Boy is this swirling around the Internets this morning. On Constellation Energy's 2nd-quarter earnings conference call this morning, one analyst referred to "The People's Republic of Maryland." The topic was Constellation's proposed joint venture with Electricite de France, the Maryland's Public Service Commission's review of the deal even though it has no jurisdiction, and yesterday's announcement by the PSC that it won't complete the review in time for CEG's and EDF's deadline.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: BGE/electricity
        

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON, July 31 (Reuters) - The White House is working with U.S. lawmakers looking for ways to extend the "cash for clunkers" incentive program to spur U.S. auto sales, spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Friday.

"We feel confident we can find a solution" to continue the program, Gibbs told reporters, saying the incentive scheme had been a success for auto buyers and was still "up and running."

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

From Brad DeLong: (The topic is health care and health-care reform.)

The governor of California is incompetent at budgeting, but these words of his are well worth listening to:

This exercise is extremely effective for your lats[issimi dorsi] and your upper back. Stand with your feet on either side of an open door and grasp the doorknobs with both hands. Slowly sink away from the door so that your back jackknifes and your arms extend fully and lock. Now pull yourself back up to the starting position. Let your arms, not your legs, complete the motion. I will count out thirty repetitions. Beginners should do 10, intermediates 20, and advanced the full amount. LET'S DO IT! 1... 2... 3... 4, AND STRETCH YOUR BACK!... 5... 6... 7, DON'T USE YOUR LEGS!... 8... 9... 10... 11... 12... 13... 14... 15... 16, JUST USE YOUR ARMS!... 17... 18... 19... 20... 1... 2... 3, CONCENTRATE ON YOUR BACK!!... 4... 5... 6... 7, THREE MORE!... 8... 9, AND NOT LAST ONE!... 30... WE'RE DOING FIVE MORE!!... 31, 32... HA! HA!... 33, 34, 35. Next we have in our program a wonderful leg exercise, the lunges. This exercise develops the front part of your thighs...

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Health Care
        

Like KFC's grilled-chicken giveaway, Washington's cash-for-clunkers program apparently proved so popular that the brakes got applied barely after it left the driveway. You shoulda gotten in line first thing. Expect cash for clunkers to be revived, however. After so much buildup and publicity, the howls from the customers and the dealers will prompt a second phase. The Washington Post reports:

The government's $1 billion "cash for clunkers" program, designed to boost stagnant auto sales, will be suspended at midnight Thursday because it is almost out of money just six days after it started.

Passed by Congress in late June to help the flagging U.S. auto industry, the program gives vouchers to consumers who trade in their gas-guzzling cars for more fuel-efficient models. But money set aside for the program, which started six days ago, is now close to running out or may have run out, as the program has been well publicized, the source said.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

The Public Service Commission has extended its review of the proposed joint venture between Constellation Energy Group and Electricite de France. EDF is buying 49 percent of CEG's nuclear-generation business. The companies wanted to close the deal by Sept. 17. Not gonna happen now.

Says the PSC:

In each instance, the State and MEA argued that they have not received full responses to data requests to Constellation Energy Group, Inc. (“CEG”), Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (“BGE”) and Electricité de France International, SA (“EDF”) in a complete and timely fashion, and that they find themselves with insufficient time to prepare their reply testimony, currently due on August 5th.

The Commission is aware and mindful that CEG and EDF want to close the transaction by September 17, 2009, and the Commission has made every effort to complete the public interest review with that deadline in mind. But the Commission cannot and will not compromise the quality of the public interest review of this transaction, and the Commission finds that the public interest in a thorough review outweighs the companies’ understandable desire to close by September 17th.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: BGE/electricity
        

Tim Bond, head of asset allocation at Barclays, says this in the Financial Times:

Similarly, few commentators consider the possibility that the large post-Lehman rise in US unemployment was a mistake on the part of panicky managements. Yet this is precisely what trends in labour productivity growth, not to mention common sense, tell us occurred.

In the first half of 2008, labour productivity growth averaged 3.3 per cent, while the unemployment rate rose to 5.6 per cent. At that point, there was no evidence US companies were overstaffed. Thereafter, output collapsed, yet business productivity growth remained positive, registering an average yearly pace of over 2 per cent, as companies shed labour at a faster pace than they reduced output. Businesses, like markets, panicked after Lehman went under. Employment and output were both reduced far more than it turned out to be necessary, as businesses temporarily and understandably assumed a worst case scenario.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

A note to clients from T. Rowe Price's chief economist, Alan Levenson. (No link.) He says that recent unemployment claims trends, once adjusted for big but noncontinuing auto layoffs, suggest that July job losses will be much lower than monthly losses in June and earlier.

July 25 Jobless Claims: +25,000 to 584,000 (July 18: +25,000 to 559,000) Bottom line: Smoothing through auto industry-related volatility, trending lower. July employment estimate: -285,000

* Looking across the sharp 4-week "V" carved out by
unseasonably-timed auto industry layoffs, weekly jobless claims are 35,000 than four weeks ago; the four-week average is 57,000 lower (559,000 vs. 616,000). We believe that claims are headed lower.

* In a reflection of the month-to-month improvement in jobless
claims, we estimate that nonfarm payroll employment declined by 285,000 in July (June: -467,000).

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

Thursday linksplat

One aspect of the European economy hasn't changed for 3,000 years

Why Prof. Gates' arrest was unconstitutional

Tanning beds definitely cause cancer

Should we pay for expanded health care by taxing unhealthy food?

Should we bust up the Googlopoly?

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

House negotiations that would advance health-care legislation today retained the "public plan" that would compete with private insurers and would also enable state health cooperatives as another option -- something Maryland policymakers would certainly be very interested in. They also softened the mandate for small biz.

From the Associated Press:

The deal calls for exempting more small businesses from a requirement to offer coverage, trimming subsidies to help people buy health insurance, and making any government-sponsored insurance plan negotiate payment rates with medical providers — instead of dictating them.

—Exempting businesses with payrolls of $500,000 or below from a requirement to provide insurance to employees or pay a penalty. The existing bill had set the level at $250,000.

—Payment rates to doctors and other medical providers would be negotiated with the secretary of Health and Human Services, instead of tied to Medicare rates as the bill now says. The Blue Dogs contend that change will lead to fairer payment rates.

—In addition to the public plan, states will have the option of setting up health care co-ops. Details on that were still being worked out.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Health Care
        

Yet again we're talking about computerized trading, in this case "high-frequency trading" as described in various mainstream and trade media outlets. This sort of conversation has been going on since the 1980s, when program trading helped cause the 1987 stock market crash.

Here's the description from the NYT:

Powerful computers, some housed right next to the machines that drive marketplaces like the New York Stock Exchange, enable high-frequency traders to transmit millions of orders at lightning speed and, their detractors contend, reap billions at everyone else’s expense... Powerful algorithms — “algos,” in industry parlance — execute millions of orders a second and scan dozens of public and private marketplaces simultaneously. They can spot trends before other investors can blink, changing orders and strategies within milliseconds.

If trading firms are really "front running" their clients -- buying securities for which clients trades have been ordered but not executed, knowing that the price will rise when the client order is put in -- it's wrong and probably illegal. Even if they aren't, it's hard to believe rapid trading is economically efficient or fair. Short-term thinking is at the heart of too much of what's wrong with Wall Street and society. Fast trading is destabilizing and says nothing about the long-term returns of whatever is being bought and sold in milliseconds.

Tyler Cowen disagrees:

I'm not a believer in the strong versions of efficient markets hypotheses, so I do admit that high-frequency trading, like just about every other trading strategy, can bring short-run "whiplash" effects on market prices. But if you don't like it, you can trade yourself at much lower frequencies, which is probably what you should be doing anyway. At the same time high-frequency trading smooths out or shortens many other cases of price whiplash. High-frequency trading brings more liquidity into the market. Call it "low quality liquidity" if you wish, but it still looks like net liquidity to me.

Good for Andy Brooks at T. Rowe Price for voicing concerns about HFT in the NYT article:

“You want to encourage innovation, and you want to reward companies that have invested in technology and ideas that make the markets more efficient,” said Andrew M. Brooks, head of United States equity trading at T. Rowe Price, a mutual fund and investment company that often competes with and uses high-frequency techniques. “But we’re moving toward a two-tiered marketplace of the high-frequency arbitrage guys, and everyone else. People want to know they have a legitimate shot at getting a fair deal. Otherwise, the markets lose their integrity.”

