An Economic Border War Right Under Washington's Nose (Maryland vs Virginia)

Wall Street Journal ^ | 08/27/2012 | Stephen Moore

[SeekAndFind]

What's the fiercest rivalry in American politics today? There's Obama-Romney, of course, but try O'Malley-McDonnell—neighboring governors battling across the Potomac River over how best to resuscitate a moribund economy.

Martin O'Malley, Maryland's liberal Democratic governor, is competing for jobs, businesses and tax dollars with Bob McDonnell, Virginia's conservative Republican chief executive. Both are rising stars considered potential presidential hopefuls in 2016. Both are Irish Catholics—Mr. McDonnell playfully calls Mr. O'Malley "the big Irishman to our north"—and each leads his party's association of governors. The two regularly spar on the Sunday talk shows, on the pages of Washington-area newspapers, and over ...

[muawiyah]

In your more urban parts of Virginia WE ALREADY PAID FOR IT but they built them out in the part of the state where the Democrat bourbons live on their vast horse estates strewn with apple orchards.

Now that we have the greater part of the representation in the legislature it's time to build our roads! If the commonwealth needs tolls, put them on those highways to nowhere!

[ArrogantBustard]

Talk to the hand.

I have no interest in your marxist class-warfare claptrap.

[muawiyah]

What class warfare claptrap?

You really aren't from around here are you.......

Virginia used to be a ONE PARTY STATE ~ And the ruling Democrats (the MARXISTS) were called "bourbons" and "barons" in the local parlance.

Of course the Democrats used the powers of the state to feather their nests. That's why we now have a Republican party.

It's time to recover the billions in taxes we've paid for roads to somewhere else to use in our own traffic-jamed urban areas.

[muawiyah]

Actually, very little of Maryland's wealth comes from employee salaries of any kind ~ Montgomery County, like Fairfax County, has about 1 out of 7 employees involved in some sort of federal entity, with the greater number of them being federal police of some kind, or lawyers, medical researchers, military or postal workers.

The vast majority of federal workers are spread out all over the country.

Federal largess is husbanded by Congress as a natural resource to pump back home.

[ArrogantBustard]

You really aren't from around here are you.......

That's rich ... Mizzzz Indiana.

were called "bourbons" and "barons" in the local parlance.

So much the worse for "local parlance" ...

the billions in taxes we've paid

Who's "we", Kemosabe?

NoVa is crowded with critters directly or by contract employed by Fedzilla ... ie, by tax-eaters.

Let them pay their own way in transportation costs, at least.

[muawiyah]

The high individual incomes are paid to private sector folks. The federales tap out at just this side of $200,000 and that's going to be a guy with more than one doctorate who works as a researcher at NIH or an intelligence analyst at the Army's Spatial Observation center near me (or a very high ranking political appointee ~ there are just under 900 such folks).

Lobbyists and lawyers make high average annual incomes. We have something like 180,000 of them in Fairfax County. They are not all working for the government ~ but we have several courts in the DC area that attract a great deal of attention, so there's a demand for lawyers you don't find elsewhere.

[muawiyah]

Outsiders like you ~

BTW, VDOT does everything from streets to sidewalks in Virginia. The state controls all that stuff ~ local governments don't. That's why the state legislature has such a hold on highway money ~ 'cause it's not like anywhere else in the country except Hawaii.

We pay heavy taxes for those highways ~ they build them somewhere else.

I hate thieves.

[ArrogantBustard]

Outsiders like Mizzz Indiana.

I hate thieves.

Great. Defund Fedzilla. All those federal "workers" and Beltway Bandits can go someplace else, and do something real for a living.

Then you can go back to having lots of deer eating your front yard.

[ArrogantBustard]

To call LockMart, Boeing, Northrup-Grumman, SAIC, Mitre, etc ad nauseaum “private sector” is more than a bit disingenuous.

[muawiyah]

You're the guy who wants to steal my tax dollars and build roads to nowhere.

You're hardly within the bounds of Conservative orthodoxy. Sound like an earmark laden RINO to tell the truth.

[muawiyah]

Boeing builds commercial aircraft for sale worldwide ~ and does so in sufficient volume to go a long way toward balancing our 'balance of payments' with foreign countries.

The others peddle armaments ~ we are the world's top marketer of such things, and again, we earn plenty of export dividends selling such things.

That's all private sector stuff ~ our own defense industry skims it so we get the top of the line stuff to beat our enemies.

We have a lot of enemies ~ they come in here and criticize our armaments manufacturers!

[ArrogantBustard]

Quit lying.

[muawiyah]

Sounds like I dug a hole right to your real core values.

[muawiyah]

You are arguing as if you believe the employees created the federal government ~

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

We have a winnah . . . Bob McDonnell!

Maryland “Freak State” PING!