Maine had the lowest rate of income growth in the country — 3.4 percent — in 2011, according to federal figures released this week.
The national average growth rate in 2011 was 5.1 percent, and North Dakota topped the list at 8.1 percent growth, according to estimates released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Maine’s last-place finish in terms of income growth is a significant drop from the previous year. From 2009 to 2010, Mainers saw a 2.8 percent increase in personal income, putting the state at 28th in the nation. The national average in 2010 was 3 percent, according to the bureau.
While the last recession officially ended in June 2009, Maine typically takes longer than many states to fully emerge from those economic slowdowns. In his annual presentation a few months ago, Charles Colgan, an economist with the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service, said he doesn’t see a full recovery from the recession for five more years.
Colgan said Thursday he wasn’t surprised by the new numbers.
“In 2010, everybody was pretty flat,” Colgan said. “In 2011, we stayed flat and other places started to grow.”
It was the middle of last year that sunk Maine’s growth, Colgan said. In the first quarter, Maine only slightly lagged the national growth rate for personal income. In the second and third quarters, Maine’s growth was less than half the national average. National and state growth rates increased toward the end of the year, said Colgan.
“Both the national growth rate and Maine growth rate in the fourth quarter picked up a bit,” he said. “There’s some possibility that the outlook [for 2012 and beyond] is more promising than 2011.”
Other states at the bottom included Alabama at 49, Mississippi at 48, Nevada at 47 and Alaska at 46.
According to the latest 2011 numbers, the rest of New England showed much stronger growth than Maine, with an average increase of 4.9 percent for the region.
University of Maine economist Todd Gabe has been studying the effect of the recession on occupations along with fellow researchers Richard Florida at the University of Toronto and Charlotta Mellander at the Prosperity Institute of Scandinavia.
They’ve found “substantial structural changes in the economy” after the last recession, Gabe said, that explain why some regions are doing better than others, as reflected in the latest Bureau of Economic Analysis numbers.
Areas that the economy places less value on today include sectors such as agriculture, construction, low-end manufacturing, fishing and forestry — areas that traditionally have been Maine’s strengths. Sectors that are valued include areas such as computer and mathematical occupations, business, financial and professional services careers and other high-tech jobs.
“Now we’re finding there has been a structural change in the economy [and] it favors the occupations we don’t have,” Gabe said. “We’ve known for a long time that we’re way behind in the high-tech occupations. Now we’re finding that the type of occupational structure has contributed to less economic prosperity in Maine. That’s been happening for a long time, but more recently, that effect has been exacerbated through the recession.”
Gov. Paul LePage said Thursday he is not surprised Maine’s income growth ranking is so low, pointing out the state has lagged the nation for years.
“We have got a lot of work to do,” he said.
LePage said he has proposed several bills in areas that are needed to help the private sector create jobs and improve the state’s economy. He said improving the state’s educational systems, from grade schools to the university system, is crucial.
He praised passage of legislation authorizing a feasibility study of an east-west highway and said he believes the Department of Transportation will start on the study soon. He also stressed the need for lawmakers to address energy costs, pointing out that Maine has the 12th highest costs in the nation.
“We want to be competitive with the Dakotas and Iowa and Wyoming,” he said. “We need to get our energy costs down from double digits to single digits. It’s that simple.”
The Bureau of Economic Analysis also released the latest estimates for 2011 per capita income — which is the total personal income of residents of a state divided by the population of that state. According to the bureau, Maine’s per capita personal income grew 3.3 percent to $37,973 in 2011 from $36,763 the previous year, the bureau reported.
That ranked Maine 49th. The national average growth in per capita personal income was 4.3 percent, to $41,663. Maine outperformed only Alaska, which had growth of only 2.9 percent but continued to have per capita income above the national average, coming in at $45,529 for 2011.
Regionally, New England showed positive results for per capita personal income growth with Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island ranking 10th, 12th and 13th respectively for 2011.