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Finance
        

There are economists who dispute that this happens in practice on a meaningful scale. But basic economic theory says that when the minimum wage increases employers will either hire fewer people or have existing employees work fewer hours. That's what happened to one McDonald's worker, according to this tweet by TVAmy in South Carolina:

Guy at McDonalds says he got min wage increase and now they've cut back hours. Now makes less than b4 the "raise"

BTW I support the idea of the minimum wage. The new level of $7.25 per hour ($290 a week if you're full-time) hardly seems too generous.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Tribune Co., owner of The Sun, wants four more months to submit a reorganization plan to the bankruptcy court. No huge surprise -- debtors in bankruptcy proceedings do this all the time, if for no other reason than that management, which is often likely to be replaced after the reorganization, wants to hang on to the reins as long as possible. The Chicago Tribune reports:

Tribune has so far managed to work worked closely with its creditors toward a plan to reduce the nearly $13 billion in debt that crippled the company when the economy soured last year. Citing the complex nature of the case, Tribune said in a filing it needs more time to build consensus around a plan. It also said the outcome of the pending sale of the Chicago Cubs could have a "material impact" on the plan.

"We are making significant progress in our discussions with our various creditor constituencies," said a Tribune Co. spokesman. " Our filing today is a routine request for more time."

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Media
        

Business Week chronicles what happens when you enact universal health insurance but don't put in any cost controls. Not that anybody should have needed a case study. The Democrats' plan is largely modeled on the Massachusetts program, and so far it doesn't have much in the way of cost control, either.

Massachusetts, which instituted universal coverage three years ago, wants to end the practice of reimbursing for every medical procedure and doctor visit. Providers would instead get a yearly fee for each patient, thus eliminating financial incentives to overtreat.

The motivation for this switch is simple desperation—and it should be a warning to Washington. When Massachusetts enacted the most comprehensive insurance-for-all bill in the U.S. in 2006, it did nothing to address rapidly rising costs. Three years later the rate of uninsured residents has dropped from 8% to 2.6%, the lowest of all 50 states. But the cost of covering an additional 428,000 residents is wreaking havoc on the state's finances.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: BGE/electricity
        

The Maryland AARP questions BGE's plan to install smart, computerized meters and increase June-September peak-time electricity rates by about a fourth to 16 cents per kilowatt-hour. Sez the AARP:

BGE recommends a pricing structure for all residential customers that would raise rates in the summer by to 16 cents per kWh for usage between 2 and 7pm every summer day. While BGE’s press releases have noted the potential for customers to earn a peak reward credit in the amount of $1.75 per kWh, that option would only exist for the estimated 12 critical peak day events that BGE projects will occur. As a result, residential customers will pay a higher price for essential electricity service for every summer day and only obtain any rewards or benefits if there is a critical peak event called by PJM and only for those few days in which such critical peak events are likely to occur.

BGE has said changing the summertime rates will be "revenue neutral." To me that means revenue neutral NOT COUNTING the $1.75 rebates for lowering your consumption on critical days. Under a real revenue-neutral program, the increase in summertime 2pm - 7pm rates would be 100% offset by a decrease in non-peak rates for everybody. Mrs. Jones in Hampden would see her everyday daytime kw expense go up, but her everyday non-peak kw expense would go down by a like amount -- even if she doesn't change her use pattern.

The rebates for consumption cutters should be financed externally -- through savings gained from not burning expensive peak kilowatts, capacity payments etc. They shouldn't be financed by taking money from Mrs. Jones and others who who don't cut consumption. As BGE's Mark Case explained it when I asked him about this last week, BGE's plan won't penalize Mrs. Jones. Case:

The worst a customer can do is to forfeit the opportunity to save money via the rebates. Our rebate level is not funded through base rates or any customer subsidy – rather it is funded by the PJM capacity and energy revenues which result from the load reductions.

The PSC needs to make sure this plays out the way he describes it. The full text of AARP's letter to the PSC is below the fold.

AARP's letter to the PSC:

AARP opposes the request made by Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) to expedite consideration and approval of its proposed ‘Smart Grid Initiative’ which is estimated to cost more than $800 million over 15 years and would impose mandatory time of use rates. Expedited approval of a significant investment and fundamental change in pricing is contrary to the public interest. Nor is it necessary, as BGE implies, to secure federal stimulus funding. This request, combined with a similar request from PHI for its service territory, would add more than $1 billion in costs to customer bills. AARP urges the Commission to give these cases the careful scrutiny the consumers of Maryland deserve and expect.

It is unfair to parties, and the public, to fast track such a significant filing which would immediately approve a cost recovery tracker. BGE’s filing is more than 400 pages long and includes the testimony of five witnesses and extensive attachments and exhibits. AARP urges this Commission to establish a procedural schedule that will allow the full and fair opportunity for the parties to explore the evidentiary basis for BGE’s assertions about costs and benefits and provide testimony from parties other than BGE prior to any action by this Commission. To date there has not been any formal schedule or opportunity for an adjudicatory decision-making process on a proposal that is likely to have significant impacts on customer rates, terms and conditions of service. BGE’s proposed ‘legislative-style’ hearings are not adequate to fully investigate this level of investment.

As BGE notes in its July 22 letter, the Department of Energy requires utilities seeking federal funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) must include in its application ‘correspondence from their local regulatory agency indicating when the approval process will begin and outlining the likely timeline.’ However, BGE does not need to have the cost tracker approved prior to applying for these federal funds. An expedited approval is not a requirement of the DOE guidance.

Of particular concern to AARP is fast-tracking BGE’s proposal to radically change the pricing structure in Maryland by instituting a mandatory time-based rate structure for all residential customers. BGE recommends a pricing structure for all residential customers that would raise rates in the summer to 16 cents per kWh for usage between 2 and 7pm every summer day. While BGE’s press releases have noted the potential for customers to earn a peak reward credit in the amount of $1.75 per kWh, that option would only exist for the estimated 12 critical peak day events that BGE projects will occur. As a result, residential customers will pay a higher price for essential electricity service for every summer day and only obtain any rewards or benefits if there is a critical peak event called by PJM and only for those few days in which such critical peak events are likely to occur. BGE’s proposal does not provide any bill impact analysis of this dramatic change in residential rate structure. Nor should such a dramatic change be rushed through the normal regulatory process.

Other concerns should also be explored in further detail and with an opportunity for formal discovery and opportunity to submit testimony on the record, such as the basis for BGE’s estimates of costs and benefits. AARP notes that BGE intends to implement remote disconnection of service as part of its metering proposal and this policy change also deserves careful review and consideration.

AARP supports grid modernization, efforts to improve efficiencies in the transmission and distribution systems, and demand response programs that are cost effective for ratepayers. However, the cost and magnitude of the proposed investment, coupled with BGE’s intention to establish mandatory time based rates, are compelling reasons to reject the proposed expedited schedule. A more reasonable schedule that allows for full and fair review of this proposal should be established and would be available for BGE to include in an application to DOE for federal stimulus funding.

AARP requests an opportunity to appear and speak at the Administrative meeting on July 29, 2009.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: BGE/electricity
        

Brad DeLong says:

The Blue Dogs have been bought and paid for. They do not want a fiscally-responsible bill. They want to please their masters from the health insurance industry by trying their best to keep there from being a bill at all.

Paul Krugman says:

... even as they complain about the plan’s cost, the Blue Dogs are making demands that would greatly increase that cost.

There has been a lot of publicity about Blue Dog opposition to the public option, and rightly so: a plan without a public option to hold down insurance premiums would cost taxpayers more than a plan with such an option.

The Blue Dogs also oppose the surtax on high-income folks to finance health-coverage expansion. Krugman doesn't mention that. The Blue Dogs should make a deal: Accept the public option while getting Democratic colleagues/the White House to scrap the surtax and replace it with an alternative means of financing -- say, ending the deductibility of health-insurance costs.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Health Care
        

From the NYT:

BOB BUCKWALTER, a retired pastor in Williamstown, Mass., bought his first pair of hearing aids in January. Like most people suffering from gradual hearing loss, he had resisted the idea for years. But, after talking with people who have benefited from aids and doing research to find a nearby audiologist, Mr. Buckwalter was ready to take the plunge.

But there was one thing he was not ready for: the $4,600 price tag.

Unlike computers, CD players, flat-screen TVs, cellphones etc. etc. hearing aids have mainly refused to become more affordable. Is it over-regulation? (FDA/state oversight that may stifle innovation and allow inefficient pricing & vendor profiteering.) Or some other reason?

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Regulation
        

A reader has a question about this column, which said, "BGE's ambitious 'smart meter' program promises to bring the electrical grid up to the technology standards we expect from bank accounts, cell phones and coffee makers." She asks:

One issue you didn't address in your article the other day is that those so-called "smart meters" won't buy a thing for those of us who took your earlier advice and who are now buying our electricity from another supplier. So, we end up paying BGE for meters we don't want and don't need. We have always been frugal with electricity. That's why we have solar heating and have only turned on the AC about twice in 30-some years. There is a minimum amount of electricity we must use, to run the fans and pumps and whatnot that make this system work. And now, what we do use comes not from them but somebody else. So, we would like to opt out. How much you want to bet that's not an option?

