Economy

If a tree falls in a Maryland forest, does anyone know its value? State Forester Steve Koehn threw back his head and laughed when asked that question. And then he jumped at the chance to shed some light on what he calls one of Maryland's best-kept secrets. "Forest products are a $4 billion-a-year industry in Maryland," he said. "For comparison, seafood is a $950 million industry. " Koehn stood on a gentle slope in the middle of a towering stand of poplar trees, their golden leaves electrified by a bright fall sun. Eighteen months ago, loggers harvested that private plot in western Baltimore County, removing about half of the trees.

The Maryland DREAM Act is about treating all our children, and all Maryland taxpayers, fairly. Amy Chai (letter, Oct. 18) says that citizens from other states will be denied the "break" DREAM students get. The Maryland DREAM Act isn't a break bur rather about ensuring fair treatment for all Maryland taxpayers. Chai neglects to mention that a U.S. citizen is eligible to pay in-state tuition in her own state. DREAM students have lived in Maryland for most of their lives and their families pay Maryland taxes yet without the Maryland DREAM Act, they're being charged the exorbitant out-of-state rate.

We're closing in on Election Day, but the questions about what Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would do if elected are only growing larger. Rarely before in American history has a presidential ticket campaigned on such a blank slate. Yet, paradoxically, not a day goes by that we don't hear Mr. Romney, Mr. Ryan or some other exponent of the GOP claim that businesses aren't creating more jobs because they're uncertain about the future. And the source of that uncertainty, they say, is President Barack Obama -- especially his Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)

I believe there is climate change going on, although I also believe it is mostly a naturally occurring phenomenon. Statements like yours ("This year's extraordinary weather events - droughts, floods, heat waves, and the like.... ") do not help your case ("What about the climate?" Oct. 19). These events have been happening since I can remember and certainly before that. You leave out two points of interest. First, what will be the impact on the economy if the U.S. steps up its attempt to control the climate?

The almost two decades since the Clinton tax increase in 1993 have constituted a mighty experiment in macroeconomics. That period - more than a quarter of the entire postwar era - is divided into two periods of almost one half each, the first being a period following tax increases and the more recent period following two large tax cuts. The empirical evidence shows that the period following the tax increase experienced the largest peacetime expansion in U.S. history and the creation of 23 million jobs.

Imagine this: You're a single man in your 20s, in Baltimore, with an eighth-grade education and two young children. You've just served three years in jail for a nonviolent crime, such as selling marijuana. While you were in jail - earning no income - your child-support obligations continued to accrue, leaving you $22,000 in arrears upon your release. This number (the average total amount owed by a noncustodial parent who is currently or formerly incarcerated, according to the Family Welfare Research and Training Group at the University of Maryland School of Social Work)

Incumbent Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett and Democratic challenger John Delaney pitched vastly different approaches to deal with unemployment, federal deficits and immigration, while both hewed closely to their party's talking points Wednesday during the first televised debate of the state's marquee congressional race. Bartlett, a Republican who is considered the underdog in his bid for an 11th term in the 6th District, did little to moderate his more conservative views on regulations and education, even though his once-red district became more Democratic in last year's statewide redistricting.

Stop! Don't sign it! A petition drive secretly sponsored by developers Howard Brown and David Cordish has been circulating for the last few weeks in an effort to quash all of the zoning changes in Council Districts 2 and 6 that were approved in August by the Baltimore County Council. This vote took place after an exhaustive one-year process of community input meetings, Planning Board recommendations and staff reviews called the Comprehensive Zoning Map Process (CZMP). Finally, it was signed into law by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz.

The U.S. unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest level in about four years. Real estate foreclosure filings fell last month to the lowest number since the summer of 2007. Meanwhile, the stock market has enjoyed a pretty nice 2012, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up about 9 percent on the year on top of even bigger gains during the previous two years. All around, there are overwhelming signs of an improved economy. At times it seems that only the sluggish response of government - both in Europe, where some countries remain perilously close to insolvency, and in the Congress, where lawmakers seem unable to agree on any fiscal policy longer than a few months in duration - is keeping a lid on global growth opportunities.

In recent days there has been much talk of the presidential debates. We are preoccupied with relatively trivial perceptions of who "won" or "lost. " There has also been endless discussion of whose policy proposals are better. Rather than entertain these meaningless debates, however, we would do better to look at our track record as a nation in comparison to other nations. I bring this up because in 2008 too many of us were blinded by "American exceptionalism" to realize that the recession that we suffered was global in its reach and not isolated to the U.S. All of the research has already been done for us, via the CIA World Fact Book.