Monday, January 20, 2014

Martin O'Malley's final assault on Maryland businesses

Martin
O’Malley’s final assault on Maryland businesses

Maryland’s
Governor O’Malley has proposed to raise the minimum wage from 7.25 to 10.10 an
hour, in three phases, over the next two years. His proposal also consists of
automatic increases to keep pace with inflation. Martin O’Malley’s intention to
extort funds from private businesses is not new. From the day he became the
state’s Chief Executive Officer his desire was clearly to destroy the business
community. Under his tutelage dozens of taxes, fees and outright levies have
increased with the burden ending up on the heads of those who generate the
majority of state funds, our businesses. His latest gambit to increase the
minimum wage is fraught with landmines that he and his minions may not have considered.
As the so-called minimum wage increases matching Medicare and Social Security
taxes increase, as well as unemployment taxes and workers compensation
reimbursements. Worse, O’Malley’s proposal robs more funds from business
budgets by automatically forcing them to raise wages based on the quasi formula
which establishes inflationary trends. The Governor’s irrational train of
thought never takes into account the stresses businesses have to stay afloat.
His excuse that 21 other states have higher minimums is a ruse to create the
illusion the raise is justifiable. Of these 21 most are a few percentage points
elevated over Maryland’s present 7.25 hourly rate. Twenty-nine other states’
rates are at or below Maryland’s. During one of the Governor’s diatribes he
noted the unfairness of the minimum wage structure which impedes a worker from
supporting his/her family. Entry level jobs, paying minimum wage, were never
designed to support a family. Maneuvering state legislatures to manage their
entitlements by drawing funds from the private sector is a ploy by the left to
keep the gravy flowing to their constituents. In a recent gathering of elected
officials concerning the minimum wage Douglas Gansler, Maryland’s retiring
Attorney General, displayed his usual enthusiasm to stick it to the business
community. Unfortunately, the next Governor Anthony Brown is also onboard with
O’Malley’s intended folly. Governor O’Malley’s agenda closely parallels that of
our President, neither one cares about the ramifications their insults bring to
society only the votes they garner in an election. Raising the minimum wage
brings the danger of pushing more businesses to the edge, resulting in less
jobs available to entry level workers. Worse, the change in wage structure will
accelerate the exodus of businesses leaving the state. In the waning days of
Governor O’Malley’s reign he intends to do as much destruction to the Maryland
economy as possible. Perhaps there are a few decent legislators left in
Annapolis who have the sense and sensibility to impede O’Malley’s last
financial fiasco. If not the jobless rate will grow exponentially adding
further burden to an entitlement structure already seeing red.

Mark
Davis, MD author of the book lawyers hate Demons of Democracy and the recently
released book, Obamacare: Dead on Arrival, A Prescription for Disaster.

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