My reply:

You’re right. Opting out will probably not be an option. The only way to make the system work well is to install meters for everybody. But it’s a great investment for society. It’s unclear whether we’ll still be able to buy from WGES in the future. Policymakers are talking about prohibiting all shopping and making everybody buy BGE’s standard product. But in any event 1) The smart meter rebates are supplier neutral. They’ll be passed thru the BGE portion of your bill, which you always pay. You’ll get them no matter who your suppier is. 2) None of this is going to get launched for a year or two. Your WGES contract will probably expire before you get a smart meter.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: BGE/electricity
        

That was the headline. I thought they were extending the Blue Line again. But no.

BOWIE, MD – (JULY 24, 2009) — Six Flags America welcomes Metro Station in concert on Thursday, August 6. The concert will take place in the park’s GOTHAM Arena and is part of the STARBURST® Summer Concert Series presented by T-Mobile. This show is one of 18 scheduled concerts at the park during the 2009 season.

Metro Station headlined by Trace Cyrus and Mason Musso, is an electro-rock group from Hollywood, CA. Metro Station first gained rabid popularity on MySpace and was named “One of the 22 best Underground Bands (That likely won’t stay underground for long)” by Alternative Press magazine in July 2007. The pop band rocketed to top 10 charts around the world in 2008 with their song “Shake It” on their self-titled debut album.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

As several readers have pointed out, Washington Gas Energy Services is now offering a three-year, price-lock deal on electricity that is lower than BGE's current standard price. The three-year deal is 10.9 cents per kilowatt hour. (Electric supply only. BGE's delivery charge, which is there no matter who your supplier is, is another couple pennies and change. Plus all the nuisance charges.) That's a tenth of a penny more than WGES's two-year package of 10.8 cents. The three-year deal is a no-brainer, and I wish it had been available when I locked in for two years a few months ago.

BGE's standard price this summer is 12.69 cents per kilowatt-hour. That'll dip to 11.53 cents for October through May. It may fall a little more after May, but it probably won't go much below the WGES deal. And in two or three years there's a good chance it will go much higher as the economy heats up and energy prices rise. Energy wonks are uncertain about what will happen in the next year; they're pretty darn sure prices will be up in 2011 and 2012.

Political uncertainties create some haze around the WGES deal and others like it. There is talk in Annapolis of starting to reregulate electricity and banning consumers and commercial users from buying from third parties such as WGES or Commerce Energy. If that happens it's unclear what will happen to long-term contracts. However it turns out, though, the risk that you'll pay more by switching to WGES than you would have by sticking with BGE's standard product over the next three years seems pretty small.

Don't forget Clean Currents, whose "100-percent wind" deal offers a package that supports green energy for 11.7 cents for two years. That's also less than BGE's current standard price.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: BGE/electricity
        

During the dot-com bubble of 1999, I would have put a tiny, online seller of shoes into the same category with Pets.com, Babytoys.com (or whatever) and all the other soon-to-be dead online merchants. I would have been wrong.

Shoes are hard to fit and hard to buy over the Web. They seemed to be one of those "high-touch" products that you have to see in person to buy. The solution that Zappos hit upon -- free shipping for both orders and returns -- figured to wipe out profits. It didn't. Now Amazon is buying Zappos for $800 million.

Helping Zappos (and Amazon), of course, is the ability to avoid charging most customers for state sale taxes. This gives it an unfair advantage over bricks/mortar stores that fuel local economies. I wonder how competitive Zappos would be if it had to operate under the same rules as Macy's or Payless Shoe Source.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

Friday's column, on Thursday:

Prediction: Obama's proposal will end up as some kind of law by the end of the year, but not by the August delivery date he seems to want.

It will be better than a summer rush job. But no, it won't eliminate wasteful care. It won't extend coverage to everybody. It will increase the budget deficit. That said, it has a fighting chance of improving on the status quo, which suggests just how bad the status quo is.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 1:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Health Care
        

A reader writes:

In your column in the Wednesday, 22 July issue of 'The Baltimore Sun', you commented, "...Robert Noyce launched the cyber age by inventing the silicon-based integrated circuit...".

You are correct that Mr. Noyce invented the silicon-based integrated circuit (IC). However it should be noted that Mr. Jack Kilby was the first to demonstrate an operational IC on 12 September 1958. Mr. Noyce independently developed his IC about 6 months later.

Mr. Kilby and Mr. Noyce are considered co-inventors of the IC.

As an electrical engineer and former Texas Instruments employee, I could not stand by and let Mr. Noyce get an unfair amount of credit for the invention of the IC.

My reply:

Thanks for the note and sticking up for TI. Didn’t mean to slight Jack Kilby, but I was trying in an offhand way to observe the Noyce’s 50th anniversary – as you know Kilby’s anniversary was last year. Since silicon and not germanium became the standard, it seemed reasonable to mention Noyce. You didn’t – but could have – also argued against my characterization of the IC as the beginning of the cyber age. What about transistors? What about ENIAC etc. But that’s another conversation!

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

Says Stan Collender:

Yesterday's 58-40 vote in the Senate to cut funds for the F-22 is a big deal.

But this was a vote on an authorization bill and the funds can still be provided in the DOD appropriation that will be considered later in the year.

An appropriation enacted after an authorization is the most recent indication of congressional intent and, therefore, legally may provide funds for programs that have not been authorized. That makes this vote important (especially because it shows what the White House can do on Capital Hill), but not the end of the story

It is not inconceivable that someone who voted against F-22 in the authorization eventually will vote for it in the appropriation.

So those who think it's time to celebrate should hold the champagne.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Congratulations to Principal Patrick Harris, the teachers and the pupils at Dr. Carter G. Woodson Elementary in Cherry Hill. As reported in today's Sun, their MSA test scores rocked this year. Fifth grade math competence scores went from 47.2 percent to 79.5 percent. Fifth grade reading competence went from 55.6 percent to 82.1 percent.

Fourth grade math went from 75 percent to 79 percent; fourth grade reading went from 56.1 percent to 76.7 percent. Third grade math rose from 62.2 percent to 69.8 percent while third grade reading fell from 60 percent to 51.2 percent.

The Sun's "Reading by 9" volunteer tutoring program has partnered with Woodson for more than a decade. Towson University also sends lots of help. But the main job is done by the hard-working staff.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Education
        

Virginia Postrel and Megan McArdle furnish the proper response to the National Kidney Foundation's argument that allowing people to sell their kidneys would "cheapen the gift" of those who donate and might be "an affront" to donors. Actually, the only affront to donors is suggesting that they would be affronted if regulated, paid kidney markets were allowed to save thousands of lives.

Sez Virginia:

The argument that paying organ donors is 'an affront' to unpaid donors is disgusting. Are unpaid donors giving organs to save lives or just to make themselves feel morally superior?

Sez Megan:

Having volunteered for Habitat Humanity several times in college, I am personally offended by the existence of Toll Brothers. Also, I've worked in a soup kitchen, so I'm suing Friendly's for defamation. As for hotels, as the former employee of an organization that provides homeless shelters, I can only say: have you no shame, sirs? At long last, have you no shame?

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Health Care
        

ReTweets. @HowardKurtz

Verizon just fixed home phone after its repairman broke it Friday. Took many angry calls after co asked me to wait 12 days to fix ITS error

Verizon Catch22: Only a supervisor can sked a quick appt to fix THE COMPANY'S OWN MISTAKE but a supervisor is never available

Verizon apologized for delay in fixing its repairman's mistake-but it was an auomated call! So personal

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Telecom
        

Not yet, says Grant McCracken:

Splendid. At the very moment, marketing is finding new ways to talk about women (Dove, etc.), it's image of men is now predictable. It's not in fact offensive. Much of the "men as dogs, dolts, dopes" advertising can be funny. Men like this image of themselves. No, the problem is that it's verging on the tedious. The joke is wearing thin. Verily, it has jumped the shark.

Guys will go along with this sort of thing for a little while longer. We don't mind being portrayed as dogs, dolts and dopes. What we don't like it being seen as cliches. Call us stupid and obvious, but don't you dare suggest we have drifted off the cultural moment. (And what goes for men goes doubly for the ad agency that makes the ads men watch.)

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Marketing
        

John Isaacs of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation says via email:

The Senate today voted 58 – 40 to approve a Levin (D-MI) – McCain (R-AZ) amendment to eliminate the $1.75 billion the Senate Armed Services Committee added for the F-22 aircraft.

The vote was significant because if those supporting more aircraft had prevailed despite the fact that the plane has no utility in Iraq or Afghanistan, is egregiously expensive and is strenuously opposed by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and threatened by a veto from the President, the vote would have been widely interpreted by the media as a crushing defeat for the Obama Administration.

