>> business news from the capital region. this is "washington business report" with abc7 nationalal corresespondent rebecca cooper. >> thank you foror joining us. we look at business and fifinance from the washington region. this week, wt is in your wallet? we talk about your pocketbook and the price of gas. plus h how this could impact businesses and individual investors. first,t, we will focus on a major player in our regional economy the home to 15,000 businesses

and 14,000 workers. the unty has been hard h hit when it comes to foreclosure and the loss of jobs. but what is next? despite black guy from the criminal conviction of a county executive, business leaders want to attract new business with t the new economic developnt fund anand a proposal to bring in gambling. the county executive has been a major force for economic grorowth. rushern baker, spot to before joinining us -- thank you for joining us. u goa very good it right up. the ststarts with se ways you're trying to grow the economic health of the county. always beforore, you - -- you id

that people u use tchuckle when u called prince george's county the econonomic center of the reon. >> they did. >> you have proposed --ther things to return to do. but first, we have to tatackle the problem you are facing, the budget defic. $125 million projected d deficit. a lot of people are saying it is not clear where that is going to come from. >> thehe whole region is faced with an economic dowurn. from w where i am that, i have asked agencies to take a 5% cut across the board. the only agencies exempted our education and public safety. everyone else is making a cut and this is clearly going to impact the things we want do at prince george's county, which

is why the economic activities we he donone with ourr economic development center fund, our commercial tax base is so important cause we wl bee able to clo the budgetap. unless we low our tax base, we will not be able to provide the type of services people in prince george's county are expecting. >> can you be more specific? >> what t it means is, we are going g to hold the line on -- we may try to do something like one time bonuses b bonus for ememployeeees to let them see we can appreciate there are work. >> that wowould be based on rit? >> that would bed on merit. positions s that had gone vacant woululd still be vacant. it means our libry system, which i deaearly ve, is not going to be able to expand. it means places like

environmental ancie that do code enforcement are not going to b be higr more people. are g going t to hold d the line. we will provide service. but were goioing to holdhe line -- >> you say something has to give. how youou convince businesses to relocate to prince george's county when yoare still trying to find money for schools businesses. you have to find $600 million to build a regional hospital. what you say to businesses t to say that now is nonot thtime to come to prince george's county. >> y you give me the hard question. [laughter] >> we have to ask the question. >> we have a fund that is an enticement to come to prince georgege's county. we are blessed in the region because we have most under-

utilized mattress bought in the county tt has not been deloped -- metro spot in the county that has not been developed. branch avenue near andrews air force base, it is somportant. and the g greenbelts. we are going to expand. this is the place to do a.a. we have the office locations and we will provide incncentives to help our commercial ta base and grow. we are holdinghe le on publblic safety, making sure we invest in our police, are firefighters and safety is paramount in the county. we are investing inn education. we areestiting in things that will helpp us grow economimically and the future. >> we only have a couple minutes left in this segment, but we will ce backck aft the break. you have gotten allll the goo press about the economic

development t plan.. you had a meeting ts week with about 250 binesses. and the good newbad news people wte an article saying that some people came away concernened that you may b placing too much priority on a bigger businesses?? >> the emphasis is going to be on those target locations around the metro spot. we know we h have a limited amount of funds we can use. wewe want to get a bigger bang for auerbach. it is nearar the district -- w want to get a bigger bang for our buck. it is near the district line. >> did you notot lay out the priorities for which ones, and those of the ones that may bring more jobs? >> the ones that bri more jobs willet higher priorityty. theyey will l grow the tax base in

our county. a lolot of our around the nation grth is arod the smal busisses. those lated in placaces like grand avenue, at the greenbelts -- the greenelt, the metro they will also see use ofofhe fund. we think t this ll be good to local businesses small businenesses.. but it will also attract people to the town. >>the nd i available not only to existing businesseses, butut potential businesses as well? >> that is absolutely correct. >> we will talk more about this after the break. today is gonna be an portant day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe?

let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers.

welco back. we are with prince george's unty execuve r rushern baker. thk you for joining us ain.n. a lot of talk about your plan to bring a casino in. some of urritics have been extremel o outspoken including the democratic senar saying he thinks thihis is a horrible ide for prince george's county, saying this is exactly the wrong kind of business t to bring to prince george'county. what do you say to that? >> i vovote agagainst slots w when i was inhe general assembly.

for eight years i've voted against it. asas county executive, i have to look at what a the opportunities for prince george's countynd the statef maryland? i wod not take any revenue source of t the tab without exploring . things are differe fm the time when i voted against the. one, is it is of business that wacreated to be an tertainment district. two, we did not have a statewide referendum in e state of maryland or 57% of people in prince grge's county voted for it. >> and that is across the state? >> this woulbring in between $40 million and $50 llion of revenue. you talk a about the problems we're facing withevenue. so ware e looking to find ways to bring new money in.n.

