Private Sector

I could hardly believe my ears when President Barack Obama chastised lawmakers for focusing on the next election instead of the nation's business ("Military bases in Md. brace for U.S. budget cuts," Feb. 27). President Obama started his run for a second term right after the results of the first election were in. The last four years seemed to be one long campaign, but now with the term limits in effect this is wrong. Mr. Obama wants to keep "early education funding," which is just another way of saying free day care for the poor.

Maryland's business leaders are increasing efforts to speak with a louder, more unified voice to state officials, seeing in looming federal budget cuts the necessity — or opportunity — to focus more attention on the private sector. The Maryland Chamber of Commerce is organizing business groups, trade organizations and employers across the state in a "competitiveness coalition" that aims to agree on a handful of priorities and talk about them with everyone — elected officials, candidates and the public.

Sometimes it seems that Baltimore is politically comatose. As this well written Sun editorial points out ("A wake-up call for the city," Feb. 8), real estate taxes are double that of the next highest municipality, income taxes are higher than any other municipality and at the legal limit, and schools and infrastructure are crumbling. We have a firmly entrenched bloated government bureaucracy which spends 20 percent of its budget on legacy costs and has $3.2 billion of unfunded pension liabilities.

Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has outdone himself ("What if? Life under President Romney," Jan. 27). With his predictions of what would have transpired under President Mitt Romney, he has produced his funniest column yet. However, he seems to have omitted a few things that would have happened under the bumbling Mr. Romney. To begin with, Mr. Ehrlich failed to mention Mr. Romney's plan to turn health care planning over to Prevention Magazine which, while resulting in an increase in subscriptions, did not lower the cost of health care.

Maryland gained about 22,000 jobs in 2012, the smallest annual increase since the recession, underscoring the challenges facing the state in a year dominated by the federal budget and the collapse of a major employer. U.S. Department of Labor estimates released Friday show a volatile year in which the state move back and forth between job expansion and loss, ending with a gain in December. The preliminary figures suggest that the major culprit was government, which shed 8,500 jobs — the first time in nearly a decade that the usually reliable sector turned in an annual loss.

The state has a long list of public-works projects but little money. The private sector is willing to invest but has been starved for work. From that simple equation comes a business model called public-private partnerships — or P3s — that Maryland hopes will help alleviate its backlog of transportation and other infrastructure needs. The O'Malley administration is expected to unveil legislation this week that would offer a channel for tapping into a reservoir of corporate money and expertise.

As a taxpayer who has to report yearly to the federal and state government how much I made and how I spent it, I find it hard to believe an agency that spends our tax dollars can dodge audits for years with no accountability and the leadership not get fired ("City parks agency turns over books for auditing after 3 years," Jan. 10). No wonder there is so much corruption. There should be full disclosure every year so taxpayers know how government agencies are spending our money. In the private sector you would be fired if you did not keep up to date records of money spent.

In response to letter writer David Drake ("Voters see through the GOP smoke screen," Jan. 9), he seems to fail to realize that there can be no public sector without the private sector jobs that generate the money for it to exist in the first place. Government doesn't produce, it only consumes. He stated that government creates jobs. Excuse me, but the government wouldn't exist without private sector money. (Oh, wait a minute, President Barack Obama and his crew could just print some more - we're all saved!

Gov. Martin O'Malley has allocated $25 million for affordable housing in the fiscal 2014 capital budget that will allow the state to " leverage an additional $180 million in private sector and other public funding ," the state housing department said. The money will go toward an initiative the governor started last year, called Rental Housing Works, and is expected to fund the construction or renovation of 1,100 affordable rental units. T he allocation will also support 1,900 jobs and generate $39 million in taxes over 15 years, according to O'Malley's office the Department of Housing and Community Development.

Once again our elected officials in Washington have shown their lack of respect for taxpayers. We do not need more taxes, they need to stop spending. We no longer have a government by the people for the people; these elected officials spend our money with no regard for accountability. They spent billions on green energy companies that went bankrupt, have not passed a budget in three years, and President Barack Obama talks about doing the math. Why doesn't a reporter ask this question of Mr. Obama: We have 109 million Americans who work in the private sector, and there are 89 million Americans who either work in government or receive support from government such as Medicaid, welfare, disability and food stamps.