Ben Cardin voted for the amendment (against the F-22). Barbara Mikulski, perceived as an F-22 supporter, broke her ankle Sunday and did not vote.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Interesting piece from Ron Lieber on how the government might someday tax Roth IRAs, which are supposed to be all-but-exempt from taxation once you fund them with after-tax dollars. It would be a great betrayal and breed even higher levels of anti-government cynicism if Washington were to ever subject Roth assets to double taxation.

At the most extreme end, the federal government might try to tax the earnings on a Roth after all, say through the capital gains tax, which is currently at 15 percent for long-term gains but could go up in the next few years. Or it might levy some sort of an excise tax on excessive balances, however those might be defined.

Roths are especially useful for estate planning purposes. Regular I.R.A. holders have to start taking money out once they reach the age of 70 and a half, but Roth owners don’t have to take money out during their lifetimes. Heirs of Roth holders, meanwhile, pay no income taxes when they cash out of the inherited account and can spread those distributions over an entire lifetime, allowing for decades more of tax-free growth thanks to the wonders of compound interest. Some part of this could certainly change.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Personal Finance
        

From today's column:

The woman who invented financial television doesn't live in Manhattan, doesn't own a fabulous stock portfolio and, truth to tell, never did make much money from the medium that turned Jim Cramer, Suze Orman and Louis Rukeyser into multimillionaires.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Media
        

Via Derek Thompson and Ryan Avent is this revealing chart, which shows job openings per capita. The No. 1 place for job openings: Washington. No 2 (Hidden behind the DC bubble): Baltimore. The stimulus is working great -- at least within an 80-mile radius from output valve of the stimulus plumbing! I can't find out where the data came from. (Help-wanted statistics are easy to publish but hard to do correctly.) But they tell an interesting story.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

From Reason Magazine's Radley Balko:

"El Paso is three-quarters Hispanic, and more than a quarter of its residents are foreign-born. Given that it's nearly impossible for low-skilled immigrants to work in the United States legitimately, it's safe to say that a significant percentage of El Paso's foreign-born population is living here illegally. El Paso also has some of the laxer gun control policies of any non-Texan big city in the country, mostly due to gun-friendly state law.

"And famously, El Paso sits just over the Rio Grande from one of the most violent cities in the western hemisphere, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, home to a staggering 2,500 homicides in the last 18 months alone. A city of illegal immigrants with easy access to guns, just across the river from a metropolis ripped apart by brutal drug war violence. Should be a bloodbath, right? Here's the surprise: There were just 18 murders in El Paso last year, in a city of 736,000 people. To compare, Baltimore, with 637,000 residents, had 234 killings. In fact, since the beginning of 2008, there were nearly as many El Pasoans murdered while visiting Juarez (20) than there were murdered in their home town (23). El Paso is among the safest big cities in America. For the better part of the last decade, only Honolulu has had a lower violent crime rate (El Paso slipped to third last year, behind New York).

"Men's Health magazine recently ranked El Paso the second 'happiest' city in America, right after Laredo, Texas—another border town, where the Hispanic population is approaching 95 percent. So how has this city of poor immigrants become such an anomaly? Actually, it may not be an anomaly at all. Many criminologists say El Paso isn't safe despite its high proportion of immigrants, it's safe because of them."

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)
Categories: Immigration
        

Constellation Energy Group, parent of Baltimore Gas & Electric, led by CEO Mayo Shattuck, have made a counteroffer to Gov. O'Malley in the tussle over Electricite de France and what concessions CEG would make for approval of EDF's proposal to invest in CEG's nuclear power business. Basically CEG has decided again to play ball with O'Malley rather than telling him to jump in a lake. Here is what jumps out:

Although the EDF transaction will not have any negative impact on BGE's rates, Constellation nevertheless is willing to discuss commitments regarding BGE's rates.

In particular, CEG would delay asking for an increase in BGE's distribution rates for 10 months, to January 2010 "at the earliest." It would also promise not to seek an increase of more than 2.5 percent, down from 5 percent. They would also talk about delaying requested increases for natural gas.

This is pretty small stuff. The distribution portion of the BGE bill is small, and a 2.5 percent increase in THAT is even smaller. But, again, this signals that CEG and Shattuck are willing to deal.

... our Board of Directors has agreed with our CEO's recommendation to terminate his change in control agreement, and any other rights to severance in a change in control transaction, in order to remove the issue so that it does not continue to serve as a distraction to possible settlement discussions...

Again, more symbolic than substantive. They obviously don't expect a change in control at CEG anytime soon. The biggest bonus for Shattuck in the change in control agreement was accelerated vesting for his pension. The board already made sure he becomes eligible for the pension soon irrespective of any change in control. So it doesn't look like he's giving up much here.

Constellation would be willing to provide BGE access (from one of its existing generation sites) to a potential generation site at no cost to BGE's distribution customers, if following such evaluation BGE pursues the contstruction of a new generation facility.

This is interesting. The state may eventually order BGE to build a new power plant and pass the cost along to BGE ratepayers. If this happens, it sounds like CEG is offering free land for hte plant to be built on, which would save some cost.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: BGE/electricity
        

Bruce Bartlett says it's unrealistic and risky to rule out tax increases. From Ezra Klein's Q&A:

An Interview with Bruce Bartlett

Bruce Bartlett's conservative credentials are impeccable: He's worked for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Jude Wanniski and Gary Bauer, Ron Paul and Jack Kemp. But he's also an economic realist: Government spending is growing, he says, and taxes are going to have to grow with it. The question for his party is whether it wants to get to work crafting those tax increases in a responsible way, or whether it wants to let Democrats levy inefficient hits on the rich and strange changes to the tax code. The health-care debate is a perfect example: A VAT could pay for this efficiently. But without Republican support, a surtax on the rich is likely to pay for this inefficiently. We spoke yesterday.

EK: Start at the beginning. Why do we even need taxes? Why pay for anything?

BB: We have a stream of revenue we'll continue to get in the future from the policies in place. But spending is projected to rise much more rapidly. So the question becomes what is the politically and economically tolerable level of the deficit? The Republican position seems to be, as Dick Cheney once said, that "deficits don't matter."

I don't know when we reach that threshold. But I think we were getting close even before the current problems. And federal spending is supposed to rise by about 50 percent over the next 25 years or so, and that was before any of the recent events. I think long before we'd reach the year 2030 we'd have a deficit large enough to create massive economic and political problems. Since the deficit has gotten so much larger so much faster, we're starting to see those problems on the horizon: Weakness of the dollar, increased efforts of foreign countries to diversify, unwillingness of other countries to hold the dollar. Eventually, we'll have a lot more trouble selling our bonds because our foreigners won't want them any longer.

Tyler Cowen says Bartlett is "courageous."

Posted by Jay Hancock at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Taxes
        

Otakon has apparently blasted the recession to smithereens, or at least fought back valiantly against bad-economy rays. On Sunday Otakon president Matt Smiechowski said of this year's pre-registration:

"I was actually expecting it to be on par with, if not lower than, last year's pre-registration total of 17,186, due to factors such as the economy. It's better than I could have hoped." He said he's expecting around 27,000 to attend this year. That would represent 2.8% growth over last year.

We'll see if that happens. Last year they had 26,000. Otakon, an "annual celebration of Japanese and East Asian popular culture" is a nice little updraft for the Baltimore hospitality industry, which could use it.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

Bank of America, which reported second-quarter results this morning, has a nearly 12 percent delinquency rate on its credit-card loans. Says Bloomberg:

Card services swung to a $1.62 billion loss from a $582 million profit last year as more borrowers fell behind on payments. Earnings at the deposits business declined 59 percent to $505 million and the net interest margin, the difference between what it pays on deposits and the rates earned on loans and securities, narrowed to 2.64 percent from 2.7 percent in the first quarter and 2.92 percent in the year-earlier period.

The provision for credit losses, money set aside to cushion against bad debts, was $13.38 billion, unchanged from the previous quarter. Assets no longer collecting interest rose to $30.98 billion from $25.6 billion on March 31 and debts the bank doesn’t expect to be repaid jumped 25 percent to $8.7 billion.

Bank of America said it can’t collect payments on 11.73 percent of its $170 billion credit-card portfolio as of June 30, up from 8.62 percent on March 31.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

The Economist is out with its annual Big Mac index, a "lighthearted" look, the magazine is always careful to note, at currency values and purchasing power parity. The idea is that the Big Mac is a commodity -- the same in Beijing as in Barcelona -- so differences in Big Mac prices around the world should tell us something about currency distortions. It's not that simple, but this year's index surely shows how the Chinese have manipulated and underpriced the yuan to goose their exports. Says the press release:

So which countries has the foreign-exchange market blessed with a cheap currency, and which has it burdened with a dear one?

The dollar buys the most burger in Asia. A Big Mac costs 12.5 yuan in China, which is $1.83 at today’s exchange rate, around half its price in America. Other Asian currencies, such as the Malaysian ringgit and Thai bhat, look similarly undervalued. Businesses based in continental Europe have most to be cheesed off about. The Swiss franc remains one of the world’s dearest currencies. The euro is almost 30% overvalued on the burger gauge. Denmark and Sweden look even less competitive.

