Great Recession

The Great Recession is not only bringing hardship for millions of Americans but is widening the divide between two broad types of men and masculinity. If you want a window on how economic hard times — not only since 2008 but as inequality has grown during recent decades — has affected manhood, take a look at two movies: "Up in the Air" and "Capitalism: A Love Story." In the first, George Clooney is literally atop the world, well dressed, well paid, slickly sophisticated, and courtier of the equally upscale and driven Vera Farmiga.

That's right, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., blame the subprime crisis on poor people ("Did we learn from subprime crisis?" April 21). Government over-extension of housing funds to marginal buyers is only one small part of why the crisis occurred. Instead, let's put the blame where it really lies. That would be in the repeal of Glass-Stegall which enabled banks and insurance companies to become gambling establishments, the fraudulent and illegal bundling of good loans with bad while rating these packages triple-A, the teaming of Wall Street and insurance companies which encouraged credit buying and subprime loans, the ignorance and collusion of ratings agencies, and finally the intentional laissez-faire "putting the foxes in charge of the hen house" attitude of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The White House is breathing a bit easier. The president's awful debate performance was bad enough. If it had been followed by a bad jobs report, the president's chances for re-election might have plummeted. But the report showed September's unemployment rate dropping to 7.8 percent -- the first time it's been under 8 percent in 43 months. Look more closely, though, and the employment picture is murkier. According to the separate payroll survey, just 114,000 new jobs were added in September.

The White House is breathing a bit easier. The president's awful debate performance was bad enough. If it had been followed by a bad jobs report, the president's chances for re-election might have plummeted. But the report showed September's unemployment rate dropping to 7.8 percent -- the first time it's been under 8 percent in 43 months. Look more closely, though, and the employment picture is murkier. According to the separate payroll survey, just 114,000 new jobs were added in September.

City finances have long been under pressure, but the Great Recession and steady attacks on federal and state spending have compounded local financial difficulties. The National League of Cities' annual research brief, City Fiscal Conditions, documents rapid deterioration. Reported revenue declines of 2.5 percent in 2009 and 3.2 percent in 2010 were unprecedented in severity in the 25-year history of the survey. In 2010, 79 percent of cities reported cutting personnel, 44 percent cut services, 25 percent cut public safety spending, and 17 percent cut current employees' health benefits.

While some sectors of Maryland's economy struggle to shake free of the Great Recession, the biotechnology parks adjacent to Baltimore's two top teaching hospitals stubbornly continue to add laboratories, offices and — most importantly for the city — jobs. The gains have been both large and small, and not always along the path or at the pace envisioned when the parks were created. But the growth is unmistakable, fueled by the critical mass of expertise, resources and discoveries at both the Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland Baltimore medical campuses.

In Annie Linskey's article ("Ehrlich, O'Malley budgeted similarly," Aug. 2) The Baltimore Sun gives a great description of how both governors have used similar tactics to balance Maryland's budget as mandated by state law. Maryland has been extremely fortunate in the wake of the "Great Recession," especially when compared to other states across the country. This is undoubtedly a reflection of a citizenry that cares. Even so, that citizenry is usually led by informed elected officials who steer the ship – so to speak – and that ship is Maryland.

The Bush tax cuts were a huge success, and failing to extend them for all Americans — not just families earning less than $250,000, as President Barack Obama proposes — would be a terrible mistake. Contrary to White House propaganda, George W. Bush achieved a lot of growth prior to the financial crisis, and lower taxes for all helped. The Bush prosperity was the byproduct of several multi-decade policy trends that freed markets and empowered individuals to innovate and create wealth.

In these challenging economic times, public and private sector leaders must actively promote future job growth, especially in emerging industry sectors. One area where we should be looking for future economic expansion clearly must be within the green jobs industry sector. Maryland's Green Jobs & Industry Task Force has just released a series of recommendations to help grow the state's green economy. These policy concepts – crafted by a team of business and public sector experts – are meant to position our state for these jobs of the future.

Your recent editorial "Doing better than 'fine'" (June 12) must be a joke. Every economic metric shows the economy is in serious trouble. Small businesses are doing much worse than anticipated almost four years after the start of the Great Recession, and there's no recovery in sight. I should know, because I am a small business owner, and I am in contact with other small business owners on a regular basis. We are not doing "fine," we and our employees are struggling to survive in a business climate that has already claimed the existence of more businesses both large and small than ever before.

