Economy

Greg Cantori plans to downsize when he retires. Really, really downsize. His retirement home is 238 square feet — one-tenth the size of the average new American house — and sits in his Anne Arundel County yard. He and wife Renee can hitch it to a truck and take it with them wherever they go. "It's so cheap — that's what's so cool about this," said Cantori, 52, who envisions a surf-and-turf future, alternating between the house and a sailboat. "We bought the house for $19,000.

Would it surprise you to learn that Fast Company magazine just ranked Maryland the third-most innovative state in the nation? Or that Maryland took the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's No. 1 spot for both innovation and entrepreneurship? It's a fact: In our state's dynamic mix of world-class universities and professional schools, institutes for advanced research, teaching hospitals, think tanks, hubs for start-up businesses and more, there exists this mysterious, economically essential activity known as innovation.

I wonder how commentary like Dan Reed's recent op-ed on job creation ("Government's main job: staying out of the way," Oct. 20) can get so much attention. While the title has merit, the writer makes an anti-government case with empty assertions. The principal argument appears to be founded on a dictionary definition of "job. " If only life were so simple. Contrary to oversimplified views of economics, the government plays a critical role in our economy. Perhaps many have heard of the Internet, or maybe the integrated circuit, or the interstate highway system.

A strong and sustainable 21st century economy can only be built from the bottom up. And today, as President Barack Obama visits Baltimore, it is this fact that will drive us to join with him to renew a call for Congress to focus on common-sense investments that create middle-class job opportunities now and reward America's economic future. Here in Baltimore, when it comes to economic development and jobs, the future of our local economy is heavily dependent on three critically important areas that require continued, targeted investments: public education, infrastructure, and job skills and readiness.

I recently attended a community meeting to discuss the proposed CSX rail facility ("Price tags put on intermodal sites," Nov. 16). I came away with a clear understanding of the positive impact this facility would have on our economy. In such tough economic times, how can we turn down any opportunities to bring thousands of jobs into our area? I sincerely hope that local residents, the county and those with the railroad can work together to make this proposal a reality. Robyn Sadler, Ellicott City

It was refreshing to read Peter Morici's recent commentary regarding trade with China ("China currency bill: America fights back," Oct. 11). After nearly three years of a failing economy presided over by the Obama administration, it would seem President Barack Obama should jettison his current economic team and hire economists like Professor Morici who provide a different point of view as to what ails the economy and what solutions should be undertaken....

I was riding in a van near York, Pa. last week when one of the passengers pointed with pride to a giant new facility owned by a major grocery chain and announced, "That's going to be their regional distribution center. It will be fully-automated, requiring only about 10 people to keep it running day and night. It will replace a distribution center that requires more than 100 workers. " Wow, I mused, so this is how businesses create jobs. Hire 10 techies so they can fire 100 laborers.

Why does the Republican Party think that blocking government from functioning is a good thing ("The GOP sequester," Feb. 22)? In terms of the "sequestration" issue, they refuse to consider more revenue while insisting on more cuts to spending. Yet, the Budget Control Act of 2011 reduced spending by $1.5 trillion while increasing revenue by only $600 billion. More cuts without additional revenue to sustain economic recovery is simply irresponsible. Don't let the Republican House push the country into recession!

In regard to The Sun's editorial on Barack Obama's view of the private sector ("Doing better than 'fine," June 12), yes, President Obama should be encouraging, and yes, we can absolutely do better. But he must be honest. I keep hearing the private sector has created 4.3 million jobs in last three years. That may be true, but how many jobs have been lost? How many more people are unemployed now than three years ago? Why doesn't the actual unemployment rate (including those who are underemployed and those who have dropped out)

The Sun published a feel-good article on the latest report from the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Statistics, starting, "Personal income in Maryland has collectively risen back out of the hole the recession dug. " ("Incomes in state up from '08 slide," Sept. 21) What the article failed to mention was the report's statement that professional services made the largest contribution to the non-farm earnings growth (and if I read the tables right, there was no farm contribution)

As he traveled through Baltimore to promote his jobs agenda on Friday, President Barack Obama found himself sitting near a 29-year-old man who was uncertain how to reset his life after being released from prison two years ago. In one of the few spontaneous moments of the president's visit, Marcus Dixon - father of two boys - told Obama how he connected in 2011 with a workforce development group called the Center for Urban Families, put his life...