However, The Economist says: “The markets have been kindest to British exporters. A year ago the pound was overvalued by more than a quarter on the Big Mac gauge. Now it is close to its fair value against the dollar and looks cheap against the euro. That shift has upset some other EU countries that had relied on selling to spendthrift British consumers. But after years of struggling with an overvalued currency, British firms will feel they deserve a little mercy.”

Posted by Jay Hancock at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The House plan to finance national health care would tax income of more than $1 million annually at an additional 5.4 percent. The Tax Foundation calculates that would bring the top income-tax rate -- combined local, state and federal levies -- to more than 50 percent in 39 states. In Maryland the top rate would be 55.61 percent, the 7th highest in the nation, according to the foundation. Oregon would be No. 1, at 57.54 percent.

Actually, in some places Marylanders would pay more. The Tax Foundation used the average local tax rate for Maryland, which is 2.98 percent. But taxpayers in many counties pay more than 3 percent. In Howard and Montgomery counties it's 3.2 percent. That gets you to 57.35 percent, just ahead of Hawaii for spot No. 2.

(Math for Maryland: Local tax: 3.2%; top state rate: 6.25%; health care surtax: 5.4%; top federal rate: 39.6%; Medicare tax: 2.9%)

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Taxes
        

David M. Walker, former comptroller general and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, in the NY Daily News: Rein In Insane Health Costs.

For example, we need some level of universal coverage. But what level of coverage is actually affordable and sustainable? Few are bluntly asking the question about where to draw the line.

We need comparative effectiveness research - comparing treatments, costs and outcomes to maximize efficiency. But beyond that, shouldn't we also improve standards across the board for medical practices by designing and implementing a set of national evidence-based practice standards that will enhance quality, reduce health care costs and dramatically bring down malpractice litigation risks?

Meanwhile, less popular - but more immediate - proposals to reduce health care costs and reform our existing outdated programs and policies need to happen without delay.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Health Care
        

Financial seer Jim Cramer, in a clip on the Daily Show, naming Lenny Dykstra, now proceeding through bankruptcy court, "one of the great ones" in the investment business.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

I think a memo went out to Maryland arts organizations soliciting comment on this post: Should O'Malley give taxpayer $$$ to puppet theaters? My favorite comment so far:

I'd say it's actually much more efficient to give bailout money to arty types than respectable business executives. How many artists do you know who are good at hanging on to money? They will happily fling the stuff all over the local economy, boosting small businesses, eateries, taxis, etc. Everybody wins! The artists get to spend a day being rich, and everyone else will be a little better off for much longer.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

For steering General Motors into bankruptcy, wiping out the shareholders he worked for and sticking taxpayers for billions in bailout costs, Rick Wagoner gets a $10 million golden parachute, says AP.

Wagoner, 56, who was ousted by the Obama administration on March 30, will get $1.64 million in benefits annually for each of the next five years, plus an annual pension of $74,030 for the rest of his life, according to company documents filed Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The former CEO, who spent 32 years with the company, can also choose to cash out his company-provided life insurance policy at $2.6 million, according to the filing.

The benefits are worth about half the $22.1 million value that the company placed on Wagoner's retirement package at the end of 2008. The severance package is also far smaller than those afforded to many other large-company CEOs in the past, before the market meltdown made compensation practices a touchstone for public and congressional outrage.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

The state is giving $306,050 in taxpayer money to arts & culture enterprises under the "Maryland Arts Employment Stabilization Program." As the economy struggles and the state faces further budget gaps, is this a good way to spend resources? Discuss.

GOVERNOR O’MALLEY ANNOUNCES ARRA GRANTS AWARDED TO 29 MARYLAND ARTS ORGANIZATIONS

Maryland State Arts Council Grants $306,050 to Preserve 40 Jobs in Nonprofit Arts Sector

Maryland Arts Employment Stabilization Program Grantees ($306,050)

Organization Name Grant Amount County
Academy Art Museum
$10,000.00 Talbot
Art Institute and Gallery $8,500.00 Wicomico
Art on Purpose $10,000.00 Baltimore City
Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Inc. $10,000.00 Anne Arundel
Black Cherry Puppet Theater $15,000.00 Baltimore City
Candlelight Concert Society, Inc. $12,500.00 Howard
Caroline County Council of Arts, Inc. $10,000.00 Caroline
Cecil County Arts Council Inc. $7,500.00 Cecil
Chesapeake Arts Center $7,500.00 Anne Arundel
CityLit Project $12,500.00 Baltimore City
Collective, Inc., The $1,000.00 Baltimore City
Contemporary Arts, Inc. $6,800.00 Baltimore County
Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center $10,000.00 Frederick
Dorchester Arts Center, Inc. $15,000.00 Dorchester
Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble $15,000.00 Anne Arundel
Garrett Lakes Arts Festival $10,000.00 Garrett
Imagination Stage, Inc. $12,500.00 Montgomery
Jewish Museum of Maryland $17,500.00 Baltimore City
Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts $10,000.00 Anne Arundel
Maryland Historical Society $10,000.00 Baltimore City
Maryland Symphony Orchestra, The $12,500.00 Washington
National Philharmonic $12,500.00 Montgomery
Olney Theatre Center for the Arts $10,000.00 Montgomery
Pro Musica Rara $5,250.00 Baltimore City
Pyramid Atlantic Art Center $15,000.00 Montgomery
Queen Anne's County Arts Council $2,000.00 Queen Anne's
Round House Theatre $15,000.00 Montgomery
World Arts Focus $12,500.00 Prince George's
Young Audiences of Maryland, Inc. $10,000.00 Baltimore City

Can't find a link. The whole press release is below the fold.

GOVERNOR O’MALLEY ANNOUNCES ARRA GRANTS
AWARDED TO 29 MARYLAND ARTS ORGANIZATIONS

Maryland State Arts Council Grants $306,050 to Preserve 40 Jobs in Nonprofit Arts Sector

BALTIMORE, MD (July 14, 2009) – Governor Martin O’Malley today announced that 29 Maryland arts organizations have been awarded $306,050 in Maryland Arts Employment Stabilization Program grants by the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC), an agency of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED). The funds, which were awarded to Maryland from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, are being used to help preserve arts jobs that have been threatened during the economic downturn, In addition, the NEA awarded $600,000 in ARRA grants directly to 10 Maryland arts organizations that will preserve additional arts jobs.
“These funds are critical to sustaining Maryland’s creative economy during this time of unprecedented fiscal challenges,” said Governor O’Malley. “Through the Maryland Arts Employment Stabilization program, 40 jobs in Maryland’s arts community will be saved or retained, ensuring that our valued arts organizations have the support and resources they need for continued growth.”
“The Maryland Employment Stabilization grants will have an impact on the organizational and artistic effectiveness of 29 important arts organizations by making it possible for them to maintain or reinstitute jobs,” says E. Scott Johnson, Chair of the Maryland State Arts Council. “These jobs will affect the organizations’ ability to serve their communities thereby adding to the quality of life in our state.”
As a partner of the NEA, the Maryland State Arts Council plays an important role in advancing the goals of the program and was awarded funds by the NEA specifically for sub-grants that support the preservation of jobs in the arts in Maryland. The Maryland Arts Employment Stabilization Program grants will be used to preserve salaries and fees that are in jeopardy or have been eliminated at arts organizations, including salaries critical to the organization’s artistic mission and fees for previously engaged artists and contractual personnel.
Arts organizations that received funds in the council’s fiscal year 2009 Grants for Organizations, Community Arts Development, and ARTvantage programs were eligible to apply for the Maryland Arts Employment Stabilization Program grants. In total, 95 applicants representing 20 counties requested a total of $1.6 million.
MSAC convened a panel of experienced arts professionals to evaluate and rate the proposals based on the significance of the personnel or artist to the organization’s artistic mission; the qualifications of the personnel or artist; the immediate impact on the arts work force; the appropriateness of the request in relationship to the organization’s budget; and the sustainability of the position.
The Maryland State Arts Council, an agency of the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development, Division of Tourism, Film and the Arts, is dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. In FY 2008, the Maryland arts industry contributed $1.2 billion to the State’s economy and provided 15,000 jobs to Maryland residents. For more information about the Maryland State Arts Council visit the MSAC web site at www.msac.org or call 410-767-6555 or TDD/TTY 800-735-2258.

