Red Ink

TURKEY DAY kicks off the holiday season around most households, mine included. I'm sure we will venture out on what my kids -- and many retailers hoping to get out of the red ink -- refer to as Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving).Every year, I swear not to go forth and shop, but somehow I always end up going forth and shopping. I've tried to convince my spouse that I am doing my part to help keep the American economy blooming. His response is that I don't have to do it single-handed.

Westminster Fire and Hose Company expects a final tally on its first country music concert to show red ink, but it is uncertain just how much the loss will be.However, fire officials said the loss won't affect the fire company's planned move from its historic building at 66 E. Main St.Firefighters hoped to use profits from the July 7 concert -- featuring Diamond Rio and Patty Loveless -- to help meet various expenses, including monthly mortgage payments on...

WASHINGTON -- As the curtain goes up on a new spending debate on Capitol Hill, an old issue has scrambled back onstage: Just how important is a balanced budget?After watching red ink accumulate in the nation's budget for more than a quarter-century, most economists agree that balancing the nation's spending is a worthwhile goal.The primary benefit, according to many economists, would be a reduction in interest rates -- perhaps as much as 2 percentage points lower -- which would translate into lower rates on mortgages, credit cards, car loans and the like.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett introduced legislation yesterday to require members of Congress to make what he called the "ultimate" promise to voters: Take a pay cut if they fail to balance the federal budget."

New York -- Who knew? Who knew that the Duchess of Windsor, the woman who said you could never be too rich or too thin, could "remember no time when I was not interested in food"? Who knew that the king gave up his throne for this woman he loved and a lifetime of Salad Russe (peas and carrots in mayonnaise) and Glace Abricotine (crushed peanut brittle mixed in ice cream)?For an estimated $6,000 to $8,000, you can turn your kitchen into one fit for the woman who would be, but never could be, queen: Wallis Warfield Simpson of Baltimore.

For the past three decades, the philosophy of the Baltimore County library system has been summed up in the slogan, "Give 'em what they want."By giving the public what they want from a library -- all the best-sellers, audio and video materials, easy parking -- the system has routinely racked up circulation figures topped only by those of the Los Angeles and New York public libraries.Unfortunately for the Baltimore County library system, County Executive Roger Hayden has a slogan of his own: "Government can no longer be all things to all people."

Blame it on the persistent recession, if you wish. Or the efforts of state political leaders to make a bleak situation look tolerable. Either way, there's no denying that Maryland's budget woes are still here -- already some $70 million in debt as the new fiscal year got under way July 1, with projections of a $240 million shortfall by the time the books close in late June next year.The cause of this latest flow of red ink is the state's creaking economy, still reeling from the onslaught of corporate layoffs during the recession.

It's almost "deja vu all over again" for Carroll budget officials, as estimates of the state's growing shortfall bring the promise of another summer of spending cuts on the county level.And although neither the state nor the county has made any decision on how to deal with what looks like a $240 million deficit for the budget year that began two weeks ago, the cut to Carroll could total as much as $5 million."That's certainly our worst-case scenario, but it is possible," said Steven D. Powell, the county's budget director.

Less for MoreEditor: What do self-service gasoline stations remind me of? Bah, humbug!Holiday family visits are fun, but Baltimore's self-service $1.129 versus New Jersey's served $1.059 credit card priced regular unleaded equivalent gas isn't.Where is the price saving? Where are the old $5 per hour gas-pumping jobs? Were there price saving promises made when Maryland went to a self-service gasoline state? Does Maryland get less for more?#Joseph J. Fallon Jr. Voorhees, N.J.Duke AttitudeEditor: The extremist rhetoric expressed by Rep. Helen Bentley, R-2nd, in her Pearl Harbor Day speech does not represent the feelings of all of her constituents.

IN THIS year of political exaggerations and just plain statistical frauds, such as the claim that Clinton raised taxes 128 times as Arkansas governor, one item deserves more than a moment's investigation. I am referring to the Bush proposal to let taxpayers solve the federal budget crisis.Under the Bush plan, taxpayers could earmark up to 10 percent of their income taxes to reduce the federal debt. If all voters were to check off the full 10 percent, according to the White House, that would cut the debt by $50 billion a year, and eventually eliminate the federal deficit, too.The plan has a certain populist appeal, since it purportedly bypasses the politicians and lets the voters decide.