The largest gains nationally were reflected in states with strong mining sectors. Overall, earnings from mining grew 9 percent nationally, according to the bureau, faster than every other industry, and accounted for the bulk of the growth in the six fastest-growing states: Oklahoma, North Dakota, Wyoming, Texas, Louisiana and West Virginia.
The Maine Legislature is considering a bill to change the state’s mining laws, potentially opening up Bald Mountain in Aroostook County and other areas to the extraction of precious metals.
Looking forward, Colgan said the question for Maine would be whether this recovery includes jobs.
“The major thing right now is whether or not we’re going to get job growth picking up in Maine,” he said. “The January numbers were promising – but they’ve been wrong three years in a row.”
Mal Leary of Capitol News Service contributed to this report.
Nice work, governor LePage!
Watch out, your ignorance is showing…
Bashing the Governor for surviving in a very difficult era—Vermont isn’t any better off, yet they are a blue state, so???. is kinda dumb esp. when the same people honk about how a governor can’t create jobs.
Bashing Baldacci for being the one who dealt with the Republican Great Recession tsunami first hit and for the first two years of it??? Short memory, have you? And he and Dems closed an $800 ,illion shortfall without all the drama we see out of LeBuffoon. And then right wingers actually attack Obama for the stimulus which saved us from a full Great Depression. Unreal.
A few more years and LePage will have gotten this State out of the mess the dems put us in. He is doing a wonderful job and anyone that doesn’t see that is blind.
Yea 40 years of the anti busniess running this state had nothing to do with this. Almost all major industry is GONE our independent power generation GONE. Please tell me what LePage has done that was ANTI busniess?
Set your selector switch to full automatic and hop madly about! That should make things better.
The businesses packed up and moved offshore to the cheap labor, lack of environmental or labor laws, and tariff free trading. There was literally nothing the Democrats or Republicans in Augusta could have done to prevent it. When all the manufacturing left, unemployment went up, and wages went down. They are still down. I believe our only hope for survival is to buy as local as possible, and as American as possible. We need to put America back to work, and at a living wage. Plain and simple.
Go to buyamerican.org or some other similar sites.Yes you may pay a bit more but it is worth it!
allusaclothing.com. Their prices are competitive with the sweatshop made crap at Beans and it is certified all union made right here in the good old U.S.A.. My hard earned money stays here in the U.S., or I keep it.
Great,thanks!
Thank you! For pulling on the same end of the rope as I am. Too bad our politicians couldn’t grasp this concept! lol.
I agree with what you say. Americans are going to have to learn how to work more for less in order to survive, not good news but it looks like the truth
Texas is a right to work state = greatest growth rate
Maine is a union state. = lowest growth rate.
Seems to be a no brainer to me
Yea nice fail at correlation causation.
Texas is hot = greatest growth rateMaine is colder = lowest growth rateSeems like a no brainer to someone….Your making an unsubstantiated claim by cherry picking the data. You may or may not be correct but the assertion your making is meaningless with out data from other states.
I amazes me how eager people are to give up the only control they have over the 1%. Wouldn’t it be better to have to option to unionize and not use it than to have no option at all? What is to stop these huge corporations from dropping wages and benefits once the threat of workers uniting is a distant memory? First egg workers, then childcare providers. Who is next? Up until recently, I considered myself a conservative Republican. Now I think I classify as an independent, because I simply cannot get behind some of these policies that were clearly drafted by ALEC or similiar organizations with the intent of giving yet more control to the big corporations and taking it away from the “commoners.” I am stunned at how my income and benefits have decreased over the last decade, and I see no way to get it back.
Real wages and benefits has been stagnant or dropped since 1973.If more people woke up like you the TP would go away even faster.They are nothing but dupes for billionaires.
It doesn’t matter the argument, why does one have to be part of a union and pay union dues if they do not want to be part of a union? People don’t realize that unions are just as corrupt, greedy, and have just as much political influence as those “big evil” corporations do.
To continue showing your fail at logic.
Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas are rite to work states. California, Colorado, and DC are not.
Tom, you’re “rite” on that count…
Texas’ growth is due to the massive influx of cheap immigrant labor. Being a Right to work (for less) state only helps that.
Texas? Are we talking about AMERICAN workers getting jobs? lol. A mere 7% of the private workforce in America is now union amcon, I think it is time to stop hiding from the scary union monster hiding under your bed. No accident that the wages are stuck in the early 90’s because of the decline in collective bargaining agreements. Reagan started the death march for the unions. Kind of ironic, considering before he got wealthy pretending to be somebody else, he was the head of a union and a Democrat! lol. Funny how things change when the old stinky green paper is involved. Here is one that is a little bit of a brainer for you, low wages only serve to benefit big corporate America and the top 1%. American small businesses and the American middle class are the ones who pay through the nose when the wages stay down. We are the first generation of Americans to see a lower standard of living than our parents did. At the same time, the top 1% have seen their wealth explode by 300 %, or more. I just talked to a guy down at the parts store. He said that no one in the store had seen a raise in 6 years. I told him that if his pay was not going up about 3% a year to keep pace with the cost of living, it was the same as taking a pay cut. He was pretty depressed when I left.
Union wages are not sustainable on the worldwide market, we cant compete with other markets with union wages . the union is no longer needed they dont do anything but hold their hand out to collect dues
The problem is that union wages and a living wage are one in the same. Every American who gets up and goes to work every day should be able to make enough to support themselves without public assistance. And no one can survive on $7.50 an hour in 2012 without a lot of government cheese. Flat wages are wrecking our economy, destroying the middle class, and the main cause for less and less tax dollars being collected to fund government.
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Flat wages benefit the top 1% and no one else.
Then it would appear 40 years of one party rule in Maine has delivered the goods!
While I have been guilty of it in the past myself, playing the Democrat and Republican game accomplishes nothing, other than to detract from the real issues. They are both guilty of fiddling while Rome burns. Small businesses and middle class America have very few friends in Augusta and Washington. We need to throw them all out and replace them with 535 farmers and fishermen before we are the property of COMMUNIST China. They already have their finger up our butt for over a trillion! At the rate the din wits are selling us out, they will own us in 20 years. How is your Chinese?
Maine’s been a hard place to live and do business forever. Now as reported here, “In just this past year” it has become the WORST place to make a living. What could be holding us back from seeing the improved economic growth seen in so many other states over the past year? Hmm…could it have something to do with our politics or perhaps even a single politician?
I believe you are on to something, but I hope that the single politician you are referring to isn’t LePage.
The mess this state is in has very deep roots.
Come to Massachusetts friend! Leave this tainted vile evil republican
Maine government. We have a nice liberal gov you would just giggle
about
Ayuh. The Gov. of Mass can’t do anything to upset anybody. As a matter of fact, he and his cabinet can’t do anything at all.
Liberal and Democrats and UNIONS are to blame
Right, get unions out of the picture and see that average drop even more, but it’s OK because you can’t get lower than 50th place when there are only 50 places.
Typical union job costs the taxpayer 25-30% more than if non-union resources were employed. The union’s goal is to get the most money for the least amount of work. After that the only goal a union has is to gain political power and the Dem and Libs gladly back organizations that have their roots in comminism. How many more people could be hired if we didn’t have unions?
Private union membership is down to 7% in America. I think it is o.k. to stop hiding from the scary union monster hiding under your bed. Unions are nothing more than a group of workers. Why is it always labor’s fault, and never mismanagement?
How about getting rid of people who want to exercise their rights to belong to a union, and join the democratic party, and don’t forget the Obama situation.
And I thought it was a conspiracy by FORBES, the Koch Brothers, and EXXON that was to fault for our fall from grace…
Lions and Tigers and Bears are to blame.
“Liberal and Democrats and UNIONS are to blame”
Extemely well-thought out and presented in an intellegent and convincing manner with a logical presentation of facts.
