www.baltimoresun.com/ Maryland’s pension system has performed poorly for decades under two separate treasurers By George W. Liebmann 2:09 PM EST, February 19, 2014 Advertisement The state pension system is Maryland’s financial Achilles heel and has been for decades. All bond rating services have noted that rising pension debt endangers the state’s AAA bond […]
Maryland has, just, preserved its AAA bond rating, though with a negative outlook from Moody’s. Moody’s has issued a publication reporting that Maryland is one of the ten worst states in terms of the burden of pension debt, Maryland’s pension obligations being almost exactly equal to one year’s gross revenues, 99.5% of […]
Mismanaged Maryland Despite talk of reforms and budget cuts, Annapolis dabbles in excessive borrowing, noncompetitive projects and risky investments By George Liebmann6:00 a.m. EDT, March 11, 2013 There is a sharp disconnect between the image and reality of the O’Malley administration’s fiscal policies. The image features pension reforms, reduced structural deficits, […]
Questionable investment strategies could put state’s bond rating at risk Comments 2 Share0 By George Liebmann12:34 p.m. EDT, July 9, 2012 There are serious clouds over the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System and the way the O’Malley administration has managed it. Consider the following: 1. The rate of […]
The O’Malley Fiscal Record After five years, it is time to take stock of Governor O’Malley’s fiscal record. This may be done under several headings: 1. New Spending Initiatives A. Employment Tax Credit This $20 million “Job Creation and Recovery Act” credit was initially claimed with respect to only 1000 jobs, […]
www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-school-construction-20120301,0,1047591.story State should not agree to commit vast sums over decades to a questionable building plan By George W. Liebmann 4:18 PM EST, March 1, 2012 Advertisement On the important issue of school construction, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has displayed refreshing common sense by demonstrating skepticism about a vastly inflated — indeed […]
Confronting Party Myths by George W. Liebmann Some cheer can be obtained from recent fiscal events. The Reagan-Bush tax cuts ended the Democratic era of tax and spend. The debt limit crisis ended the Republican era of borrow and spend. Perhaps the hour of the late Adlai Stevenson, who told us “there are no gains […]
The recent report of the Greater Baltimore Committee’s Task Force on Fire and Police Pensions under the Chairmanship of Donald Fry is a worthy effort, and repeats many of the observations in Calvert’s The Baltimore City Retirement Systems: Heading for Trouble report in 2006. Task Force recommendations fall into three broad categories- PLAN MANAGEMENT, FUTURE […]
A year into the new administration, and a few months or weeks before the next legislative session, special or general, there is no sign that any study inspiring public confidence has been undertaken of the state’s revenue and tax structure. Instead there is vague talk of conversations between the Governor and Senate President Miller, inspiring […]
The National Taxpayers Union, a watchdog group in Washington, D.C., has just released its annual rating of the “taxpayer friendliness” of all members of Congress. Maryland’s U.S. Senators, Democrats Paul Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski, ranked absolute bottom on the NTU scale. Between them, Sarbanes and Mikulski scored a combined average of 8 percent, out of […]