I know we have become a nation of such short attention spans and long-term addiction to instant gratification that asking viewers to spend even an hour with a documentary that could change the way they see the world is probably a fool's errand. But this fool is asking -- no begging -- you to see "Hard Times: Lost on Long Island," an HBO documentary premiering at 9 Monday night and repeating throughout the month on HBO and HBO2. I have not seen anything on-air, online or in print that so deftly nails one of the most important and least reported stories of our economic and political lives in this presidential election year.

Your recent editorial "Doing better than 'fine'" (June 12) must be a joke. Every economic metric shows the economy is in serious trouble. Small businesses are doing much worse than anticipated almost four years after the start of the Great Recession, and there's no recovery in sight. I should know, because I am a small business owner, and I am in contact with other small business owners on a regular basis. We are not doing "fine," we and our employees are struggling to survive in a business climate that has already claimed the existence of more businesses both large and small than ever before.

Europe is in recession. Portugal, Italy and Greece are basket cases. The British and Spanish economies have contracted for the last two quarters. It seems highly likely that France and Germany are in a double dip as well. Why should we care? Because a recession in the world's third-largest economy (Europe) combined with the current slowdown in the world's second-largest (China), spells trouble for the world's largest (that's still us). Remember, it's a global economy. Money moves across borders at the speed of an electronic impulse.

City finances have long been under pressure, but the Great Recession and steady attacks on federal and state spending have compounded local financial difficulties. The National League of Cities' annual research brief, City Fiscal Conditions, documents rapid deterioration. Reported revenue declines of 2.5 percent in 2009 and 3.2 percent in 2010 were unprecedented in severity in the 25-year history of the survey. In 2010, 79 percent of cities reported cutting personnel, 44 percent cut services, 25 percent cut public safety spending, and 17 percent cut current employees' health benefits.

Just as the U.S. economy appears to be improving, four sets of forces could thrust America into an abyss rivaling the Depression. •First, for decades, Washington has pursued more open global trade and domestic deregulation. These unleashed great potential for innovation and growth; however, China and other nations have abused freer trade through export subsidies and import barriers to boost their economies at the expense of others. And, in some industries, a few players have amassed great monopoly power - notably, large financial houses on Wall Street and in Europe that now have an iron grip on lending.

Opponents of continuing the extension of unemployment insurance often make one of the following arguments: (1) the program is welfare for the undeserving; (2) it subsidizes leisure and is a major contributor to the high unemployment rate; or (3) the extension does little to create jobs. The critics have it wrong on all counts. The mischaracterization of unemployment insurance as welfare is a fundamental misunderstanding of the program — and insurance in general. Welfare is society's means of ensuring that the poorest among us have their basic needs taken care of, regardless of prior contributions to the system.

That's right, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., blame the subprime crisis on poor people ("Did we learn from subprime crisis?" April 21). Government over-extension of housing funds to marginal buyers is only one small part of why the crisis occurred. Instead, let's put the blame where it really lies. That would be in the repeal of Glass-Stegall which enabled banks and insurance companies to become gambling establishments, the fraudulent and illegal bundling of good loans with bad while rating these packages triple-A, the teaming of Wall Street and insurance companies which encouraged credit buying and subprime loans, the ignorance and collusion of ratings agencies, and finally the intentional laissez-faire "putting the foxes in charge of the hen house" attitude of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Smiling Joe Biden got it right when he whispered to President Barack Obama at the health care reform signing ceremony, "This is a big [expletive] deal." The question is whether the jubilation of the left or the trepidation of the right best captures the reality of what Obamacare will actually mean to Americans as time passes and its details are revealed and digested. This newspaper was beyond enthusiastic in its lead editorial on March 23, saying, "For once, political consequences mattered less than doing the right thing."

European leaders are working feverishly to create what German Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling a "fiscal union" to restore private investor confidence in Europe and rekindle growth. Unfortunately, what she advocates will thrust Europe into a deeper economic crisis and leave European leaders without the fiscal and monetary policy tools necessary to combat recessions. The reforms Chancellor Merkel is pushing - hard caps on national government deficits - would ensure the ultimate demise of the euro, years of economic stagnation or worse.

While some sectors of Maryland's economy struggle to shake free of the Great Recession, the biotechnology parks adjacent to Baltimore's two top teaching hospitals stubbornly continue to add laboratories, offices and — most importantly for the city — jobs. The gains have been both large and small, and not always along the path or at the pace envisioned when the parks were created. But the growth is unmistakable, fueled by the critical mass of expertise, resources and discoveries at both the Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland Baltimore medical campuses.