Economics

Smart Growth

   Smart Growth, isn't. This is a philosophy or ideal pushed by private corporations to have their own development and prevent the development of their competitors. Private interests have zoning laws rewritten or use existing rules to their own advantage while stomping on their competition and your property rights. No Smart growth has ever improved the quality of life or brought new and better services to a given area. The idea needs to be scrapped but again this is another area where Maryland sticks it nose where it doesn't belong.

   This is like the BGE gas pipeline that was built in my neighborhood. They claimed it was to improve service to their 'customers'. However, the pipeline runs from Mt. Airy to Westminster along Ridge Road (Rt. 27). Anybody ever driven there ? Not a single industrial site requiring a connection to a high pressure natural gas line. The tanks used on homes are much lower in pressure and there is no purpose for a higher pressure pipeline. Ridge Road from Mt. Airy to Westminster is 90% residential and no apartments or condos. Who is using a natural gas pipeline ? There are only two major industries I can think of, either an auto repair shop or a cement plant (yes I mean TBH). But I don't recall ever seeing them lay pipe near TBH just south of Westminster and a single auto repair can't be using that much natural gas. So this means that the whole region from Mt. Airy to Westminster is slated for development, as evidence by yet further housing on farmland along the route (like on the hill at Kate Wagner Road).

Rezoning

   See Smart Growth above. We have a zoning problem that can be best described in one word, Fustercluck. The number of residential zones alone is mind boggling and the differences between them are minor. Most development is by using variances which is permission to say you are building one thing when you are building another. Getting a variance is easy as long as you can kiss ass and get the Zoning board to favor the idea.

   Then some weisenheimer came up with the idea of using overlays, like the Employment Campus. I have no idea where this came from or its relation to Special Tax Districts (sounds like the same to me, but assuming they are different). But this is a zoning version of a variance, where you zone for one use and get permission for another, what is the purpose of zoning if we can just get permission to do whatever the hell we feel like ?

   Now they want to revise the zoning laws; fight over the master plan, again; and redevelop the entire eastern half of the county as Industrial Zoning. Just enough already; fix the zoning, stop giving variances for every building permit and leave poor Sykesville/Freedom alone (whatever did they do to you ?).

Minimum Wages

   Raise them, county-wide, for everyone. Also get rid of the Sheltered Workplace which is a tax dodge to avoid paying a wage at all or as low as possible (literally, you can give someone their two cents worth). Plus require all food service and any similar service to pay at least the minimum without subtracting tips or gratuity from the wage. In fact, tips will now be optional and gratuities for large parties must be specifically charged as a Catering Fee instead of some randomly assigned percentage of the total bill.

   There is this idea that people are not worth a decent wage and that paying people for the work they do is somehow a form of entitlement. Which is a completely perverted definition of what that word means. An Entitlement is something that bestowed on someone for something they have done. That means an entitlement has to be earned, when it is not is when you should be upset. Social Security is money you paid into the system and given back later with no interest, yet it is continually argued over in regard to what it is worth and should you be given it. Welfare and Medicaid is paid by taxes taken from your paycheck; yet as soon as you lose your job, you are supposed to lose the benefits for the jobless ? These fights are worthless and all involve one basic tenet, 'I get mine and you don't get yours'.

   Truth about wages. You are doing the work of a hundred people in equivalent work-hours each week and corporations and the government want you to receive the benefits and wage of zero people. The GDP has sky-rocketed since the inception of a minimum wage because of your hard-work and you get jack for it. If the percentage increase of minimum wage followed the increase of GDP since it's inception, you would be paid a minimum of around 20 dollars an hour. Those of you in industries that require more specialized training would be seeing around 45 dollars minimum wage, just how today we see a 15 dollar (over twice the minimum, $7) wage for people in specialized fields.

   I also want to restore pension plans and not rely on 401k scams and these Wall Street thefts of your future. In fact let's throw out all these programs crap and just grant a Social Wage. Money given each month as a salary to everyone. Switzerland and Finland have already started doing this and several States are discussing it. A social wage replaces all benefit programs like; food stamps, welfare and social security. It pays a minimum wage to all citizens and reduces the overhead of monitoring benefit programs saving any government millions or billions (depending on how many programs are replaced). You no longer have to pay a bunch of pencil pushers to sit around and figure out how to deny someone a benefit they earned.

Update : Due to corona-virus, companies are now offering much higher wages for skilled employees (20-30 $/hr) how ever this is being used more as an incentive to get people back to work for menial jobs and some employers still fight higher wages. Actually having corporations pay employees their worth is still not happening.

Gillis Falls

   I am not going to say anything specific to Gillis Falls. This was a commercial site being discussed the last election cycle (2014). My opinion on any commercial site, no matter where it is located, is do we really need it ? Do we really need yet another empty building with a For Lease sign out front by the highway ?

   Just take a look down Rt.140 or nearby on Rt.27 and Rt.97, look at all the commercial and industrial sites. How many businesses are actually in them ?, How many people do they employ ?, How many employees are local ?, What service or product do they provide ? Are you going to give them your custom ?

   The problem is that there is no major benefit to the county or the populace, served by these corporate interests. No increase in employment as existing employees must get first rights and most of these corporations use temp agencies or placement firms (both of which are not found in Carroll County). Then these corporations require we spend millions on infrastructure and road improvements or they won't consider a facility here. Just look at Amazon's hunt for a city for their second HQ (is it really an HQ if there are two ?) and how Hogan wanted to give them 5 years tax free if they pick a city in Maryland. This is where Economic Development falls flat on its face. How do you afford services and programs if there are no taxes collected from the largest source of income. This is like trimming the fat off the steak and throwing away the steak.