###
NOTE: List of Maryland Arts Employment Stabilization Program grantees/Maryland NEA grantees attached.
 
Maryland Arts Employment Stabilization Program Grantees ($306,050)
Organization Name Grant Amount County
Academy Art Museum
$10,000.00 Talbot
Art Institute and Gallery $8,500.00 Wicomico
Art on Purpose $10,000.00 Baltimore City
Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Inc. $10,000.00 Anne Arundel
Black Cherry Puppet Theater $15,000.00 Baltimore City
Candlelight Concert Society, Inc. $12,500.00 Howard
Caroline County Council of Arts, Inc. $10,000.00 Caroline
Cecil County Arts Council Inc. $7,500.00 Cecil
Chesapeake Arts Center $7,500.00 Anne Arundel
CityLit Project $12,500.00 Baltimore City
Collective, Inc., The $1,000.00 Baltimore City
Contemporary Arts, Inc. $6,800.00 Baltimore County
Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center $10,000.00 Frederick
Dorchester Arts Center, Inc. $15,000.00 Dorchester
Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble $15,000.00 Anne Arundel
Garrett Lakes Arts Festival $10,000.00 Garrett
Imagination Stage, Inc. $12,500.00 Montgomery
Jewish Museum of Maryland $17,500.00 Baltimore City
Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts $10,000.00 Anne Arundel
Maryland Historical Society $10,000.00 Baltimore City
Maryland Symphony Orchestra, The $12,500.00 Washington
National Philharmonic $12,500.00 Montgomery
Olney Theatre Center for the Arts $10,000.00 Montgomery
Pro Musica Rara $5,250.00 Baltimore City
Pyramid Atlantic Art Center $15,000.00 Montgomery
Queen Anne's County Arts Council $2,000.00 Queen Anne's
Round House Theatre $15,000.00 Montgomery
World Arts Focus $12,500.00 Prince George's
Young Audiences of Maryland, Inc. $10,000.00 Baltimore City

Maryland’s NEA direct grantees ($600,000)

Baltimore Clayworks, Inc.
Baltimore, MD
$25,000
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Visual Arts

Baltimore Museum of Art, Inc.
Baltimore, MD
$50,000
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Museums

Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts
Baltimore, MD
$250,000
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Local Arts Agencies

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Inc.
Baltimore, MD
$50,000
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Music

Center Stage Associates, Inc.
Baltimore, MD
$50,000
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Theater

Fell's Point Creative Alliance, Inc.
Baltimore, MD
$50,000
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Presenting

Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra Association
Timonium, MD
$25,000
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Music

Museum for Contemporary Arts, Inc.
Baltimore, MD
$25,000
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Museums

National Council for the Traditional Arts
Silver Spring, MD
$50,000
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Folk and Traditional Arts

Prince Theatre Foundation, Inc.
Chestertown, MD
$25,000
CATEGORY: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Presenting

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (44)
Categories: Government & Business
        

Attention: This post was not made using MS Word's "New Blog Post" feature. Has any post on any subject for any blog ever used this useless appendage that slows down Word even more? Coming next from Word: "New Tweet" ? "New Text Msg" ? The one I want: "New Great American Novel"

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

From Lorraine Mirabella's breaking story on Sinclair Broadcast :

"Mentions of a potential equity raising and bankruptcy are clearly not in equity investors' favor, in our view," Wells Fargo said in a research report.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Media
        

Baltimore Gas and Electric released some details of its ambitious smart-meter program. A few highlights. 1) It's hoping to get up to $200 million in federal stimulus money to help pay for the program. 2) Rather than instituting "real time" pricing, putting all customers at risk of incurring expensive peak charges, the program would pay customers rebates for avoiding peak use. 3) Customer charges to pay for meters would be from $1.24 per month to $1.52.

Without having gone over this in detail, I can say that I suspect it's not a perfect proposal. But the world and Maryland need smart meters to cut energy use, and using stimulus money to help install them is a great idea. Yes, it looks like it'll cost customers $20 a year or so in up front costs. But it''ll save lots of money and carbon over the long term. If everything works as planned, it will be worth it.

The first phase of BGE's Smart Grid proposal would be the installation of 2 million advanced, or "smart," electric and gas meters, operating through a robust utility-to-customer, two-way communications network, which forms the foundation for an automated, digital intelligent grid. The utility is also planning to roll out a new Smart Energy Pricing (SEP) program as its standard rate schedule, which would pay customers rebates for reducing power consumption during peak periods. In the pilot of advanced metering technology and Smart Energy Pricing, participating residential customers reduced their consumption during peak periods by 26 percent to 37 percent, saved more than $100 on average and gave the program a 93 percent satisfaction rating.

BGE's ability to rapidly and most cost-effectively carry out the Smart Grid initiative depends upon PSC approval and cost recovery in a timeframe that would allow the utility to qualify for a competitive Department of Energy (DOE) grant of up to $200 million to partially fund the initiative. BGE anticipates filing its DOE grant application in early August 2009, and it is anticipated that DOE would begin announcing grant awards in October 2009. The utility estimates initial deployment and operating costs of nearly $500 million over five years, and expects that over the project's lifecycle customer savings will exceed costs by a ratio of more than 3 to 1.

Under the cost recovery mechanism proposed by BGE, the monthly customer surcharge would be 38 cents per month for electric-only customers and 44 cents per month for gas-only customers in the first year of implementation, and the customer cost would increase slightly over time as benefits also ramp up. Over the life of the program, the monthly surcharge would average approximately $1.24 and $1.52, respectively, for residential electric and gas customers, and would be reduced based on the award of a DOE grant. Customer savings from reduced energy and operating costs will be several times greater than the amount of the surcharge.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: BGE/electricity
        

Investors who are too lazy to do their own research want desperately to believe that somebody out there has Wall Street figured out, has untangled the skein of emotion and economics that drives invesment and can tell investors what to do or manage their money for them. There's always somebody. Unfortunately it's a different somebody every few years.

Given the glut of financial prognostication, every time the market does something radical it's almost a necessity that SOMEONE will have called a warning or a "buy" call. That's their cue for fame and riches. It's not the cue for the public to start listening to their every word. In 1987 it was Elaine Garzarelli who "predicted" the stock market crash. In the 1990s it was Abby Joseph Cohen who "predicted" the bull market. Now it's Meredith Whitney, who made a bearish call on Citigroup in the fall of 2007. The Call was good but it wasn't omniscient, David Weidner noted in April.

Well, almost. The Call did not say Citigroup was stuffed with hundreds of billions of dollars in toxic assets. It did not say that multiple banks will fail unless the government intercedes. It didn't mention Bear Stearns (which she once expected to earn more than $11 a share in 2009), Lehman Brothers or American International Group Inc. It was a call that Citi was losing money and would have to take drastic action to raise capital.

Now Whitney is moving markets again by upgrading Goldman Sachs to a "buy" after newspapers reported over the weekend that Goldman is set for a blockbuster quarter. Goldman is up $4 to $146, and the market is up modestly. But where was Whitney last fall, when Goldman was $50? She will continue to be in the spotlight until, like Cohen and Garzarelli, she proves she is mortal and fallible. It's already happening.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

My friend Bill Glauber and photographer Melanie Stetson Freeman travel from Plymouth Rock to the Grand Canyon for the Christian Science Monitor. They find that Americans don't hate themselves, don't hate each other and are optimistic better times will come. Who knew?

Listen to America on talk radio, cable television, and the Internet, and you think that we are a people who shout, who boil over with us-versus-them anger, who think the worst of one another, instead of the best.

The truth is far different.

This is a journey in an America after the stock market crash and the housing bust, amid soaring unemployment, where people deal with hard times the best they can.

It's an America of hope.

And ultimately, we'll come to discover, it's an America largely at peace with itself.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

More information Americans need to know from Scott Shane & the NYT:

The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

More outrage. Classic CIA. They're not so great at keeping secrets from U.S. enemies. But when it comes to hoodwinking Congress and sometimes the president, they're real pros. From Scott Shane of the NYT:

By SCOTT SHANE Published: July 9, 2009

WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency is conducting an internal review of how it briefs Congress on secret programs, intelligence officials said on Thursday, as Democrats and Republicans traded barbs over an admission by the agency’s director that the C.I.A. failed for eight years to inform the Intelligence Committees of one unidentified program.

The nature of the program was the subject of speculation in Washington on Thursday but remained a mystery. Officials said it did not involve interrogation but declined to describe it further, saying the matter was highly sensitive and legitimately classified.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

This just in from Baltimore Gas and Electric:

BALTIMORE (July 10, 2009) - Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) today announced that it will hold a press conference to unveil plans for one of the most advanced Smart Grid initiatives in the nation, highlighted by the planned installation of 2 million residential smart meters throughout the BGE service territory and anticipated cost savings for BGE gas and electric customers in excess of $2.6 billion over the life of the project.

The presser is Monday. If these really are smart meters, they'll offer the option of "real time" pricing for residential users, letting them refuse the most expensive kilowatts during the day and passing along most of the huge savings available for offpeak, nighttime use. BGE's "time of use" plan, as presently designed, doesn't pass along enough of the offpeak savings.