My mother went into paid work soon after my father's clothing store was flooded out in a hurricane, almost wiping him out. She had no choice. We needed the money. This was some two decades before a tidal wave of wives and mothers went into paid work. For the relatively few women with four-year college degrees, this change was the consequence of wider educational opportunity and new laws against gender discrimination that opened professions to well-educated women. But the vast majority of women entered the paid workforce because male wages were dropping.

Maryland for years benefited from its close proximity to the nation's capital, but the mandatory federal spending cuts called sequestration will be a drag on the state's economy for the next couple of years, said the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. "This retrenchment at the federal government level ... is tough this year. We are still finding out what the dimensions of this are," said Jeffrey Lacker, the Fed president. Despite the pain, the spending cuts are needed for the long-term fiscal health of the country, he added.

Steve Kilar's excellent article on Baltimore's local currency highlighted the process of launching and growing the BNote ("Baltimore's local currency, the BNote, is 2 years old," May 7). Missing from the article, however, was an assessment of the economic benefits of local currencies on communities. Local currencies stimulate the economy by encouraging local spending. A 2008 study conducted by Civic Economics showed significant economic impact from local spending in Western Michigan.

Apparently, columnist Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. doesn't understand the difference between manufacturing and mining or mineral extraction ("New day for U.S. manufacturing," May 5). While manufacturing is sustainable as long as there is a demand for the product, mineral extraction is always boom and bust. Think of the once thriving silver mining towns of Nevada, now ghost towns. Mr. Ehrlich's Pollyanna vision of hydraulic fracturing completely ignores the gritty and nightmarish underbelly of this extreme form of natural resource extraction with its requirement of millions of gallons of fresh water per well and the resultant millions of gallons of toxic wastewater after-product that must be stored or dumped somewhere.

The Maryland Hospital Association has sent a letter to state health officials saying it will not support a proposal that would link medical spending to the state's economic growth. The state presented the proposal to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in March as part of an application to update its Medicare waiver, an agreement with the federal government unique to Maryland that allows the state to set uniform hospital rates. The hospital association has said in the past the proposal raises concerns, but the April 25 letter is the first time the group publicly said it would not support it. The letter is addressed to Health Secretary Joshua M. Sharfstein and John M. Colmers, chairman of the Health Services Cost Review Commission, the agency that sets hospital rates in Maryland.

Now that they have won the House of Representatives back ("Republicans gain House control," Nov. 3), I want to know where the jobs are and why the economy is still in the tank. In this day and age of instant-gratification-isn't-quick-enough, I'm wondering why the pundits are giving the Republics such an easy ride so far. After all, they won back the House, as pundits have been predicting they would since July 2009. Surely they have had enough time to halt a return of the Great Recession, get housing prices back on track, re-employ millions while eliminating taxes for the wealthy, revamping the health insurance system and reforming education and Social Security.

Lyle Rescott, in his letter to the editor ("Government spending not what economy needs," June 13), poses a couple of legitimate questions. He does indicate his philosophical bias in the last sentence of his letter when he writes Barack Obama "should start being the president of all of us and not just the socialist segment. " Putting that aside, I will address his legitimate questions. He asks, "how many jobs have been lost in the last three years?" The answer to that question is three years ago, there were 108,601,001 jobs in the private sector.

There has been a lot of talk lately about the role of government regulations. Many Democrats will argue that we don't have enough. Many Republicans will argue that we have too many. So who's right? I don't think either is inherently right or wrong. I liken the government to a boss, and the economy to a job. The way the government and the economy interact is like an employee/manager relationship. So we must ask, what kind of boss do we feel successful with? Do we like a boss who is breathing down our necks, one who gives us a set of guidelines and allows us to work, or one who is totally absent?

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. " - Thomas Jefferson My recent column on the challenges associated with the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program elicited numerous and very personal stories from readers about how individual (disabled) recipients depended on the program for daily maintenance. And, many asked, how dare I (and others of my ilk) question such a vital program?