I see a future for someone of this persuasive ability writing sound-bites for Bill O’Reilly or Glenn Beck.
Got your attention
Yes, we call that “trolling.”
We used to give kids that act-out like this a good, well-deserved spanking.
And don’t forget Obama and Obama and Obama and Obama and everybody else who aren’t really Americans, and then there’s Obama and all people from away.
Naw… Outside our two “John’s”, who’ve been most successful in screwing Maine up, the Democrat Party has held nearly complete control for nearly 40 years. There’s plenty of blame to go around.
I know you don’t like LePage, but I don’t see how in any way you could even attempt to blame this on a guy who has been in office for only a little over a year.
The current administration has really nothing to do with the current condition of the state, but has everything to do with the future of our state.
That’s what happens when you liquidate your logging, paper and manufacturing industries and export all the jobs overseas. Blame the employees who want a livable wage and the treehuggers who made the corporations stop using the rivers as a sewer.
I don’t buy for a second the inflation numbers in the last paragraph.
Three years ago ( about the time the president was sworn in ) gas was at $1.78 per gallon , today it’s $3.89. and that has an influence on everything else we purchase. I agree with you , those figures are fictional.
About 20 years ago the components of CPI were changed by Congress to dramatically reduce the affect of using both 100% of energy prices and home sales. The intent (successful) was to minimize COLA increases to reduce the government’s obligation to give raises to Social Security recipients and other entitlement programs. It is classic Washington: if they don’t like the way the game is going they change the rules.
Oil prices are controlled by a world market of supply and demand. They are also influenced by Wall Street traders and speculators. It is estimated that as much as $15 out of a fill up on gas ends up on Wall Street. What exactly do you think the president can do to stop this? Gas is actually about where it should be, when adjusted for inflation. The problem is that the wages are stuck in the early 90’s and $4 a gallon gas is taking an ever larger bite out of people’s household budgets. Let’s identify the real problem so we can get to work on fixing things. Let’s start by knocking it off with the Republican and Democrat nonsense, they are both guilty of allowing this country to be driven into the ditch by greed.
No it isn’t.
The federal government can encourage oil/gas exploration/production on the million’s of acres of land it controls. Unfortunately, the Obama administration has cut back both drilling and production on federal lands despite ample evidence of deep sea crude and even greater amounts off Alaska. The ‘delayed’ pipeline would have filled up the production facilities in Louisiana and nothing drives down the cost of refined product than domestic production. Again, it was an Obama decision.
There are numerous policy references from various Obama officials that the intent of the Administration is to drive up the price of gas to force people to buy vehicles with better gas mileage; and if you believe that is working, then you’ll love your new VOLT—oh wait, they halted production because no -one is buying them.
Instead of investing federal dollars in alternative transportation modes that would have moved people from cars into commuter rail; the Obama administration wasted political capital ‘show-boating’ high speed trains between distant points, and failing to replace the DOWNEASTER with lower cost commuter cars….seems like the latest stats clearly reveal the DOWNEASTER’s highest ridership comes during the a.m and evening commutes.
Then you have that enormous waste of energy, OBAMA’s wars in the Mid East, Asia, and Africa. DOD is the largest user of petroleum products in the world; and the various wars have squandered in my opinion a lot of fuel that could have gone in to the domestic market and hopefully, lowered prices.
So it really isn’t a world market? The sun really does revolve around America? We are 4% of the world’s population and we consume around 60% of the oil pumped out of the ground every day. How long do you expect this cozy little arrangement to continue? China and India are becoming industrialized at an alarming rate and their thirst for the black gold is exploding. Thanks mostly to American’s lack of patriotism at the cash register. How dare they take all that money we send them and buy cars with it? I hope they don’t plan on taking any of our 60% to fuel them! Lol.
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I bet your keyboard and router was made in China, so don’t get all righteous when you are the real hypocrite!