this will bring in the high-end casinono to press charges county, but it alsbrings in -- prince george's county, but it also brings in live shows and reaurants. it helpsps our education, the infrastrtructure the rds in the sohern part the tatto $11 million toward housing stabilization, which is foreclure. it w will help us with some ofof the issues we are facing. >> let me bring in this -- "ag grandiose grab for easy money." other businesses that might locate to prceeorge' county? >> when we dided to go with the proposal, we looked at what kind of impact it would have on the federal enclaves for t t

county. th fbi is still the fed. we think we still l live a g great ot o of gettiting no. one of the argument that i you're trying to le data into an economic situation, thihis an eensive pok chip. is not the way to grow people's pocketbos? >> the reason we made a $1 billion caso is we putut it at high and so we could make it entertainment. you are not just coming for the cacasinos. you are coming for the live shows. you are coming for the restaurant' and the retail that is theirir. -- that is there. we made it t overall entertainment for the e people comining their. we think it willttract people from the district, folks from

virgininia, and really from aroun the world. you are not targeting people from prince e george's county. >> keynote there are those -- you know there are those who very much want thehe winner for the bid to be the fbi and some ar saying unflattering tngs about prince george's county. some singing aounty that had -- some seen a county that had its can n executive sent to jail does not set the best example for the fbi location? >> that is an indidividual action. if you take prince george's county as a whole we areard- working. most of them are federal woworkerers. they do a a goodod job. if the federal gsa needs to be around metro sites and they ed land masass, prince george's

county has the best location r federal business- fell -- federal businesses coming in yo. if you look at land mass metro, we make the best case forr a. >> and you do wo so hard in ince george's countnty,hat are your thoughts? >> i t think the gsa system is p layed out. they served eir time. >> were you disappnted? what was it the take of y your lleagues? >> i think w we were surprised all of these things happen. but my job acounty exexecutive is to continue to move th county for were. that is what i i tried t to do last year a what i will do for the next three years >> rushern baker prince

george's county ecutive. thank k you for joining is. what is happening to the gasoline in your tank? stay tuned for more of asngton business report." how did this small colorado town get through tough economic times? freight rail. it attracted large companies, like vestas. we built four factories to make turbine blades towers, and generators. creating over seseventeen hundred jobs. then

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>> we are talking to t top business minds in our region. a regular contributor to the world of business -- donna evers, president and under of

evers & & company re estate. let's get to it. martin o'malley says he has a lot of decisions to make for how to pay for everything. he says the mortgage deduction -- is only for those making $100,000 or more. what is the big deal? >> i think we are at a very fragile time. we still are. when you look at the numbers and what has happened until now montgomery county is the most successfsful county in the state ofof maryland. theyey actually have comparable numbers to d.c. and virginia. this is not the time draws but yoxpect -- this is not the time -- >> but you expect donna to say that. >> governor o'malley has an

ininfinite appetite for money. he likes to squander m money in so many diffent and irresponsible ways. >> give me an example. >> the industrial polic he w wanted to lure companies to maryland on the basis of the industrial policy. in fact, providing a suitable environment is more important. i think it is reasonable. >> but he was talking aboutut the importance ofhe development fund. >> i do not know if i agree with that. i think k it would be a better idea to create a suitable environment for business still li virginia and otherr states do. so they want to come not you have to pay them to come. the mortgage interest deduction -- reduction $100,000, that is not a lot of money in washington. that is an irresponsible recommendation. this is like the millionaires' tax. this is an ecoconomic development

program for fairfax couounty. is n not over. >> i am joined by peter morici and donna evers. playing devil's advocate the governor would say this is all well a good. what would you have him cut? >> we are in too fragile estate. i think everyone understands. what he does not get it, i do not know. >> ok, a tough crowd for governor o'lley. taking it to the presidential level, you hav been saying the ama administration does not quite get it with oil and ga drilling. president obamaas a three- pronged energylan. -- says his opponents have the three-pronged energy plan. drill more, drill more, drill

more. > and that is what prompted me to write my op-ed seeing e president is out of it. it is somewhat separate from the global market. we have less supply. if we drill and we expanded domestic production to 10 million barrels a day, we to createte 5 millionobs without spending taxpayer money. the problem with president obama if he is not paying for it, he cannot take credit for. he is mumuch more interested like governor o'mall in taxing more. >> governor o'malley, come on the show and defd yourself here. >> ok, and yoyou did make a very compelling case, but oil and gas prices have been pretty high whatever it was selling for in the u.s. you did make a compelelling case that was not the case anymore. tell us some of the numbers. >> the sa commodities should

sell for the same price. generally, it sold for the same price for about 20, 30 years. over the oma presidenc there has been a $17 spread, and we have a lot -- >> the extra crude is getting better. >> genererally, if you have more domestic oil, he would have a lower price. if we drilled more in america and we importrted less, thahat would be the big economi impact, the lost spending power that is pulling down the economy. >> donna will let you take a position on drdrill baby -- drill baby drill. >> america is a special marketplace. we have to look at the world we live i in and the eater washshington metro area. >> that is what want to talk

out. what are you seeing? let me throw some numbers out there. home prices did fall in december 1 when 6%. gasoline prices fell 4%. -- home prices didid falll in december 1 0.6%. -- 1.6%. >> what is interesting, we have these programs that probably going to continue -- one-third ofof desirable properties. is going to be really tight. >> washington remamains good. lot of spending -- >> prince george county executive. peter morici. we if you want less you can always

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>> and 575 as our number of the week. that is the average number consumers plan to make purchaseses on their mobile devices this year. nine added 10 u.s. consumers on a tablet, smart phone or cellll phone will engage in some form ofobile commerce. thank you for joining us. im rebecca cooperer.

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