The $2.6 billion in projected savings, which would be achieved by using less electricity as well as through prices lower than they otherwise would have been, may be optimistic. Does it include the cost of the meters, which will be considerable? We'll find out Monday.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: BGE/electricity
        

Evian bottle water, owned by Danone of France, had a huge hit in 1998 with its synchronized swimming babies. Now it has brought the tykes back to the screen, clothed them in onesies (the swimmers were starkers) and scored another blockbuster, this time on youtube.

The agency, BETC Euro, is the same. The technology is the same. Why did Evian wait a decade to relaunch the babies? Maybe partly it's the American Idol strategy: If you don't run the content constantly, maybe people won't get sick of it. The English version is all over the Web. Here's the French version.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marketing
        

The Sun's editorial page notes that Delaware, long reputed tax haven, is cranking up taxes to fill an enormous budget gap. Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, it reports, has:

increased the state's gross receipts tax to about 2.1 percent and the income tax on top earners to 6.95 percent. (And when Delaware says "top earners," it means anybody making more than $60,000 a year.) Taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and slot machine proceeds are going up, too. The state is increasing corporate franchise taxes and the public utility tax and is resurrecting the estate tax.

All that still probably won't bring our neighbors to quite the level of Maryland's combined state and local taxation. The Washington-based Tax Foundation ranked Maryland fourth in that measure in 2008, while Delaware came in 24th at 9.5 percent. This new increase would put Delaware in the 10 percent range, still lower than Maryland's 10.8 percent. That difference amounts to about $1,187 less in taxes per person in Delaware. Then again, Marylanders make $7,820 more per capita than their counterparts in the First State, so moving still might not be such a great idea.

I think Delaware may still look pretty good next to Maryland the next time the Tax Foundation does its study. Delaware's gross receipts tax -- a stealth sales tax -- is still far lower than Maryland's 6 percent sales tax. Unlike Maryland, Delaware has no "piggyback" income tax for localities. So even a top income-tax bracket in Delaware of 6.95 percent is far less than what most Marylanders pay even in lower brackets for the combined state and local income tax. That's the first thing taxpayers see.

(Note that the Tax Foundation percentages are not tax brackets. Rather they represent all state and local taxes -- property, sales, income etc. -- paid by people in that state as a percentage of personal income.)

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Taxes
        

Ned Kelly, who sold Baltimore's Mercantile Bankshares to PNC Financial after he replaced Baldy Baldwin as CEO, was bumped from being Citigroup's chief financial officer to vice chairman after he clashed with the FDIC and tried to resign, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal are reporting. From the Times:

Tensions had already been simmering between the bank and the F.D.I.C. for months. But they reached a boil in early June after Mr. Kelly expressed growing frustration with the agency, publicly calling it a “tertiary” regulator behind the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

By the end of the month, the F.D.I.C. abruptly placed the finance chief’s role high on a running list of concerns it wanted the troubled bank to address, a move that bank officials read as a signal they needed to replace Mr. Kelly, according to two people briefed on the situation. Citigroup officials also feared that the F.D.I.C. would put the bank on its list of troubled institutions if they did not act, these people said, a step that would raise its deposit insurance expenses and deter some customers from doing business with the company.

By then, Mr. Kelly had already come to believe that his remarks were turning into a flashpoint in the bank’s dealings with the agency, the people briefed on the situation said, and that he had become a “hindrance to the company.” Shortly before heading to his Virginia farmhouse for the Fourth of July holiday, he tendered his resignation to Mr. Pandit — a move that was quickly rejected.

Instead, Mr. Kelly was given a new perch as vice chairman overseeing strategy and deals, making official what had been his informal role as one of Mr. Pandit’s most trusted advisers. Just after Citigroup’s board signed off on the switch, F.D.I.C. officials were formally notified around 7 p.m. on Wednesday, according a person with knowledge of the situation.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

Another sad story of a jock blowing his millions. Lenny Dykstra, who loved the Atlantic City casinos when he played for the Phillies, sought protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code, Bloomberg reports. Since retiring in the 1990s he has put his money in the dumb places typical of jocks: A "lifestyle" service for athletes, a magazine, a car-wash chain and a Web-based stock-picking service. What, no restaurant?

The players unions really need to do a better job of educating retiring athletes. A diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds, commodities and real estate is what these guys need. But they have already beaten the odds by making it to the majors, and they are accustomed to thinking of themselves as exceptional. They figure they'll get to the bigs in business, too. Rarely happens.

July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Lenny Dykstra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a petition that says the former Major League Baseball All-Star owes $10 million to $50 million.

The former center fielder for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies has less than $50,000 worth of assets and 50 to 99 creditors, according to a petition filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in the San Fernando Valley.

Dykstra, 46, already faces about 20 lawsuits stemming from his entrepreneurial work, including The Players Club, an athletes-only magazine start-up. He owes JPMorgan Chase & Co. $12.9 million, according to the filing, and Bank of America Corp.’s Countrywide and credit-card units a combined $4.2 million.

Dykstra also owes almost $1 million to jet charter services, about $342,000 to celebrity lawyer Daniel Petrocelli and $229,000 to literary agent David Vigliano.

UPDATE: I missed this last month. Former Cleveland Browns QB Bernie Kosar filed for Chapter 11.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Personal Finance
        

The star of Ned Kelly, who sold Baltimore's Mercantile Bankshares to PNC Financial, seemingly continues to rise at troubled Citi. Kelly had been head of global banking at the New York financial giant up until March, when he was named chief financial officer to replace Gary Crittenden. Now Crittenden, who became chairman of Citi Holdings, is out. And Kelly is becoming vice chairman. From AP:

Crittenden is leaving the company to spend more time with his family and pursue other business interests, Citigroup said in a statement.

Aside from his departure, Citigroup said Edward Kelly, who had been serving as CFO since Crittenden switched positions, will become vice chairman of Citigroup. Kelly will take on responsibilities for strategy and mergers and acquisitions in the new position.

John Gerspach will assume the role of CFO, becoming Citigroup's third CFO this year. Gerspach previously served as controller and chief accounting officer at Citigroup.

Hard to tell what it means. Often promotion to vice chairman is actually a demotion, a way of putting out to pasture whom you don't want to fire. The CFO slot at Citi is still one of the most prestigous positions in finance. But if Kelly really does have power to steer strategy instead of just sitting in meetings where strategy is discussed, he'll be a player.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: The Great Recession
        

Agence France-Presse wrote this earlier this week:

Some Democrats have hinted they may favor a second stimulus measure, drawing sharp attacks from Republicans that the giant package approved months ago had demonstrably failed to create or save jobs and turn the US economy around.

"I think it's certainly too early right now... to say, you know, it's not working. In fact, we believe it is working," said Hoyer, who hails from Virginia.

Maryland is not Virginia. This column says so.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Jeffries & Co. published a report today saying that a rejection by the Public Service Commission of Electricite de France's proposal to buy half of Constellation Energy Group's nuclear energy business would prevent CEG from building new generators. CEG owns Baltimore Gas and Electric. Some highlights:

If the JV [joint venture] were not approved, the balance sheet of Constellation and BG&E will not support new investment. Instead, the companies will need to use surplus cash to pay down debt.

• BG&E would be unable to build or contract for new generation
because of balance sheet constraints. Although the electric utility
re-regulation proposal would require BG&E to build new power
plants, the utility would need to dedicate its surplus cash generation
to debt pay-down in order to preserve its credit rating.

• Among the projects which BG&E would likely have to abandon
would be the proposed new nuclear power plant at the Calvert
Cliffs site.

I don't know why they're confusing BGE and CEG. The proposed Calvert Cliffs nuclear unit would be built by Constellation, not BGE. But the overall analysis stands. Constellation, after its near-death experience last year, needs outside capital to build plants. Or an order from the PSC that would build capital costs into BGE's rates for residences and businesses.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: BGE/electricity
        

From This Is Why You're Fat. HT Carla.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Health Care
        

Alec MacGillis asks the crucial question in today's Washington Post:

The bills being written would put new emphasis on evaluating treatments according to their "comparative effectiveness," or weighing the risks and benefits of different types of treatment for the same illness, but the bills stop short of incorporating cost-benefit analyses into the findings or of requiring that providers abide by conclusions.

Lawmakers are also considering ways to reform Medicare payments to emphasize the overall quality of care over the quantity of treatments. But lawmakers are not going as far as Massachusetts did; it is considering shifting entirely from a fee-for-service model to one where salaried physicians would be paid an overall annual price for covering a given person or family.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Health Care
        

I'm sorry. Gmail may be out of beta. Google Docs most definitely is not. That is all.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has done a state-by-state analysis of the potential for "demand response" mechanisms to cut peak electricity use. Demand response involves incentives and other measures to get people to use less juice. Part comes from agreements like BGE's Peak Rewards plan, which pays households that allow BGE to cycle off their air conditioning at critical times. Demand response will also eventually come from response to price signals. Peak-use electricity is very expensive; on really hot days the price for electrons can jump 20- or 50-fold for a few minutes. Yet the customer has no sensitivity to these spikes because the meters aren't sophisticated enough. The AC stays turned on no matter how expensive the electricity gets.