I buy things that are supposedly made by American companies, like Dell. Where they choose to have them made is on their conscience, not mine. We, the consumer, really have very little control over that. All we can do is try to buy as local as possible and try to buy American.
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FYI. DOE data indicates the USA currently consumes approximately 24% of the world’s daily oil production. That works out to an average of 1.15 gallons of gasolene per capita per day in the USA using petroleum industry production norms.
My mistake. I was citing old numbers.
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Almost 50 cents of the price of a gallon of gas is for taxes , that’s a start. Then look at the speculative aspect of gas and oil prices , retailer’s raise the price per gallon in anticipation of a rise in their costs. That seems to be putting the cart before the horse , or fueling the fire .
Why does everyone assume that gas prices are not susceptible to inflation, like everything else? Gas prices, when adjusted for inflation, ate about where they should be. When I started driving, gas was about .80 cents a gallon and minimum wage was $4.50 in 1975. At 3% a year for a cost of living increase, gas is about where it should be. The problem is that the wages are not. Gas seems expensive because it is hard to buy $4 a gallon gas with a $10 an hour job. Let’s start calling a spade a spade and quit kidding ourselves about where the real problem lies. The complete failure of wages to keep pace with inflation over the last 20 years or so. Ever since the dim wits in Washington enacted “free” trade and practically invited the cheap s.o.b.s to pack up their factories and move to China, the American worker has been taking it on the chin. I just talked to a guy at the local parts store who told me that he has not seen a raise in 6 years and can’t put in more than 35 hours a week. I told him that if his pay was not going up 3% a year to keep pace with inflation, it was the same as taking a pay cut. He was pretty depressed when I left.
Me niether,
For once there is something that I can agree with you on!
I saw something you said the other day that I agree with. Not all is lost. :)
what should they be then, if you think they are wrong?
“Within all items less food and energy, the apparel index rose sharply, and the indexes for shelter, recreation, medical care, and
tobacco increased as well. The indexes for used cars and trucks and for airline fares both declined, while the new vehicles index was unchanged.
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpid1201.pdf
I don’t fly all that much lately nor have I purchased a car in a decade. If I had my own personal inflation indicator would have gone down… As it is I still buy clothes communication services medical care my personal inflation has gone up.
The assumption that we are all little airline using auto buying monkeys does no represent most Americans. I think the CPI’s basket is a bit off. (sort of like when they used the decline in VHS prices for two years after DVD’s came out.)
As for what it should be… IDK but it is in the governments interest to skew the figures. Not only do they pay less in SS payouts, as mentioned by another poster… they pay out less to bondholders where the return is tied to the inflation index.
If that number was a bit more accurate the debt would explode and Mr Obama would be in deeper doo-doo that he is currently.
C’mon…those inflation numbers are correct. Core inflation. You know, the kind that ignores that pesky “volatile” energy and food price escalation. The kind the government prefers to report since in their world people don’t need to eat or drive or heat/cool their homes. “Heck of a job, Brownie!!”
Inflation depends on what they put in that basket of goods.. leaving out food and energy… That basket changes all the time… wonder what they left out this time that everyone needs.. Clothes maybe?
We can fix that.
Lets have a Training Wage for high school students.
(Poes Law)
Or, they could call them “interns” and work them for nothing.
Internships are now being touted by high schools that are moving into Proficiency Based Learning! Earn high school credits while working for free – kind of reminds me of indentured servants – a return to dark age feudalism – the right wing republican way to treat people! Gotta love it – thousands of Mainers out of work but your high schooler can work for free!
Bowdoin College, the heart and soul of BLUE Maine, has long ‘hired’ student interns; as have Bates and Colby also part of BLUE Maine. Republicans have just caught on to this extensive abuse of ‘free’ labor by liberal Dem. colleges.
Well that just goes to show that blue is brighter then red…
This abuse of student labor has spawned law suits, given the coercion students get to work without pay to advance in their career tracks.
Educate yourself:
Unpaid Interns and Labor Laws: Gaining Experience, Enduring Abuse
http://www.politicsdaily.com/…/unpaid-interns-labor-laws-students-experie.
