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.
