Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Maryland is running a $2 billion deficit and filling budget holes with one-time fixes. As the February Pew Center on the States report, "The Trillion Dollar Gap: Underfunded State Retirement Systems and the Roads to Reform," said: "Maryland's management of its long-term pension liability is a cause for serious concern."Click here for the news clip from Fox45 Baltimore.

Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Maryland's pension funding situation is one of the worst in the nation, a panel of financial experts said Tuesday.

Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2010

"The CEO of Hilton reached out to us and said nice things but that it was a business decision." That quote, from a state economic development official in The Washington Post, describes the situation when Maryland lost Hilton Hotels to Virginia last year. But it could just as well describe BP Solar's decision to shutter its Frederick manufacturing plant and move operations abroad.

Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2010

ANNAPOLIS - A local delegate who has earned the nickname "Dr. Doom" within the Republican caucus on Tuesday took part in a four-person panel about the state's pension and health care obligations. In introducing himself, Del. Andrew A. Serafini, R-Washington, used the "Dr. Doom" nickname, which he's earned by sounding the alarm about the issue, he said. Serafini said he sees three major problems with Maryland's current benefits system: poor investment returns, over-promising and under-funding.

Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2010

ANNAPOLIS - The Maryland Senate unanimously passed a measure Tuesday that would eliminate pork barrel legislation from the capital budget for the next two years.

Posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi famously described Goldman Sachs as a "great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money."

Posted on Monday, March 29, 2010

Linda Powell works at the Walmart at Golden Ring Mall and rides the Route 35 bus to work. At 55, Powell says she's got a long way to go before she's eligible for a senior fare. So the prospect of an increase in the Maryland Transit Administration's current $1.60 base fare - a step recently suggested by state legislative analysts - fills her with dread.

Posted on Saturday, March 27, 2010

A town hall forum concerning runaway government funding from taxpayers' pockets for pensions for Baltimore County Council members, the County Executive and others brought about 80 people to the Towson Library meeting room on March 15.

Posted on Friday, March 26, 2010

In opposing a bill to reduce the number of high school dropouts in Maryland, some Republicans in the General Assembly have chosen the wrong issue on which to demonstrate their fiscal principles.

Posted on Thursday, March 25, 2010

ANNAPOLIS - Del. Andrew A. Serafini, who during the current General Assembly session has been sounding the alarm about the state's underfunded and underperforming pension system, next week will be on a panel that discusses the issue.