It remains to be seen if any candidate for governor has a big-brain plan for the future of Maryland — and particularly the Baltimore region — as potentially transformative as Mike Rosenbaum’s. The state’s operating budget is well north of $50 billion now, and Rosenbaum wants us to redirect a few billion over eight years toward raising the incomes of thousands of Marylanders, while building a workforce to serve four key economic sectors.
Men and women stuck with low wages need to be making at least $60,000 a year to live a decent life in Maryland, Rosenbaum argues, and there is a way to get them there with bold, upfront public investment. Get them there, he says, and you can remedy a lot of problems, particularly in Baltimore. Higher incomes mean less crime, more homeownership, better care for children — and the better their care, the better they’ll do in school. Fewer people will need government support for rent and food. Increased revenues from income taxes could allow Baltimore to finally lower its highest-in-the-state property tax rate.
Within the frame of his plan for Maryland, Rosenbaum sees the foundation of a kind of Marshall Plan for the city, with potentially 50,000 new jobs that pay at least $60,000 a year.
Right now, he says, Maryland has the resources of a wealthy state, but lacks a coordinated, holistic strategy to lift people to a higher quality of life.
“My argument is we need a comprehensive, massive economic investment that changes our core trend lines,” Rosenbaum says. “And there are ways to put everyone on those pathways [to at least $60,000 a year] — not on Day One, but a significant number of people on Day One. … In Maryland, until you’re at $60,000 a year, you’re never secure.”
He’s correct. Research by United Way put the real survival budget for a family or four in Maryland at $87,156. More specifically, United Way estimated that 55% of Baltimore households could not meet the real cost of living ($72,000 for a family of four) in the city, and that was three years ago.
As noted in a recent column, Mike Rosenbaum is the successful tech entrepreneur who last year entered the crowded field of Democratic candidates for governor. Though he withdrew from the race in November, his plan deserves consideration, especially by the remaining candidates. It points to a potential economic breakthrough — using state money to create a skilled, well-paid workforce in health care, technology, manufacturing and construction trades.
Rosenbaum’s plan: Have the state fund (at $15 per hour) the apprentice training of 20,000 people in the first year, with thousands more over each of the next eight years. As time goes by, additional trainees are paid with increased revenue from income taxes generated by greater numbers of Marylanders moving into jobs and earning higher salaries.
Rosenbaum’s spread sheets show an $8.7 billion investment by the state over the first five years, but with all but about $567 million covered by increased tax revenue. After the fifth year, his calculations show a net structural gain in the state budget of between $2 billion and $3 billion, and an additional 250,000 skilled workers by the project’s eighth year.
About 50,000 of those workers, he says, would be in Baltimore, where jobs that pay $30 to $35 are desperately needed and within reach.
Rosenbaum knows a lot about the world of work and, more specifically, which sectors of the economy pay best. He also adheres to the radical idea that people stuck in low-skill, low-wage jobs can be trained in new occupations that get them to $60,000 a year and beyond.
That’s essentially what Rosenbaum has done in the two companies he founded in Baltimore, Catalyte and Arena Analytics. The first of those, Catalyte, finds talent in unexpected places, using algorithms to predict someone’s ability to grasp and implement software principles and excel at development. Arena identifies the best people to hire and promote in health care.
It’s this arena of technology, generally known as “impact innovation,” where Baltimore could thrive, Rosenbaum says. In fact, he thinks that, with public investment, the city could become a hub for mission-driven tech companies focused on solutions to big problems.
“Baltimore and the region should be the global center of impact innovation — that is, companies that are addressing issues outside the narrow [products] that Silicon Valley focuses on,” says Rosenbaum. “There is a trend toward innovation that serves not just the commercial market but a broader sense — climate change, for instance, health care, class and equity. It’s a more mission-oriented kind of business. Folks in their 20s and 30s today are interested in more than just making money. They want to have more meaning in their professional lives. There is like a trillion dollars in capital chasing that [impact innovation] market, and it does not have a geographic center today.”
Because Central Maryland already has clusters of tech talent — at Fort Meade, for instance — it is positioned to become the hub for impact innovation, a place where people not only start companies but grow them. “We already have the DNA for Baltimore and the region to be the place where we create and commercialize solutions to the world’s problems,” Rosenbaum says.
He’s not just being an optimist. His ideas are grounded in data. The man has spread sheets. Anyone running for governor should have a look at them.
