Google-perplexing

It its clearly obvious that the people in Martin O'Malley's office do not know how to use Google.

Martin O'Malley, in his continuing effort to try to cover up the fact that he has destroyed more Maryland jobs than any other Governor in the nation, launched a new O'Malleynomic initiative today:

At remarks made this morning at a conference in Rockville, Gov. Martin O'Malley was expected to announce an administrative and legislative initiative to spur venture capital investment in Maryland's technology sector.

The program is called "InvestMaryland" and it will be run by the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.

The governor called it "a public-private partnership to fuel venture capital investment in our innovation economy, such as bioscience companies," according to prepared remarks given to The Baltimore Sun.

So what in O'Malley's mind how will this program work? The Sun comes through with his explanation:

Insurance companies will be eligible for state issued tax credits and in turn they would invest dollars today in Maryland’s venture infrastructure. These credits will be deferred until 2015. A minimum of half these investments will flow into the Maryland Venture Fund. The balance will flow into Maryland based venture capital firms for the purposes of getting critical capital to Maryland businesses so they can create jobs and advance innovation in fields like the biosciences.

So what does it actually mean in the real world? Red Maryland has you covered with exclusive coverage of Martin O'Malley's internal monologue:

We will convince insurance companies to invest money in the state of Maryland and hope that they notice that the Governor has no pants and the effect of this program won't take effect until any potential O'Malley second term is over, when they realize that Martin O'Malley has no idea what he is doing when it comes to economic growth and development; in reality, venture capital will flow to Virginia where local and state political leaders actual welcome companies with policies that encourage job creation and economic development. But it's OK......because chicks dig me because I'm in a band.

Right....

Anyhoo, the name of this program is very curious because the name "Invest Maryland" has a history in this state when it comes to investing in our state. And it's not a good one:

Invest Maryland sued by state Suit alleges company misled investors refunds are sought September 19, 1995|By Kim Clark | Kim Clark,SUN STAFF The state's top securities regulator yesterday sued Invest Maryland Corp., charging that the Annapolis-based company misled investors who put up seed money to start a combined life insurer, stock brokerage and buffalo burger fast-food chain. In a 29-page civil complaint, Securities Commissioner Robert N. McDonald asked the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court to appoint a receiver to manage the company and to order Invest Maryland to offer refunds to investors. In a separate action, the commissioner yesterday also gave Invest Maryland Chairman Dennis K. McLaughlin 15 days to show cause why he shouldn't be barred from engaging in securities or investment activities in Maryland. Mr. McDonald said in the administrative order that he took the actions because he had "determined that [Mr. McLaughlin] engaged in dishonest or unethical practices in the securities business by offering and selling securities in violation" of the state securities law. Attorneys for Invest Maryland executives didn't return messages asking for comment last night.

Now you would think that the O'Malley team, in their infinite wisdom, would not name some pie in the sky venture capital scheme after a failed pie in the sky venture capital scheme from fifteen years ago. I mean, it takes two minutes to find this stuff on Google. But then again.....nobodoy, least of all people like us, have considered that Team O'Malley knows the slightest thing about job creation and putting people back to work. O'Malley and company has done a fantastic job putting people out of work and creating a less favorable economic climate for Maryland's middle and working class families. But actually bringing jobs to Maryland? No.

To put it simply; if Martin O'Malley's economic team can't figure out Google, how can they figure out the economy?

Meanwhile....

More bad news in Washington, as Congressional Democrats are about to require national service from our children and, potentially, redefine how non-profit corporations are operated in America. As a small government conservative and a non-profit Board Chairman, color me less than enthusiastic about Washington determining how non-profit activities are going to be operated.

Lots more over at RedState on this issue, and check out Sen. Jim DeMint trying to bring some common sense to the issue:

The Next Bailouts

So it has finally come to this. Newspapers are hemorrhaging readership due to shoddy performance and political bias. And now, it looks like Maryland's own Ben Cardin wants to throw them a lifeboat:

Struggling newspapers should be allowed to operate as nonprofits similar to public broadcasting stations, Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., proposed Tuesday.

Cardin introduced a bill that would allow newspapers to choose tax-exempt status. They would no longer be able to make political endorsements, but could report on all issues, including political campaigns.

Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax-exempt, and contributions to support coverage could be tax deductible.

Now, there are a couple of interesting caveats to this, of course. Not the least of which is the fact that, theoretically, newspaper companies could already operate in a non-profit status. There are a number of non-profit organizations that produce publications and periodicals; why do we need a federal law to create a new classification of newspaper. Maybe a lawyer could fill me in more on this matter.

Secondarily, a little more disturbing to me, is the idea that we would have any federal legislation addressing the corporate status of newspapers. Right now, newspapers and newspaper ownership is not covered by any facet of federal law. I have a bad feeling that Cardin's legislation is the foot towards the regulation and the overregulation of newspaper ownership. We have already seen what happens when government proposes the regulation of television and radio station ownership; it was government policies of both Democratic and Republican administrations that led to the consolidation of radio station ownership, the demise of locally owned and operated radio stations, and the elimination of good locally based radio content. Cardin's bill starts us down a dangerous and slippery slope, a slope all the more dangerous when you consider the Democrats seemingly fervent opposition to the First Amendment.

If Ben Cardin wants to help local newspapers stay afloat, maybe he should invest his personal funds into one. Failing that, Cardin needs to allow the market to take its course and let these papers fail. If local papers go under or aren't doing their jobs, the market will either see a new paper or the blogs fill the slack (much as they have to the dismay of some in the most heavily scrutinized city government in the world). But Congress needs to be spending its time cutting spending and reducing taxes, not creating a new status of newspaper ownership.

Foxes, Henhouses, and Boondoggles

The same crew of Democrats who forced a half-assed electric deregulation policy down Maryland's throat now want to....force a half-assed re-regulation policy down Maryland's throat:

The soaring costs of electricity will not decrease soon unless the government takes action, according to the state's power regulators.

That is because deregulation - a process that allowed power plants to sell electricity according to market rates in order to lower costs - has failed Maryland, according to a report from the Public Service Commission.

Now, it is up to Gov. Martin O'Malley, the General Assembly, the Maryland Energy Administration, the PSC, and Maryland's power regulators to craft a workable power future without creating another disaster for consumers.

"After almost seven full years, Maryland ratepayers face among the highest capacity and locational marginal prices in all of (the region), and the prospect of draconian brown-outs in the next five years," said the recently released report, which maps out future courses of action. "By these measures, Maryland is not better off than it was before deregulation."

Mr. O'Malley and the energy administration will prepare a plan in time for the legislative session that begins in January and include "some similarities" to the PSC recommendations, said Rick Abbruzzese, the governor's press secretary.

Now as somebody who believes in the free markets, the problem with the concept that Maryland's markets were ever deregulated in the first place is a fallacy. The General Assembly kept caps in place on prices and never allowed the market to be fully regulated.

The problem is that through re-regulation, the O'Malley crowd may in fact be creating the type of end of the world disaster that they allegedly are trying to avoid. Let's face it, the kind of reregulation that the Democrats would wish to force through the General Assembly would probably severely inhibit the ability of power generating companies to cover their cost of doing business in Maryland. That would leave Maryland electric customers with fewer choices and in all likelihood electric rates that go beyond even the current cost of electricity in the rate of the 72% rate hikes.

Except one of the proposed regulations tries to go where California went:

Rather, the PSC proposed flexing its long-dormant muscles by forcing utilities such as BGE to sign long-term power purchase contracts from newly constructed power plants, locking in prices for customers for several years.

Which sounds very neat and panglossian, except that while the power price for customers may be locked in, the price for power on the wholesale electric market may not be. Which means that when BGE's power consumption exceeds their generating capacity, they will be potentially forced to buy power at ridiculously high rates without the capability of recouping their costs. The puts us on a path to a California style energy crisis, energy shortages, and rolling blackouts.

There is no easy solution to this, as the General Assembly really botched things up in the first place when they "deregulated" electricity in 1999. But the O'Malley/PSC plan that is currently in the works seems to be designed to put Marylanders in the same place California electric customers were in 2000 and 2001. As usual, O'Malley and company are backing plans that put the consumer and the working classes at the highest risk of absorbing higher costs and in this case, a potentially third-world situation as it relates to the availability of electric power.