Well, well, well. Today is Friday, April 8th, and the 90 days of hell also known as the Maryland legislative session are almost done. I really need to get a copy of the Maryland Constitution and see if there's anything we can do about this mess.
In one legislative session they've tried to eliminate thousands of jobs. I see that the minimum wage increase did pass our Senate 30-16, so even if Ehrlich vetoes it (as he should) it would become law...although we do hold out hope that someone in the majority gets cold feet or a lot of nasty e-mail from constituents.
And then we have the famous "Wal-Mart" bill. Rush alluded to this on his show yesterday, another proud moment for the so-called "Free State". I did submit something to the Federalist on this, they didn't use it today though. One thing I didn't know is that Giant Foods was also pushing for this, probably because Wal-Mart kicks their ass when it comes to grocery prices. So any company of over 10,000 employees not spending 8% on payroll for health benefits will have to kick over the difference to the government. That means Wal-Mart, since Giant claims that they do. I would laugh if Wal-Mart closed its store in north Salisbury and moved up the road 2 miles into Delaware. Can't do as much about Fruitland, but they could do the same in Pocomoke too, it's only 4 miles from Virginia.
So let me get this straight. We take what is the largest amount of expense for any small business (payroll) and increase it by government fiat, and expect them to happily shoulder the burden. Somehow I think that the prices and such will now go up, then they'll have to do this all over again in 4 or 5 years. Then we tell one of the state's largest employers that they don't spend enough money on health insurance. Now I do not recall anyone having a gun put to their head and being told they must work at Wal-Mart. People know going in that they will have to contribute to the cost of their health insurance. I know I do!
Then they also decided to put an "extra" $400 million in the budget rather than cut property taxes, so that there will be no funding controversy in 2006. We can't have that in an election year, uh-uh. I hate to see what my Maryland taxes will be, I get the really bad feeling that a lot of the federal refund I'll get (and have to share with a certain ex-spouse of mine) is going to fatten the coffers of Maryland and Ohio (another state that loves to tax me). Oh well, at least it won't be income when I do 2005 taxes next year.
I guess that the founders were right when they noted that democracy works well up to the point where the elected class finds that they can enrich their pockets at the public till and buy their votes. Just try and make any cut in government spending and watch them squeal. Even when somebody attempts to sell state land to a developer there's a stink raised.
Found it interesting that the voters of Salisbury decided that two new councilpeople were in order, both incumbents on the ballot were kicked out in close elections. It seems that we live in a nice city (crazy people on two-state shooting sprees the exception rather than the rule) but I'm glad that sometimes they see change can be made to improve when they see it fit. Hopefully it will carry over to 2006 statewide. We need to get these big-government, squarely in the union's pocket Democrats out and make this state more friendly to people rather than special interests. Get their hands out of my back pocket.
And this doesn't exempt Governor Ehrlich. He needs to grow a pair; of course, if he's re-elected and term-limited maybe he'll do that. But this state is rapidly becoming a mess and it's going to be like Ohio pretty soon if things continue on their path.
As a country, we need to scream, "Enough!" Let's find a way to have government do only what it needs to do, do that well, and let people do things they want to do (within the boundaries established by a moral, civilized society) unemcumbered by regulation, fiat, or taxation.
Late edit: According to the Baltimore Sun, two other entities qualify over the 10,000 employee threshold. They are Johns Hopkins University (who as a non-profit only has a 6% threshold) and defense contractor Northrop Grumman. Both would be exempt under the new law.
