Wealth

It burns me to no end when I hear conservative Republican types complain that this current government is re distributing wealth and how it is not and "American ideology" ("Angry Americans want responsible government," Readers respond, Oct. 7). I have news for him and all the other head-in-the-sand conservatives out there. Since 1980, conservatives and Republicans have done nothing but redistribute wealth in this country! They have raided, robbed, ransacked and ruined the middle class, stolen its wealth as well as wealth from the working class and given it to the richest Americans under the ridiculous ruse called "Trickle Down Economics.

UMBC (3-4) snapped a two-game losing skid with a 16-12 victory over America East rival Hartford Saturday and is 1-1 on the road this season. Towson (6-3) has strung together four consecutive wins and is 3-1 at home. The host Tigers own a 27-15 advantage in the all-time series, but the Retrievers have claimed four of the last five meetings. Here are a few factors that could influence the outcome at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson on Wednesday night. 1) Towson's shot selection.

I enjoyed Yagenah Jane Torbati's article "Maryland is wealthiest state, Census data show" (Dec. 14), but I wish to take issue with the choice of the word "wealthiest" in the headline and the article. "Wealth" is defined as "a great quantity or store of money, valuable possessions, property, or other riches," which is quite distinct from household income, which is what the Census Bureau measured. Thus it is possible for Maryland to have the highest median household income without having the highest median level of household wealth.

The other day I cooed here in Wordville over the publication of the final volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English , and yesterday Mary Beth Marklein quoted those sentiments in an article published in USA Today . I stand by those statements. DARE is a project underwritten by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the oldest project of the endowment, representing half a century of work. The next time you hear someone railing against government expenditure, keep in mind that your tax dollars could, and do, go for worse things than preserving the marks of our distinctive national voice.

"Shattuck sees 44 percent increase in package. " This was the headline in The Sun on Saturday, April 16. The accompanying article pointed out that Constellation Energy Group CEO Mayo A. Shattuck received $15.7 million in compensation for 2010, even as his company lost $1 billion. Something seems amiss here. Every year Mr. Shattuck gets a generous raise whether he does good or bad in his job. In February, 1994, Constellation/Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., retired about 800-plus employees.

Thanks for the fascinating article about the Bradley Foundations financed by donations originating from the Koch and Scaife billions ("The right's $350 million idea train," Dec. 18). Too bad this wealth cannot be devoted to good works like alleviating poverty, ignorance and disease, as the Rockefeller and Carnegie fortunes did in the past and Gates, Buffet and Soros families are doing at present. Instead, the Bradley Foundation is acting as a "malefactor of great wealth," as Teddy Roosevelt famously put it, to peddle its extreme right-wing ideology.

WASHINGTON - Americans are recovering their shrunken wealth - gradually. Household net worth rose last quarter, mainly because the healing economy boosted stock portfolios. But the gain was slight and was less than in the previous two quarters. The Federal Reserve said Thursday that net worth rose 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter to $54.2 trillion. It marked the third straight quarter of gains. Even with that increase, Americans' net worth would have to rise an additional 21 percent to get back to its pre-recession peak of $65.9 trillion.

MayorStephanie Rawlings-Blaketold Baltimore lawmakers Friday morning that any shift of the state's teacher pension costs to local governments must take into account the relative wealth of the jurisdiction -- saying the failure to do so is her "biggest disappointment" with Gov.Martin O'Malley's plan for a 50-50 split. The mayor said she would prefer not to see any shift of pension costs from the state, which now pays 100 percent of the tab, to the 23 counties and Baltimore. However, she said she understood that the state faces its own budget challenges and that the change has been coming a long time.

