Job Creation

Competing claims on state spending: Ehrlich: "We added up your budgets over the four years. Do you know what they added to? $124 billion. Mine? $101 billion. That's not a rounding error. " O'Malley: "We have cut state spending more than any governor in Maryland history. " The facts : The figures for Ehrlich's statement are accurate, though it is unclear how helpful the comparison is. Ehrlich arrives at his number by adding together all four of O'Malley's budgets and comparing those cumulative figures to his four years of spending.

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.

Mitt Romney parrots the standard Republican line that raising marginal tax rates for top income earners will stifle job creation ("Battle is joined over jobs, taxes," Oct. 4). Just once I would like someone to point out that employees of these small businesses are not paid out of after-tax income. Marginal tax rates notwithstanding, no business owner is going to hire or retain for very long a worker whose production cannot be translated into gross receipts that exceed the cost of employing that worker.

Dan Rodricks ' advice that "complaining CEOs need to take a hike" (May 9) comes a bit late. For the first time anyone can recall, this year's Fortune 500 includes zero Baltimore-based companies. We are now the largest U.S. city without a single corporate headquarters, and there are only four left in the state - down from 11 as recently as 2007. Clearly, those who decide where to create local job opportunities (and, let's not forget, lead many philanthropic efforts) have been taking a hike for many years, just as over 300,000 Baltimore residents voted with their feet over the decades and fled the city's high property taxes, incredible shrinking economy and dismal provision of public services.

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'm writing in response to the article "Maryland ranks last in job creation" (June 18). This ranking should be of no surprise to anyone. Maryland has allowed itself to become almost entirely dependent on government employment. This has gone on for several administrations and multiple decades. Little effort has been given to private sector employment opportunities because the public sector employer has been the primary source of employment and of political focus. Imagine for a brief moment what employment would be like if Washington wasn't within a commutable distance.

The Republican Mantra of "Don't tax the rich," they create jobs!" is a fallacy. Can anyone name a single job created by the Bush tax cuts? Businesses operate efficiently, hiring or firing according the demand for their products and services. Venture capitalists and investors are looking to make a profit. Their investment may be used for equipment to replace labor or add labor. Stock market investors are looking for profits. Their money doesn't go to the companies whose stock they buy. Taxes affect profits, demand affects jobs.

Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley played surrogate for the Obama administration Sunday morning, appearing on CNN's State of the Union to offer his views on the GOP presidential nomination fight, the president's chances for re-election and the economy. O'Malley was paired with Republican Gov. Robert McDonnell of Virginia for the roughly 10 minute piece. Each chairs his respective party's governors association. O'Malley had the in-studio advantage, sitting across the table from CNN host Candy Crowley.

Congressional Republican leaders have reportedly asked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to refrain from any further monetary stimulus during policy makers' two-day meeting this week. Specifically, they asked in a letter to Mr. Bernanke that the Federal Reserve "resist further extraordinary interventions in the U.S. economy, particularly without a clear articulation of the goals of such a policy, direction for success, ample data proving a case for economic action and quantifiable benefits to the American people.

Gov. Martin O'Malley says his goal for the 2012 legislative session is "job creation. " The real goal is much simpler: more government spending to benefit his most diehard political supporters and those in the construction community who benefit largely from government contracting. This is political payback to the teachers unions - which have generously contributed money and warm bodies to his campaigns - dressed up as job creation. He wants the legislature to approve $372 million in funds to build new public schools.

Jackie Carter had it all mapped out. She would attend college year-round and graduate early, land a job in criminal justice, start paying off student loans, move into her own apartment and invest in her first smartphone. But the 22-year-old Towson University graduate has seen her life after college veer off course. Carter, who graduated in December with a degree in sociology/anthropology with a criminal justice concentration, is living with her parents in Fallston, working as an intern and wondering whether her original goals are forever out of reach.

In his remarks to the Greater Baltimore Committee's annual meeting Wednesday night, T. Rowe Price Chairman Brian C. Rogers noted a contradiction in how the world sees Maryland as a place to do business. On the one hand, it is universally recognized for its top-ranked school systems and universities, skilled workforce, research activity, potential for innovation, and great quality of life. On the other, it frequently winds up toward the bottom of rankings of business competitiveness — most recently, by CEO Magazine — largely because of our tax system and regulatory environment.

Maryland employers punched the accelerator on job creation in February, adding 10,500 positions and bringing the state much closer to recovering its recessionary losses five years after they began. The job growth estimates released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor also pushed the state's unemployment rate to 6.6 percent from 6.7 percent in January. February's growth, split between the private sector and government, was the third straight month of above-average gains. Maryland employers added 5,300 jobs in December and 7,500 jobs in January.

In his recent Sun op-ed in favor of a higher minimum wage, Baltimore Rev. David Carl Olson cites an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute to claim that a wage hike will create jobs ("Maryland Must Raise its Minimum Wage," January 22). While I don't doubt the reverend's good intentions, readers shouldn't take the quality of his evidence on faith. The institute he cites has cooked up a "model" that only shows job creation from a minimum wage increase. Even a $50 minimum wage would register as job-boosting stimulus, despite the fact that it would force hundreds of Maryland businesses to close their doors.

A recent Sun editorial ("Jobs for city residents" January 9), suggests that city government has done little to promote local hiring and job creation and that by ensuring proposed city ordinances are legally-sufficient, the Baltimore City Law Department is somehow impeding the city's progress. The truth is that under the leadership of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, much has been done over the last three years to achieve the goal of increasing local hiring and job opportunities without violating the law and exposing taxpayers to the great risk of costly litigation.

Kudos to Lisa Jackson, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency who is stepping down from her cabinet-level position after the president's State of the Union address in January ("Chief of EPA to leave post," Dec. 28). Ms. Jackson has performed brilliantly in an often thankless job. Because of her efforts, the nation has been spared countless deaths and illnesses due to polluted air, water and soil. She was vilified by Republicans who accused her of harming the economy and slowing job creation.

When Mitt Romney ran for Massachusetts governor in 2002, the private equity magnate said he was uniquely qualified to create jobs, particularly in the private sector, and to lure employers to the Bay State. Instead, under his leadership the state was the fourth-weakest in the country for total job growth and the third-weakest for private-sector job growth - causing hundreds of thousands of his fellow residents to leave Massachusetts, seeking opportunities elsewhere, the data show.

Maryland employers added jobs for the fourth straight month in June but did so at a fraction of the pace of the previous three, creating 1,600 new positions. Even so, the state's employment picture was better than most in a difficult month for a large part of the nation, according to figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Labor. Twenty-seven states — more than half — recorded losses as tens of thousands of temporary census jobs came to an end. In Maryland, nearly all the jobs added last month were created by the private sector.

Whether Susan Rice jumped or was pushed from consideration to succeed retiring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, her removal from the equation clears one bone of partisan contention from President Barack Obama's plate as he heads into his second term. The UN ambassador asserted that she withdrew her name to save her boss from "an enduring partisan battle" that would further distract him and the country from urgent national priorities, including job creation, deficit reduction, immigration reform and "protecting our national securitiy.