Maryland Governor and Democratic Governors Association Chair Martin O’Malley released the following statement on President Obama’s speech:
Today President Obama laid out the clear differences between an economic plan that expands jobs and opportunity, and the failed policies which drove our country into debt and recession. The choice is clear — we can create jobs, as our parents and grandparents did, by expanding opportunity; or we can further concentrate wealth in the hands of the few at the expense of the many.
President Obama understands that we must invest in our middle class now in order to create an economy for the future, one that is built to last. He believes in an America where hard work should pay off, responsibility should be rewarded, and everyone deserves a fair shot. Mitt Romney is offering the same failed Bush policies of the past that crashed our economy and lead to a 40% decline in wealth for the average family. The President’s speech in Ohio today was a clear indication of the choice Americans have in this election: We can return to the failed Bush policies that lead us into the largest economic collapse since the Great Depression or we can apply pressure to Congress to pass President Obama’s American Jobs Act so that we can continue to move America forward.
We are all entitled to our own opinions; we are not entitled to our own facts. The Editorial Page of the Wall Street Journal falsely claimed Maryland’s tax policies have driven countless millionaires out of our state. In fact, the number of millionaire households in Maryland has actually increased by 19% since our Administration took office.
In fact, today Maryland has the highest percentage of millionaire households in the United States.
In fact – even after the tax reforms of 2007 (which attacked the $1.7 billion structural deficit our Republican predecessors left our state) – a recent study by the non-partisan Federal Funds Information for States and State Policy Reports, finds that AS A SHARE OF INCOME, Marylanders pay the third lowest state and local taxes. We also pay the 9th lowest sales taxes.
Maryland is one of only eight States earning a AAA bond rating. Unlike the ideological falsehoods spewed by the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, we believe in a balanced approach to public finance of cuts, investment, and – yes – revenue.
After cutting $8 billion in spending (the most in Maryland’s history) and shrinking one of America’s smallest state governments by 5,600 positions, our legislature did, in fact, ask households with taxable incomes of $150,000-$250,000 per year to pay another $250 a year. Households who make more would pay more, but no household would pay more than one quarter of one percent more than they currently pay.
Both nationally, and here in Maryland, we’ve seen the difference between governments that take a balanced approach of cuts, modern investment, and balanced revenues, versus governments that embrace the Bush policies which squandered record surpluses into record deficits and brought America into the greatest economic crisis this side of the Great Depression.
Because we’ve opted in Maryland for a balanced approach, on a percentage basis, we’ve been able to recover nearly twice the jobs lost during the Bush recession as has the country as a whole. This year, Maryland’s businesses achieved their best quarter of new job creation since 1999, creating jobs at three times the rate of their counterparts in Virginia, and more than one and a half times the national rate.
Facts are stubborn but sometimes hopeful things. Last year, under President Obama, America’s businesses created more jobs than they did during the entire presidency of George W. Bush.
While some may pine to take America back to the Bush years, here in Maryland we stand by our President’s vision to move America forward with greater job creation, greater opportunity, and greater fiscal responsibility.
Childhood hunger is an invisible but very real problem in our country. Today, more than 16 million children live under the shadow of hunger.
Under the leadership of Governor O’Malley, Maryland is on track to become the first state in the nation to end childhood hunger within its borders. In partnership with Share Our Strength, the coalition is providing every child in Maryland with the opportunity to reach their full potential at school and at home by providing school breakfast, lunch and year-round summer food services.
The new documentary, “Hunger Hits Home,” takes a first-hand look at the crisis of childhood hunger in America through the eyes of the parents, children, anti-hunger activists, educators and politicians on the frontlines of the battle. The film debuts on April 14 at 8 PM on the Food Network.
Watch the trailer, download the viewer’s guide which goes over some of the issues covered in the documentary, and visit Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Center for Best Practices for ideas and resources to help you end the hunger in your community.
