Maryland Transportation Authority officials are warning of an email phishing scam that asks E-ZPass holders to pay their toll debts online. The MdTA posted a sample of one of the phony emails, which claimed that the driver was "in arrears" and instructed the driver to "service your debt in the shortest possible time. " The MdTA says this is a scam email that seeks to obtain personal information and should be deleted. E-ZPass never asks for personal information in an email. Anyone receiving such an email can report it to the E-ZPass Maryland Customer Service Center at 888-321-6824.

Legg Mason plans to close a deal this month to restructure $650 million in debt, a move designed to lock in favorable interest rates for the long term while taking advantage of the market's sustained appetite for corporate bonds. The money raised from the sale will be used to pay off $650 million of notes due in 2019, which the Baltimore-based money manager issued two years ago at a rate of 5.5 percent. The firm's total debt of just over $1 billion would remain unchanged. Legg's decision to restructure debt follows the path of dozens of companies, including asset managers Invesco, Janus Capital Group and Icahn Enterprises, that have pursued refinancing in expectation of rising interest rates.

To investigate the possibly of future water rate increases, Baltimore City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young on Monday will request a hearing to discuss a request by the Department of Public Works to borrow up to $2 billion. The city is obligated to improve its aging infrastructure under a 2002 agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency and Maryland Department of Environment. To help meet those obligations, the Department of Public Works requested legislation that would authorize an increase in the city's borrowing capacity.

Consumer borrowing fell again in February, reflecting weakness in credit cards and auto loans. Analysts said the sharp reduction showed that the weak economy is still making consumers hesitant to take on more debt. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that borrowing declined by $11.5 billion in February, surprisingly weaker than the small, $500 million gain that economists had expected. The February decline was the 12th decrease during the past 13 months as consumers slash borrowing in the face of a deep recession and high unemployment.

President Barack Obama's recent grant award to three Prince George's county schools for the development of student apprenticeship programs in high-demand Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) industries, is a sign of a paradigm shift in American education. Traditional higher education is no longer the guaranteed pathway to successful, prosperous careers and wealth. President Obama and governmental stakeholders are recognizing that skilled job-training or apprenticeship programs in diverse fields are the best solutions to improve economic development for generations of young Americans.

Citing a report that Marylanders are carrying the highest level of student debt in the country, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Heather R. Mizeur will propose a plan Monday to make college more affordable and increase need-based financial aid. Mizeur, who is running for governor against Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown and Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler in the June 24 Democratic primary, is calling for a $12 million increase in aid based on...