Eventually "smart" meters will put households at risk for incurring high charges for peak-demand electrons. Adjusting and cutting down shouldn't change you lifestyle much. You should be able to program your meter/thermostat to shut down the AC when megawatt hours reach a certain outrageous price -- say, $100 per megawatt hour. In theory that would leave your unit off for only a few minutes and not enough that you would notice much. And if everybody does it it makes a huge difference for pressure on the grid.

The FERC study finds that Maryland has enormous potential to cut peak demand by virtue of the fact that it already has some peak demand programs in place and the fact that it has a high concentration of central AC among households.

Says FERC:

Ranked by demand response potential as a fraction of peak demand, Connecticut, Maryland and Maine are highest; each has substantial amounts of existing demand response, Maine has an above-average share of peak demand in the Large commercial and industrial customer class, and Maryland has a relatively large amount of residential central air conditioning.

Maryland, the agency says, could cut peak demand by 28 percent by 2014 and an amazing 32 percent by 2019. Not only will that reduce pollution. It will ease upward pressure on electricity prices and reduce the need to build generators.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: BGE/electricity
        

Despite the death, horror and heartache he sowed across two nations, I respected and appreciated Robert McNamara's attempts to question and ultimately condemn what he had done. Self-doubt is a hallmark of the honest man. Penitence is a foundation-stone of religions, a lesson to others and a way toward spiritual peace. From the NYT obit:

In 1995, he took a stand against his own conduct of the war, confessing in a memoir that it was “wrong, terribly wrong.” ...

Most public officials will never come close to being so candid. I certainly never expect it from Dick Cheney.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

I have received a fair amount of email about last week's column that said:

You don't need to be a lawyer to understand how Gov. Martin O'Malley's Public Service Commission is flouting the law. Rarely is the difference so bright between what is permitted and what is perpetrated.

The law, signed by O'Malley in April 2008, lets the commission review deals by electric utility owners only if a transaction would give somebody at least a fifth of the shares or a fifth of the board seats at the owner corporation. The red, octagonal "STOP" sign at the end of my street is a similar example of clear legal language.

But the commission claims the power to reject Electricite de France's plan to invest in BGE parent Constellation Energy even though the French company would get only one out of more than 10 board seats and owns fewer than 10 percent of the shares. The decision demonstrates stunning bad faith by Maryland as well as O'Malley's increasing desperation to be seen as keeping campaign promises to lower electric prices.

Readers want more legal background. Here is the full language of the law passed last year by the General Assembly. Here are the relevant paragraphs:

(2) FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SUBSECTION, A PERSON MAY NOT BE CONSIDERED TO HAVE ACQUIRED, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, THE POWER TO EXERCISE ANY SUBSTANTIAL INFLUENCE OVER THE POLICIES AND ACTIONS OF A GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY IF THE PERSON: (I) AFTER ANY ACQUISITION OF VOTING INTERESTS OF A COMPANY THAT OWNS OR CONTROLS A GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OWNS, CONTROLS, OR HAS THE RIGHT TO VOTE, OR DIRECT THE VOTING OF, NOT MORE THAN 20% OF THE OUTSTANDING VOTING INTERESTS OF A COMPANY THAT OWNS OR CONTROLS A GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY; AND (II) DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DESIGNATE MORE THAN 20% OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OR OTHER GOVERNING BODY OF A COMPANY THAT OWNS OR CONTROLS A GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY.

Here is the full text of the commission's order that begins:

In this Order, the Public Service Commission finds that Electricité de France International, SA (“EDF”)1 would, upon completing a proposed transaction with Constellation Energy Group, Inc. (“CEG”), “acquire, directly or indirectly, the power to exercise … substantial influence over the policies and actions”2 of CEG’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (“BGE”).

Here is how the commission lamely explains its decision to take jurisdiction even though the law says it lacks it:

CEG argues that the “safe harbor” ends our review of this transaction because EDF is acquiring neither voting interests that would take its holdings above 20% nor the right to designate more than 20% of the CEG Board of Directors. We find that the plain language of (e)(2) compels exactly the opposite conclusion: because EDF will, in the proposed transaction, acquire rights and assets other than voting interests in CEG, the “safe harbor” does not and cannot apply. Once a proposed transaction includes elements other than acquisition of stock and board designation rights, it no longer is eligible for the (e)(2) exception.

Stock ownership and board votes are the alpha and omega of substantial control. All corporate law is predicated on the notion that the people who own companies and the boards that supervise them are the controlling entities. This PSC sentence -- "Once a proposed transaction includes elements other than acquisition of stock and board designation rights, it no longer is eligible for the (e)(2) exception." -- is Orwellian in its casual assertion of omnipotence. By such logic, if Constellation wanted to give an ice cream party for EDF or another business partner, the PSC could block the deal.

Judge Berger's dismissal last week of Constellation's challenge to the PSC's authority does nothing to change this argument. He didn't rule on the merits of the case.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: BGE/electricity
        

BGE has posted its monthly update for natural gas prices. The price edged up from 57.05 cents per therm in June to 61.71 cents for July. At 62 cents it's only 40 percent of its price from last July, which was $1.58.

Last month I published a column saying that energy prices might be heading up and that you might want to sign up for WGES's fixed-price natural gas deals, even though they're substantially pricier than what BGE has been charging month to month. But the column was wishy washy.

"Based on what we're seeing so far, we would expect this winter's gas to probably be a little lower than last winter, but it's going to be higher than what we see right now," said Ronald T. Jennings, BGE's director of gas supply.

Is that reason enough to lock up your own supply, separate from what BGE will offer? (BGE is always your electric and gas delivery company, but suppliers can vary.) The best natural gas deal out there is from WGES (see phone number above), letting you buy for a year at 73 cents and two years at 84 cents.

While substantially higher than today's price, those deals - especially the two-year package - will look good if the economy recovers in a robust way. If prices of $1.20 or $1.50 per therm would make a distressing dent in your budget, the two-year WGES deal is the way to go.

I haven't locked in with WGES or anyone else for natural gas. I'm betting the economy will continue to be weaker than many expect. And I'm betting against another Hurricane Katrina, which disrupted gas production and shipment and caused prices to spike for the winter of 2005/2006. But energy prices seem to be sensitive to even subtle signs of economic growth, and it's not a clear call.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: BGE/electricity
        

The always-astute Megan McArdle offers the best explanation I've heard.

I find it hard to believe that none of the liberal commentators breathlessly celebrating Wal-Mart's "capitulation" on national health care have even entertained the most parsimonious explanation: that Wal-Mart is in favor of this because it raises the barriers to entry in the retail market, and hammers Wal-Mart's competition. Yet somehow, this appears nowhere in any of the analysis.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Health Care
        

Mike Allen reports:

For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors.

The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff."

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Today's column begins:

You don't need to be a lawyer to understand how Gov. Martin O'Malley's Public Service Commission is flouting the law. Rarely is the difference so bright between what is permitted and what is perpetrated.

The law, signed by O'Malley in April 2008, lets the commission review deals by electric utility owners only if a transaction would give somebody at least a fifth of the shares or a fifth of the board seats at the owner corporation. The red, octagonal "STOP" sign at the end of my street is a similar example of clear legal language.

But the commission claims the power to reject Electricite de France's plan to invest in BGE parent Constellation Energy even though the French company would get only one out of more than 10 board seats and owns fewer than 10 percent of the shares. The decision demonstrates stunning bad faith by Maryland as well as O'Malley's increasing desperation to be seen as keeping campaign promises to lower electric prices.

Here is the relevant language from the law. Like I said, clear as day:

FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SUBSECTION, A PERSON MAY NOT BE CONSIDERED TO HAVE ACQUIRED, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, THE POWER TO EXERCISE ANY SUBSTANTIAL INFLUENCE OVER THE POLICIES AND ACTIONS OF A GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY IF THE PERSON:

(I) AFTER ANY ACQUISITION OF VOTING INTERESTS OF A
COMPANY THAT OWNS OR CONTROLS A GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY, DIRECTLY
OR INDIRECTLY, OWNS, CONTROLS, OR HAS THE RIGHT TO VOTE, OR DIRECT
THE VOTING OF, NOT MORE THAN 20% OF THE OUTSTANDING VOTING
INTERESTS OF A COMPANY THAT OWNS OR CONTROLS A GAS AND ELECTRIC
COMPANY; AND

(II) DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DESIGNATE MORE THAN
20% OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OR OTHER GOVERNING BODY OF A COMPANY
THAT OWNS OR CONTROLS A GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: BGE/electricity