Pagnucco, liberals fail Economics

Adam Pagnucco likes to question my honesty. But how honest is it for Pagnucco to wax poetic about the impending budget shortfall without writing about the impact of O'Malley's tax hikes?

Like most liberal, Pagnucco refuses to acknowledge that the cause of the O'Malley Recession and the cause of the shortfalls in tax revenue are the responsibility of two things; profligate spending by Annapolis Democrats, and Martin O'Malley's irresponsible tax hikes.

Here is the money quote from Pagnucco:

It seems that no matter what the General Assembly does to close the budget gap, the failing economy undoes it. But still the state is required by law to balance its budget. No state legislator I know believes that more tax hikes are an option so that means almost a billion dollars in spending cuts will have to be considered. The Board of Public Works, comprised of Governor Martin O'Malley, Comptroller Peter Franchot and Treasurer Nancy Kopp, may pass some interim cuts but the heavy lifting will have to be done by the legislature. It is a task that nearly all of them dread.

That's because the General Assembly as a whole refuses to act like grown ups and live within their means. Instead of acting responsibly and reducing state spending last year when they had to opportunity, they chose to approval O'Malley's irresponsible tax hikes, and bless his near immoral increase in discretionary state spending. Instead of cutting spending to manageable levels, Democrats railroaded a $2 billion tax increase to cover a $500 million shortfall, and then added $1.5 billion in spending just to break even.

No reasonably intelligent person would think that's a good idea. It's an even worse idea when you considered, as conservatives have noted time and time again, that tax revenues decrease when individuals and businesses change their spending habits or leave the state entirely. But Pagnucco patently refuses to blame Democrats for the shortfalls in revneues that we caused by their irresponsibility and greed.

Pagnucco noes accurately that "Few Maryland politicians truly embrace any spending cuts," and that's what has gotten us in this jam in the first place. Annapolis Democrats are not responsible stewards of the peoples money. And as usual, they will likely shift the burden to taxpayers to pay for their pet projects and to cover the cost of O'Malley's Deficit.

If Pagnucco was being an honest broker, he would note that the decrease in revenues is directly caused by the irresponsible tax hikes enacted by O'Malley and Annapolis Democrats last year, and that the current structural deficit has been caused by irresponsible discretionary spending increases. But, for reasons that shall remain obvious, he refuses to place any blame whatsoever on O'Malley and his band of merry tax hikers.

When will liberals finally take a stand? When will Annapolis Democrats stop making it harder and harder for Maryland's working and middle class families to make it?