Marc Elrich likes to brag about being a firm believer in “equity” and “fairness” Particularly with regard to wages and the County mandated minimum wage, County Exec Elrich is quick to brag about being on the side of “the little guy”. Never mind that the regressive policies he advocates for and pushes into law dramatically raise costs for Maryland families… just “trust” Elrich is creating a more “fair” future. Just this past December, here is what the career politician told NBCWashington.com:
Elrich said he would like to see the wage go up even more, into the low $20s, and that he plans to make that proposal in 2024.
“What I really think that people realize is that if you really had a proper minimum wage, the amount of money we spend on social programs would significantly drop,” he said.
Now though, new research and energy policy changes out of Maryland’s progressive “big brother” state of California, the go-to for 90% of MoCo’s (and Maryland’s) bad public policy ideas, is throwing cold, cold water on the “green” reverse Robinhood energy policy of taking money from the poor to hand to the rich, such as solar-panel pusher Mr. Elrich. Looks like the Takoma Park tyrant’s “green utopia” is really just redistribution – but from the poor to the already wealthy!
Stated simply: MoCo Exec Elrich and his buddies from the MoCo Annapolis delegation (all Democrats as of this posting) are, by continuing to advocate for (and indeed, expand) Maryland’s current ‘net metering’ energy subsidy to solar panel owners, taking from the poor and handing money to the well-off. Or certainly, those with much more financial cushion and assets. And yes, Maryland isn’t the only state with a net metering policy in place — but it happens to be one of the higher-cost retail energy states in the entire USA!
Not even the California Public Advocates Office (which one could safely assume shares much ideology in common with Marc Elrich on topics including climate change, income inequality, etc) could spin, lie or fudge the basic facts of retail-cost “net metering (NEM 1.0)” in Cali:
And just who owns solar panels? We know the answer. Many a study has been commissioned, both in Cali and nationwide on who is buying these panels. Wealthy or upper-income people get solar panels for their larger houses. Drive around MoCo and see for yourself. Solar is expensive and unlikely to be installed by tthe “little guy” or a new home buyer.
Now here is a better, much more fair approach to this terrible energy policy, proposed by authors Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling with AmericanExperiment.org:
Agreed. And we look forward to continuing to shame faux-socialist Elrich, State Senator Ben Kramer (Democrat, District 19 who pushed for an expansion of this state net metering scheme in 2021) and all the rest of the Democrats in Annapolis, many of whom claim to be “champions” of “equality” compared to mean ol’ Republicans like former Governor Larry Hogan.
Of course, Governor Hogan cut tolls, state fees and more costs for Maryland families. Meanwhile, these politicians literally redistributed money from the poor back up to the well-off (including themselves).
More to come.