Maryland lawmakers plan to wrap up work Monday on a $14 billion budget after months of agonizing over how to plug an enormous shortfall caused by deteriorating revenues and mandated spending growth. But all that effort still won't put the state on solid, long-term financial footing. Even with the influx of federal stimulus money, the General Assembly will reconvene in nine months facing a budget gap that analysts expect will reach more than $1 billion. And, some would argue, it might be the worst possible time for Gov. Martin O'Malley and lawmakers to make unpopular cuts that could include layoffs or curtailing services.

Sea of red ink unfair to future generations Nothing breeds more contempt and cynicism toward our government than politicians misrepresenting their policies and spending programs. A case in point is the current "stimulus" bill pending before Congress ("House OKs stimulus bill," Jan. 30). President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress maintain that the $825 billion (and ever-growing) "stimulus" bill is needed to help energize our troubled economy and create jobs. At the same time, Gov. Martin O'Malley and Maryland Democratic legislative leaders are telling us they are holding off on necessary spending cuts caused by our own deficit because Maryland is in line to receive $3.5 billion as its share of this stimulus package ("Budget cuts held as state awaits stimulus," Jan. 27)

House and Senate Democrats are about the business of restoring to the federal budget process rules that require tough choices to eliminate red ink - a long-overdue reform. Lawmakers aren't making any tough choices yet, though, and have instead employed some bookkeeping tricks that for a while, at least, may leave taxpayers believing there won't have to be any sacrifices. But with huge debts and more liabilities looming, sacrifices are indeed necessary no matter how hard the Democrats try to make it look otherwise until after the 2008 elections - a bit of chicanery that undercuts their commendable drive for discipline.

Perhaps nothing so captures the superficial, frivolous and irresponsible spirit of our times as the sudden boomlet for Barack Obama as a candidate for president of the United States. He is a bright, personable and articulate young man, but what has he ever accomplished that would qualify him for the highest office in the nation and the leadership of the free world? This is no criticism of Senator Obama. He has been in the Senate only a couple of years. Maybe a decade from now he will have crafted enough important legislation, or distinguished himself in some other way, as to be someone worth considering for president.

The sun and sweat have nearly faded the black and red ink on the rubber bands around Dawan Landry's wrists. Still, the meaning of the words barely legible on the rubber bands resonates deeply with Landry. "Keep the faith." "Just believe." "God knows." The words help drive Landry -- these days pushing him through Ravens training camp in Westminster. Ravens Training Camp Through Aug. 19, McDaniel College, Westminster. Today: 8:15 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. (special teams)

If Kip Mandris gets his name in the paper, it's usually because he has been nibbling canapes at some charity gala. For the most part, it's not because the former Baltimore Ad Club president and current PR consultant has been spotted outside a bank with wads of cash stuffed in his shirt, one of them spewing red ink all over him. Well, that's about to change. Mandris cops to this much: A couple months back, he looked all the world like a guy who'd just held up Ed Hale's bank on East Joppa Road.

In the race to the bottom, General Motors Corp. has been losing $3.6 million a day this year while rival Ford Motor Co. has daily bled $14.4 million in red ink. Ford Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William Clay Ford Jr., who has argued against placing his company in the same boat with beleaguered GM, lost those bragging rights yesterday. Ford's first-quarter loss of $1.2 billion was nearly four times greater than the $323 million loss posted by GM on Thursday. Ford attributed its latest loss to a hefty $2.5 billion charge for its extensive restructuring plan.

In between the Macy's parade, turkey dinner and afternoon football, Elizabeth Nightingale plans to slip in a bit of holiday shopping on Thanksgiving. Since most stores will be closed that day, the executive assistant at Advertising.com, a Baltimore Internet advertising company, will do her browsing and buying online. Thanksgiving was once a lost day for most retailers, who closed for the holiday. But now dozens of national chains such as Sears, Toys "R" Us and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are planning special offers on their Web sites a day ahead of the traditional "Black Friday" rush.

Just when Maryland's budget picture is finally improving, state lawmakers are faced with a little-known accounting rule change that could force them to set aside hundreds of millions of dollars a year for employee retirement benefits that are decades away. This eat-your-spinach dictum from the nonprofit Government Accounting Standards Board requires state governments to acknowledge the long-term costs of health benefits for current workers after they retire, as well as those for today's retirees.

THE CLOSE of a president's term provides an ideal time to review his fiscal legacy and to compare it with his predecessor's. Let's ask which president, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush, left the nation's fiscal house in better order. When President Bush took office, the federal government had just run a budget surplus for 2000 of more than $236 billion. In the eight years of the Clinton administration, the burden of the national debt on the average American family of four had fallen by $9,200, measured in constant 2003 dollars.