Rain Tax

   Maryland is the source of some the worst tax structures in history. This is the dumbest idea they have come up with; other than Frazier's stupid grey water crap.

   The sole notion that stormwater from Carroll and other jurisdictions are polluting the bay as they run off and into the groundwater is incredibly preposterous. First most storm runoff is absorb by Carroll's aquifer and any excess runoff then flows into our streams and cricks. These waterways flow many miles before they join any other system like the Potomac and are absorbed into the aquifer by river and stream beds along the way. Did Maryland senators and delegates forget their 7th grade Earth Science classes ?

   The biggest impact on our watershed, which Maryland thinks extends all the way into Central PA and lower New York, is the fracking and pollution from major cities like Pittsburgh and Philly. Can you see Maryland trying to tax our neighboring states ? Maybe I shouldn't say that too loud, they just might try.

   Then Maryland gets into a righteous knipfit because Carroll County already fully funds stormwater management and didn't create a tax to pay for such things. That wasn't good enough for the State, no we Have to create a tax and collect money from private citizens. Remember, there is a little red tag on all money collected in taxes and if it doesn't say "Pulled from private citizen's ass" then the State assumes the tax wasn't paid. So Carroll said they would create a tax of zero dollars, we were supposed to be able to create our own rates but Maryland once again said no and wouldn't go away until we gave them money.

   Remember this is Maryland SOP for any tax structure, pay us or we won't go away; extortion.

Impact Fees

   I apologize I have forgotten why this was brought up in 2014 cycle.

Agency Fees

   Unions are trying for a major money grab from all employees of a given industry, like teachers. What is happening is a mis-belief that anyone within an industry benefits from a union being present and therefore everyone needs to pay into the kitty. How it works is like this, a union represents a group of teachers and negotiates a contract, this contract is then applied to all teachers who receive the benefits listed within the contract. For this representation, unions want to collect money from all teachers.

   But that is not how it really works. The union does not create the representation of the workers but rather the workers created the union to represent them. Created by the workers they represent, those are the only workers responsible for the costs of the union's operation. After a union is created, other workers can decide to join the union through the membership process and pay fees for their membership. A union is an entity created by and joined by the workers and not a third-party entity hired for representation. Other workers within the same industry are not members of the entity and have no financial obligations to the union.

   Benefits of the union apply to all employees of the business due to fairness and law. At one time it was illegal to allow non-union employees to operate union equipment. Non-union employees were also not allowed to use union break rooms or take union designated breaks. Many of the benefits you receive (vacation, sick days, bereavement) were at one time only permitted to unionized employees. In fact many of those benefits are still not required by law and some States have eroded these rights, despite there being a union or not.

   Requiring employees to pay a union they are not a part of for benefits they are losing is like being forced to pay the Red Cross donations for blood that sickened you. I am not saying bad about the Red Cross, just making an analogy. Or how about forced to pay the Sierra Club a donation for your polluted water and ground. We all benefit from charities and non-profits that fight to improve our lives, should we be forced to pay them donations (even as those benefits are lost) ? I even asked the president of the teacher's union this last time around, should people be forced to pay my radio club for emergency communication ? We are a non-profit that mans the radio station at the EOC during emergencies, maybe we should jump on the 'you owe us money for services rendered' bandwagon. He stated it wasn't the same thing, apparently the teacher's union is not the same as the Red Cross or other groups. (Note: we can't even if we wanted too, FCC rules prevent payment for Amateur Radio operations. Maybe unions should have the same requirement.)

Telemarketing and Cold Sales Calls

    We are being bombarding constantly and being badgered by marketing firms and salesmen to the point that no other communication is possible. In fact almost all the calls to my home are either messages about credit card rates or solicitations for non-profits that don't operate in our area, neither can identify themselves correctly. They falsify CallerID information and masquerade as local citizens.

   I used to report these calls to the "Do Not Call" website but clearly it does no good. I am still told that my Windows PC could be hacked (I only use Linux) or that I qualify for a lower credit card rate (my credit union rate is pretty good) or the real joke is that I can save money on my house or car mortgage when both are already paid off. Then Trump's autodialers keep calling me to vote for him after he won the election and half of phone calls are machines that disconnect if you don't answer after the first ring.

   This has because abuse of our phone system which is a criminal violation. Verizon and the FCC know who these people are. Your data is recorded by Verizon and shared with the government. they know who you call, where, when, what was said, and can do the same for calls to you. Any fraud that occurs when you or your family gets ripped off by these shysters cannot be denied by the authorities or phone company. They know and they just don't give a damn.

Fraud as a Business Model

   It is now standard operating procedure for you to be ripped off by a retail business, service shop or other enterprise. Companies no longer build a revenue stream based on offering a product or service. Instead they force you to give up personal information to sell, lock you into subscription models, or withold quality in products and service unless you pay.

   Business models should not be based on what can be stolen from their customers, the question isn't how much can we charge but rather what is our product worth. Licensed businesses should be screened to make sure they adhere to the Articles of Incorporation and invoke the so-called "Corporate Death Penalty" on businesses that continue to defraud consumers.