Maryland is No. 1 in education spending and centralization — not in results Magazine’s ranking prioritizes inputs rather than outputs By George Liebmann1:36 p.m. EDT, September 24, 2012 Gov. Martin O’Malley has taken on the road to Charlotte, N.C., and to Iowa his claim that Maryland’s schools are “Number […]
Federalism and Obamacare by George Liebmann The Supreme Court decision allowing ‘Obamacare’ to survive should not have come as a surprise to anyone. Save where confiscatory legislation is involved, the Constitution as it has been construed for at least the last 80 years imposes few barriers […]
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 […]
Saturday, 07 July 2012 From Today’s Wall Street Journal Regarding John Yoo’s “Chief Justice Roberts and His Apologists” (op-ed, June 30): Mr. Yoo’s characterization of Chief Justice John Roberts as another Charles Evans Hughes is a compliment. Hughes never sought to bar “expansion of the welfare state.” He designed systems of state insurance and public […]
Progress in Drug Policy A recent Court of Appeals decision threatening to require appointment of counsel at bail hearings before District Court commissioners spurred long-overdue reforms in drug laws. Chapter 352 of the Acts of 2012 allows probation before judgment for a second drug possession offense; a similar proposal by Delegate Curtis Anderson and others […]
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, […]
by George W. Liebmann Our current governor has paid no attention to the severe problem of youth unemployment in Maryland. The national rate of youth unemployment is about twice the general rate of unemployment, and the rate among blacks twice that among the total youth population: 40 percent, resembling London’s […]
___________________________________ by George W. Liebmann To the Bag: David Bernstein’s essay on the Brandeis brief (Autumn 2011) does not describe “winner’s history;” (page 15); Brandeis’ concerns with Supreme Court treatment of constitutional cases involving state governments remain largely unaddressed today. Moreover, it is simply not true that “ […]
Important issues go unaddressed because political donors don’t care about them 0 By George W. Liebmann1:46 p.m. EDT, April 5, 2012 If the Obama administration proceeds to electoral doom, blame rests on its surrender to its financiers and campaign organizers: Wall Street and public employee and construction unions. A Democratic administration […]