Economy
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Who Got the Money?
Read more: Who Got the Money?In an effort to have budget and spending transparency, the County publishes the spendingMontgomery data dashboard that compiles revenue and spending information. You can dive into the data, and even download the data for your own analysis. We jumped into the 2023 Expenditure Ledger and downloaded the data so we could run a more comprehensive…
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After years of same party rule, income inequality hasn’t improved
Read more: After years of same party rule, income inequality hasn’t improvedIn 2017, Adam Pagnucco published an article entitled, MoCo’s Mighty Seven Zip Codes. The article examined the income disparities across a county that, while having a reputation for being wealthy, is actually a county with just very concentrated wealth. The article concluded, after utilizing data from 2011-2015, that: “with the exception of its wealthiest zip…
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Montgomery County Spent Millions of “American Rescue Plan Act” Funds on Things That Had Nothing to Do with Covid Mitigation or “Resilience”
Read more: Montgomery County Spent Millions of “American Rescue Plan Act” Funds on Things That Had Nothing to Do with Covid Mitigation or “Resilience”A review of information at both Treasury.gov and MarylandTaxes.gov reveals that Montgomery County politicians spent millions of future taxpayer dollars allocated to it via the so-called ‘American Rescue Plan Act’ (ARPA) on things that had nothing to do with Covid-19 disease mitigation or ‘resilience’. The final portion of this funding (via the Federal Government’s largesse…
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Equity Emphasis Areas Are Still Technocratic Top-Down Central Planning — And It Doesn’t Work for MoCo
Read more: Equity Emphasis Areas Are Still Technocratic Top-Down Central Planning — And It Doesn’t Work for MoCoThe Metro Washington Area’s “Council of Governments” (MWCOG or just COG) is a regional body that says on its “About Us” page / shadow box that it is: the one place in metropolitan Washington that regularly brings leaders together to develop solutions to the region’s major challenges. But has it developed solutions to the region’s major…
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Renters Should Pay More (Immediately) in Taxes Each Fiscal Year to Contribute to MoCo’s Budget and Spending
Read more: Renters Should Pay More (Immediately) in Taxes Each Fiscal Year to Contribute to MoCo’s Budget and SpendingSeveral years ago, even prior to being a homeowner in Montgomery County, Maryland, I came across this article by the fantastic personal finance blogger ‘Financial Samurai’. I majored in economics from the University of Maryland, so I always had an interest in this kind of thing. But even more so then basic economics, personal finance,…
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Rent Control: Prejudice in the Form of Legislation
Read more: Rent Control: Prejudice in the Form of LegislationDuring the Obama and Trump administrations, the federal government inflated the currency, but you blame the landlords for rent increases. Prices of food are going up, but you put price controls only on the landlords. Prices of insurance are going up, but you put price controls only on the landlords. Prices of fuel are going…
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As Montgomery County Faces Recession Pressures and Uncertainty, Marc Elrich Departs for Taiwan with Member of County Council
Read more: As Montgomery County Faces Recession Pressures and Uncertainty, Marc Elrich Departs for Taiwan with Member of County CouncilTen days after revealing his “recommended” fiscal year 2024 budget for Montgomery County, Maryland, that includes big tax hikes via property tax rates, County Executive Marc Elrich is departing for business and “international smart city” representation in Taiwan. Does it reflect someone concerned about County finances? On March 15, 2023, CE Marc Elrich put out a…
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Who is Pillaging the Taxpayers Faster: MoCo vs Fairfax Edition
Read more: Who is Pillaging the Taxpayers Faster: MoCo vs Fairfax EditionLocal ABC7 News Affiliate WJLA reporter Nick Minock did some actual investigative journalism yesterday and revealed some pretty stunning facts about the state of our neighbor to the south, Fairfax County, Virginia, and their own local politician’s perks and taxpayer pillaging. Let’s see how Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors stack up to Montgomery County’s Councilmembers…
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Underlying Fundamentals Have Changed. We Must Adjust Our Course.
Read more: Underlying Fundamentals Have Changed. We Must Adjust Our Course.Some interesting charts that should be considered and debated as Montgomery County pushes for approval of a larger budget, with more spending (and taxing). Labor Force This data is published monthly and is a representation of all persons in the civilian noninstitutional population ages 16 and older classified as either employed or unemployed. The civilian…
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Investigating the Taxpayer Support of CM Evan Glass’s Former Employer, Gandhi Brigade Youth Medi
Read more: Investigating the Taxpayer Support of CM Evan Glass’s Former Employer, Gandhi Brigade Youth MediMontgomery County Councilmember (and now Council President) Evan Glass’s former employer, a 501c3 charity called Gandhi Brigade Youth Media or GBYM, has raked in State of Maryland and Montgomery County grants, records show. Gandhi Brigade Youth Media states that its mission is to: create communities where young people build the confidence and media skills to express…