Ehrlich

News flash: President Romney and congressional leaders met today to review the terms of the recently concluded fiscal cliff deal wherein the Bush tax cuts were extended by four years, the corporate income tax rate was reduced from 35 percent to 25 percent, and the capital gains tax rate for middle class taxpayers was lowered to 10 percent. The leaders returned to Washington to encouraging news from Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 800 points since the fiscal deal was announced.

I read Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s column ("Obama economics: More government means more growth," June 20) with interest and disbelief. Well, not really. But his comment at the end about the "left's dangerous love affair with ever-higher taxes" brought a smile to my face. Is Mr. Ehrlich not aware that President Barack Obama followed the Republicans' call for lower taxes to fix the problems left by his predecessor? Mr. Obama cut taxes over and over again to the point that we now have the lowest tax rate seen in the United States in more than 60 years!

There is an old but rejuvenated movement in the country these days. It's a far-left take on Keynesian economics: a school of thought intent on raising taxes and expanding the public sector - as a way to jump-start the economy. Yes, you read that correctly. The progressive intelligentsia (with a recent assist by the Congressional Research Service) are all hot and excited by the prospect of higher taxes on upper-income taxpayers, the better to spur economic growth. The model is supposed to be the Clinton era, wherein income tax hikes coincided with strong economic growth, a surging stock market, and three consecutive years of a federal balanced budget.

One of the under-reported promises made by Congressman Ehrlich in the gubernatorial campaign of 2002 was to re-energize the pardon power in Maryland. My advisers thought it a bit loony to make the pledge, since the race promised to be close and there was little political advantage to be gained. After all, Gov. Parris Glendening had framed his clemency strategy with one brief line - "life means life" - to minimal criticism from his liberal base. Still, I thought it an essential element of the job description to "do justice" through the exercise of this extraordinary power.

Author's disclaimer: Today's piece may cause my center/right readers severe irritability, sleeplessness, and a strong desire to limit your cable television options to Fox. The antidote may not arrive until the midterm elections of 2014. Fiscal cliff negotiations: a real bummer. An empowered president intent on fulfilling his progressive inclination to raise taxes. An emboldened Harry Reid strangely silent about his inability to pass a budget through a Democratic Senate over the past three years.

I see former governor and columnist Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is back doing what he's been doing best for his entire career: Whining, finger-pointing and laying blame everywhere except where it belongs - on himself and his Republican puppet-masters ("Injecting Obamacare into economy will hurt - a lot," Dec. 30). Yes, Obamacare is indeed a pork-laden, convoluted mess, thanks to the Republicans. That's what you get when you try to reach "compromise" with people who are wacko. No, we didn't want Obamacare: We wanted universal, government-run health care like they have in every other industrialized country in the world.

It's difficult to catalogue all the negative impacts of Obamacare in one place. Nevertheless, my readers deserve to know a few of the uglier details as the new year rings in one of the most expensive, convoluted policy experiments in American history. •Lost in the hysteria surrounding Obamacare's 20 new tax increases is the law's surcharge of 0.9 percent on wages and salaries and 3.8 percent on investment income. This is another levy directed at small business owners. You know - the ones who are supposed to ramp up hiring to spark our economic recovery.

Author's note: This piece concerns racial healing in America. It is submitted as we continue to mourn the incomprehensible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. May those families, that community, and the nation that grieves with them know the comfort that only faith can provide. An open letter to Drew and Josh Ehrlich, from your parents: Both of you have children of different races and ethnicities in your schools. They are your classmates, teammates and friends.

Every kid knows that falling off a cliff is never good, but what about a "fiscal cliff" - how would that feel? Americans may indeed find out, if Congress is unable to pass a budget plan prior to Jan. 1. So, what's at stake if such an event occurs? Plenty. First, some background. Members of both political parties have spent beyond the nation's means for many years. This economic fact of life is a bit more embarrassing for Republicans, since most GOPers at least try to talk a good game of fiscal sense.