When I testified recently before the Legislature in opposition to the proposed cuts to MaineCare, I was assigned No. 70 of the more than 400 people who testified.
Just before they called my number, the hearing clerk announced that they would be taking out of turn a person who needed special accommodation. As the hearing clerk adjusted the microphone at a lowered handicap accessible podium, a young woman in a wheelchair motored herself to the front. She was severely physically handicapped — but not mentally. She could hardly lift her head to speak into the already lowered microphone. She held her handwritten notes between her twisted fingers and limp arms.
After identifying herself she explained how her MaineCare benefits helped her to remain in her home, how caregivers came in to help her get out of bed in the morning and to help her use the toilet, bathe and dress. Sitting next to her I listened and watched intently. We were all seeing and hearing firsthand how changes in the budget would result in real changes in the lives of real people.
On the way home from the hearing I called our city hall to ask if the Walmart shopping center in Waterville was still receiving a tax break under a TIF (Tax Increment Financing Agreement). I was told that under the TIF it was still receiving a $450,000 annual tax break. I was also told it had been receiving the tax break for the past 15 years and it was good for another five years at $450,000 per.
When it comes to balancing the budget shouldn’t we also look at lost revenue sources? We don’t have to only cut basic safety-net benefits. We could also consider cutting excessive tax breaks. We don’t have to take away what little some people have so that those who already have a lot can have a lot more. It doesn’t always have to only be about money; social justice should fit in there.
Why don’t we tell Walmart, just like we tell the young woman in the wheelchair who can’t get out of bed in the morning on her own, that we can no longer afford their $450,000 per year tax break; that they’ll just have to get by without it; that they don’t really need it anyway, that they’re just milking the system, etc., etc.
Why do we only make the young woman in a wheelchair come to the podium and beg for help? Why don’t we make (or ask) the big international corporations and other corporate welfare folks to come to the podium and explain (or beg) for their welfare benefit? After all, according to Forbes Magazine, the Wal-Mart family alone is worth $93 billion. This $450,000 per year tax break is only a drop in the bucket for them; they’ll never miss it or need it.
Who’s milking the system? Why the double standard?
There may very well be instances of abuse in the personal welfare system and that abuse should be eliminated. But welfare abuse should be eliminated at all levels; municipal, state and federal; corporate, as well as personal.
Because no matter how you cut it, the real bottom line — for Republicans, Democrats, independents and tea party members alike — is that we have 95 percent of the wealth in the hands of 5 percent of the richest of the rich and their corporations.
And the rest of us are just fighting over the crumbs that fall from their table.
John E. Nale is an elder law attorney and president of the Maine Association of Area Agencies on Aging.
Here is a great little human interest story which really deserved Page One display.
This poignant account of a handicapped Mainer pleading for continuance of health care assistance is lost within the fold.
No reporter has captured the true meaning of what Le Page’s unprecedented and thoughtless slashing of budgets will do to people so well described in this piece, as written simply and so eloquently by Mr John Nale.
As a personal observation it readily fits into that category of a human interest story told from the heart of the witness. It’s the kind of a story that all those who cheer and support the Le Page heartless cut and slash attack will miss.
Mr Nale’s prudent observation about the local Wal Mart’s never ending tax break, puts even more meat into the story. It shows how easily we turn our heads ignoring those who suffer among us, while blindly and obligingly accepting huge tax breaks for the rich. These are tax breaks that could erase many deficits we have to endure, while some less fortunate than us are made to suffer unbearable hardships.
A great story, not told before.
Are you sure you don’t contribute to the Los Angeles Times? It seems that most articles in the BDN come from such sources.
I’ve noticed that trees are not the most articulate things in the forest, but they have the courtesy not to speak unless they have something of value to offer.
That was just rude.
Fail to see the LA Times connection.
John E. Nale is an elder law attorney and president of the Maine Association of Area Agencies on Aging. It says so at the foot of the story.
This hits the nail on the head. Where are our priorities? Wal-Mart tycoons the Waltons are the richest family in the US. Why are we bailing them out and leaving our fellow Mainers in the cold?
If Walmart was a good corporate citizen of the US, they would take a look at some of those idiotic tax breaks, and voluntarily turn them back to help. Since they have made their billions in profit on the backs of the people they are facing cuts now. They have been the employees and customers of that Waterville store since the day it opened.
Jobs, crappy jobs, low paying jobs, part time jobs, no benefits …… It’s always about jobs when they’re looking for new spots and play one community against another ….. They su&k
Race to the bottom — what Maine does best. Wal-Mart gets a TIF in one town by threatening to develop next door instead. Towns bend over backwards to “buy” development on the theory that local jobs will help the economy, that the incoming business or industry will drive additional development. But what do you get, other than increased infrastructure costs? Nothing at the end of the day except an enormous empty parking lot, framing a gigantic, useless warehoused-size building, sitting empty, because Wal-Mart (or Lowe’s or HD or whomever) ran the spreadsheet and your location wasn’t bringing in enough revenue.
This reminds me of a very disturbing conversation I overheard (at J’s Oyster in Portland) last winter. Four WalMart execs were discussing their next moves in Maine. They made no effort NOT to be overheard and were openly discussing “initiatives”, many of which were based on their perception of the gullibility of the town councils in the towns in which they were considering expanding old stores or opening new ones. It made me wish I was a reporter and it made me very angry. They dismissed obstacles they knew would be overcome with money thrown at various town institutions, beautification projects, etc., as, basically, chump change. One man even went so far as to say they would go along with some of the noise barrier requests and mandates “for the time being” saying that these would probably be forgotten about once the new store was a reality. Another man, when asked, “What’s in Thomaston, anyway?” Replied, “Nothing.” Ah, yes. The “job creators” at work. Another one shared a story of a town planing meeting he attended where he hid in the back of the room and “beat feet” before the question and answer portion…”ha, ha”. Disgusting.
Ha, the old MBNA tactic ….. Media manage locally, plunder globally. Nothing like a few bucks thrown to the local food bank or animal shelter get the local rubes eating out of your hand. Clowns around the midcoast still defend The Bank’s chump change pennies years after they rolled up and cashed out.
It’s good that Maine has a smart, well spoken, and hard working man on the side of it’s citizens. Too bad that that does not describe our governor, but thank goodness for people like Mr Nale.
An excellent, thoughtful, and accurate essay. Should be required reading for all Republicans.
How about “required reading” for all Americans. Keep pushing LizDavies. This country is not above a civil war. You may recall that we actually have a history in this area. There are many people ready to lock and load. Are you ready for such an outcome?
It sounds as if you interpreted my liking of the essay quite literally (I did not intend to force all Republicans to read it). On that basis, you seem to be threatening armed warfare. Do you tend to think concretely?
AMEN!