..May 12, 2010 – Many college-aged Americans have worked as unpaid internsperforming jobs for which, under the Fair Labor Standards Act, they should have ..
.Is use of interns abuse of labor? –
Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/…/is-use-of-interns-abuse-of-labor/…Apr 7, 2010 – But as hordes of student interns descend on the capital seeking … even in cases of blatant abuses, since another student will readily work for .
..Intern Abuse? –
BusinessWeekwww.businessweek.com/careers/managementiq/…/intern_abuse.htmlMay 5, 2009 – This has some fretting over intern abuse. “I believe …. Will the studentreceive credit for the work or is the internship required for graduation?
I was an aircraft mechanic for years. I had brass straight out of the academy, nose still in a book, tell me how to do my job.
Hands on, even for free, offers much more knowledge then bookwork alone.
The sky is the limit once you dump that pesky conscience. Then you can get to work exploiting others solely for your benefit. To quote that Republican idol, Gordon Gecko, “greed is good”. There has never been a better time to be a member of the GOP. Wages are stuck in the early 90’s, social programs are falling like dominoes, and the tax cuts just keep coming. They now have a Troglodyte in Augusta who is bent on improving their lot in life at the expense of everyone else. Let the good times roll! Lol.
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The bad news is Maine’s income is once again stagnant. The good news is that Allen’s Coffee Brandy is still number one. WOO-HOO!
Their yearly sales are down though. A poor indicator of the Maine economy.
what do people expect when half the state works at Wal Mart and in other non-skilled jobs? I’ve seen my income rise from $50K to almost $100K since 2005, but I’m a skilled professional and am constantly being contacted by recruiters from out-of-state companies where I could probably make $30K more. Too bad so many Mainers look down on education, but I guess that’s what happens when most of the intelligent young people leave and we get a constant watering down of the gene pool.
As long as it’s acceptable to spend your education years knocked up or as a stoner, it’s never going to change. Those who paid attention and had the ambition to make something of themselves are always going to have to carry that ball and chain.
As long as the prevailing logic is to bring in big box
solutions that run local business out of business, little will change. All they
provide are small paychecks while funneling revenues out of state that would
return to the community if they were local business. I wouldn’t blame anyone for
staying home and smokin’ a fatty.
Apparently “big box” businesses are doing well overall. So I don’t suppose it has anything to do with free enterprise economics at work that brings in efficiency and lowers costs for consumers, does it?
of course they’re doing well, they’ve driven their local competition out of business. It’s hard to compete when you buy Mayo by the train load. I can understand if you need to buy a skid of Mayo you might want to consider one of these places. Aside from that how one can support WallyWorld or eat the so called food from fast food chains is beyond me, it’s all slop. We never go there, ever, even if an item is less expensive I’d sooner give my dollars to a locally run business before supporting their likes.
I spend 90% of my money in the coarse of a year at businesses within a 5 mile radius of my house that I know for a fact are locally owned. I refuse to shop at ChinaMart, or any other corporate owned big box. The six Walton heirs are now worth $93 billion, or 93,000 million. I think that is enough. They could give away 99.999% of their wealth and still have $9.3 million. It is no coincidence that they are also America’s largest under employer. I have owned my own businesses for years and would be embarrassed if my employees needed public assistance to survive. Apparently, it doesn’t bother the Walton brats.
Walmart is Maine’s largest employer. No wonder we rank at the bottom of the income ratings
Correction! WalMart is Maine’s largest under employer. Employers pay a living wage and take a lot of pride in the fact that their employees do not need public assistance to make ends meet. Under employers do not concern themselves with such mundane matters of conscience.
Well check in with those employees and see whether they are grateful to have the job. If they are not, they are free to leave and seek other employment.
