July 1, 2015

Martin O'Malley and the Poetry of Greater Purpose

http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/17536348-95/my-turn-omalley-and-the-poetry-of-greater-purpose

Thanks to bigtree:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251419125

June 27, 2015

Martin O'Malley's Truman Project Foreign Policy Speech (C-Span Video)

Here is the c-span video of O'Malley's foreign policy speech at the Truman Project:

http://www.c-span.org/video/?326811-1/former-governor-martin-omalley-us-national-security

x-post from The O'Malley Group:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12811151

June 27, 2015

Martin O'Malley's Truman Project Foreign Policy Speech (C-Span Video)

Here is the c-span video of O'Malley's foreign policy speech at the Truman Project:

http://www.c-span.org/video/?326811-1/former-governor-martin-omalley-us-national-security

June 27, 2015

Martin O'Malley's Truman Project Foreign Policy Speech (C-Span Video)

Here is the c-span video of O'Malley's foreign policy speech at the Truman Project:

http://www.c-span.org/video/?326811-1/former-governor-martin-omalley-us-national-security

June 16, 2015

Hillary Clinton, the TPP, and Protecting Our Food

One of the downsides of the TPP will be its affect on food labeling and food inspection. What concerns me is that, without country of origin labeling or proper food inspection, consumers in the US will not have the information they need to make choices about food they buy. An example from the past and present that comes to mind is the US government's downplaying of the ongoing effects of the Fukushima disaster, the lack of inspection of or restrictions on imports from Japan, and the cessation of EPA testing for the presence of Radioactive particles in the air, water, and soil.

What is especially disturbing for me is Hillary Clinton's alleged role, as secretary of state, in allowing import of food products from Japan without restriction. Other nations have inspected and rejected imported goods from Japan -- including food, autos, and other products. We have yet to hear from Secretary Clinton about these issues, and I would like her to verify whether the following statement is true:

According to Arnie Gundersen, an energy advisor with 39 years of nuclear power engineering experience, as reported in The Canadian on August 15, 2011: “The US government has come up with a decision at the highest levels of the State Department, as well as other departments who made a decision to downplay Fukushima. In April, the month after the powerful tsunami and earthquake crippled Japan including its nuclear power plant, Hillary Clinton signed a pact with Japan that she agreed there is no problem with Japanese food supply and we will continue to buy them. So, we are not sampling food coming in from Japan.”

From: http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/06/15/whats-really-going-on-at-fukushima/

This is important for me. If Clinton did agree not to test food from Japan and this was done in the interest of not offending our trading partner Japan, then I would question whether the FDA under Clinton -- and even more so with tribunals compelling us to accept Japanese products (even if contaminated) -- would vigorously defend the health and well-being of American consumers.

I would like her to weigh in on this and to give an account of why other countries are screening food from Japan, but the United States is apparently not.

Edited to correct: The US has resumed testing of food from Japan, but "safe level" standards have changed, and not all types of contamination are tested.

June 11, 2015

O'Malley Improved Maryland's Tax System

O'Malley didn't just talk about about raising taxes on the rich; he did it:

At a time when many governors stubbornly rejected new revenues despite their states’ weak fiscal positions, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s was one of only a few governors who championed tax increases to preserve his state’s public investments even during the Great Recession.

Early in his term, O’Malley made a substantial revenue increase the centerpiece of his economic agenda.

The most notable piece of this package was a progressive measure, the “millionaires tax,” which temporarily created a slightly higher new tax bracket applicable solely to taxpayers with taxable income in excess of $1 million. This change raised millions in much-needed revenue from the very wealthiest Marylanders—a group that could clearly afford to pay more since, at that time (PDF), the top 1 percent of taxpayers in Maryland paid just 6.2 percent of their income in state and local taxes compared to an effective tax rate of almost 10 percent for the bottom 20 percent of earners.

These taxes were progressive and unpopular among the wealthy. As were these:

Five years later, O’Malley moved to increase the sustainability and progressivity of the tax code by raising income tax rates and limiting tax exemptions for Marylanders earning more than $100,000. According to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), these changes only affected 11 percent of Maryland taxpayers and a majority of it was borne by the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers in the state.

Some tax increases were regressive and unpopular, such as tax increases on gasoline, cigarettes, and sales. Yet even these helped to maintain services throughout the state:

Each of these tax increases disproportionately affected low- and middle-income taxpayers. However, these increases were part of a broadly progressive package and were critical in maintaining public services that benefit all families in the state.

O'Malley has also called for an increase in capital gains taxes:

In addition, he has recently argued in favor of raising the capital gains tax rate, which would make the tax system significantly more fair considering that capital gains receive a preferential rate compared to wages and primarily are received by wealthier Americans. This move could potentially position him to the left of Hillary Clinton, who has been mum on raising the capital gains tax rate so far this election and has expressed skepticism of increasing the rate in the past.

http://njtoday.net/2015/06/11/progressive-grous-says-omalley-improved-marylands-tax-system/