In her recent op-ed piece on climate change ("Cool solution for a warming planet," Aug. 9), writer Dana Knighten exposes herself as a liberal or "progressive," by first parsing the language of revenue. She proposes putting a price or fee on carbon, but never uses the word tax. But by using the government as the collector and distributor of these proposed fees, this amounts to nothing more than a tax meant to redistribute wealth. Socialist indeed.   Secondly, and perhaps most important, is her utter lack of knowledge as to how a (reasonably)

Did you know that the rich have more money because the rich have more money? It's a fact of life. It's how the world works. I have been so enlightened by the vice president of a project management company with a global profile, a headquarters in Virginia, an office in Maryland, lots of government contracts and a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The signature on his e-mail indicated a PhD, too, so he must know what he's talking about. I'll call him Doc for the purpose of this column.

Returning from a two-week speaking tour to Finland, Norway and Sweden, I kept thinking about that scene early in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning film "The Departed" where Leonardo DiCaprio's character is grilled about his personal background by Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg, who want him to become an undercover agent for the Boston Police Department. "Families are always rising and falling in America," says Mr. DiCaprio's character, quoting 18th century writer Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Would someone please tell Gov.Martin O'Malleythat I'm already sharing the wealth - with the federal government. Leonard Magsamen, Nottingham

MayorStephanie Rawlings-Blaketold Baltimore lawmakers Friday morning that any shift of the state's teacher pension costs to local governments must take into account the relative wealth of the jurisdiction -- saying the failure to do so is her "biggest disappointment" with Gov.Martin O'Malley's plan for a 50-50 split. The mayor said she would prefer not to see any shift of pension costs from the state, which now pays 100 percent of the tab, to the 23 counties and Baltimore. However, she said she understood that the state faces its own budget challenges and that the change has been coming a long time.

I usually read Dan Rodricks ' commentaries to get his left of center take on local and national issues because he supports his points. However, in his latest piece about Mitt Romney he demonstrates the same class warfare that the current administration uses to castigate those who have followed the rules, taken risks and profited from their investments ("A man out of tune with the times," Jan. 22). Mr. Rodricks shows he has drunk the Democratic Kool-Aid by implying that Mr. Romney is part of a movement by the rich to regain the presidency.

Thanks for the fascinating article about the Bradley Foundations financed by donations originating from the Koch and Scaife billions ("The right's $350 million idea train," Dec. 18). Too bad this wealth cannot be devoted to good works like alleviating poverty, ignorance and disease, as the Rockefeller and Carnegie fortunes did in the past and Gates, Buffet and Soros families are doing at present. Instead, the Bradley Foundation is acting as a "malefactor of great wealth," as Teddy Roosevelt famously put it, to peddle its extreme right-wing ideology.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County announced the organization has received a $7,500 grant from RBC Foundation - USA to pay for the organization's youth development programs. Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County focuses on inspiring and enabling young people, especially those most in need, to reach their full potential as productive, caring and responsible citizens. "We're thrilled to receive this funding in order to help us accomplish our mission of offering hope and opportunity to all young people," said Randy Acosta, executive director of Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County.

Stanford, Calif. -- TEN YEARS AGO, a skeptic could still question whether America was becoming a radically less equal society.But since then, the doubts of cautious economists have been swept away by an ever-growing torrent of evidence: census data, household studies, labor-market surveys and, of course, the startling contrasts of wealth and poverty obvious to anyone with open eyes.The reality of widening disparities is no longer a hypothesis. It is simply a fact.What, if anything, should we do about this surge in inequality?

A fundamental war has been waged in this nation since its founding, between progressive forces pushing us forward and regressive forces pulling us backward. We are going to battle once again. Progressives believe in openness, equal opportunity and tolerance. Progressives assume we're all in it together: We all benefit from public investments in schools and health care and infrastructure. And we all do better with strong safety nets, reasonable constraints on Wall Street and big business, and a truly progressive tax system.

The first interviewee for the Orioles' top executive job is the type of candidate who can fit into all kinds of baseball circles. Jerry Dipoto, the Arizona Diamondbacks' senior vice president of scouting and player development, met Tuesday with the Orioles' interviewing committee, the first of several candidates for the spot recently vacated by president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail. Dipoto, 43, has done a little bit of everything in his career. He was a third-round draft pick by the Cleveland Indians out of Virginia Commonwealth University in 1989.