I read a lot of your posts, and it sounds like you’re a great employer!! I’m currently self-employed but have had several wonderful employers who I looked forward to seeing every morning, because they had a genuine interest in you and treated you well and rewarded you extremely well based on your performance. Likewise I’ve worked for outfits like Rite Aid at their corporate headquarters which were ChinaMart like and an IT meat grinder. In the long year that I was there the headquarters had a 50% turnover of employees and we were 500 strong.
I really think greed is at the heart of many of these awful employers. So many think that the corporate model that the ChinaMart like companies use is the only model. There are examples of very successful companies out there which allow employees to have a vested interested in the company which makes it part theirs. Employees react well when they have an active role in their work place and their input is valued vs. being automatons. Another reason I avoid the ChinaMarts like a plague.
I agree that every employer should pay a living wage, but why do you think people accept those jobs at Wal Mart? How do you think Wal Mart is succeeding in keeping hundreds of thousands of employees? Maybe because Wal Mart will hire them. Maybe because for various reasons no one else will. Maybe because they do not want to move to where there are better jobs. No one holds a gun to someone’s head and demands they work at Wal Mart. If people have no other choices, I say thank goodness Wal Mart is there for them. If you think your local small retail business is providing their employees’ health insurance, you need to get out more and talk to the real world.
Different strokes for different folks. Consumers have different buying habits and different tastes. If dining out or shopping the big boxes doesn’t suit you, you are always free to shop elsewhere or dine in. Actually I do both practices and try to buy products made in America where reasonably practicable even in cases where the product is slightly of less quality or a bit more costly. With higher gas prices I’m more apt to shop locally than frequent market chains. That said, no state mandate or regulations can give individual consumers the amount of leeway or options our free economy provides. We need to cherish this heritage of ours not found in most countries.
With all due respect calling fastfood dinning out is like describing walking from the couch to the fridge … exercise.
Again, different strokes for different folks… We all have a unique set of likes and dislikes.
Read the article in Mother Jones about how Amazon has exploited its workers.
I’ll check that out for sure. thanks
That’s a lovely sentiment, but why not talk with most Mainers who are grateful that there is a Wal Mart where they can afford new things that they could never afford at small, local businesses. Who are you to decide that only the people who can afford to pay more at small local businesses are the only people who can enjoy goods that you enjoy because you can pay a higher price?
I heard that when the Wal Mart in Brewer opened, 1000 people stood in line for jobs. Ask them about the evil Wal Mart. They just wanted to work at one of the only businesses hiring. They CHOSE to do that. They obviously wanted to stay in that area or didn’t have any other opportunities or skills for different work and were willing and eager to work at Wal Mart.
Economic efficiency, practically by definition, means less jobs required for a given product or service.
Yes, in some cases it can lead to less jobs. Overall however it creates new opportunities for growth and makes America more competitive abroad when it comes to international trade.
Who’s fault is it if you spent your education years as a stoner with no ambition and all you’re qualified to do is work in a big box store?
Maine’s ‘best n’ brightest’ are usually migrants attracted by our bucolic, outdoorsy lifestyle who’ve given up the big bucks to live out this lifestyle or start some kind of enterprise on the cheap….if you can succeed in Maine, you should be able to succeed anywhere and if you do succeed, you will either be bought out or ‘acquired’ or move closer to your market or source of raw materials—including technical labor.
I have to disagree about Mainers looking down on education, esp. when S.M.C.C.’s ‘trade’ classes are overflowing.
The problem is the liberal college mindset, which has converted Orono from a land grant university:
The Morrill Act of 1862 was also known as the Land Grant College Act. It was a major boost to higher education in America. The grant was originally set up to establish institutions in each state that would educate people in agriculture, home economics, mechanical arts, and other professions that were practical at the time.The land grant act was introduced by Vermont Congressman Justin Morrill. He envisioned the financing of agricultural and mechanical education and wanted to assure that education would be available to those in all social classes”
Into a poor imitation of Bowdoin/Bates/Colby.
Time to replant and reinvigorate the original concept of the Morrill Act; or abandon UMS and declare the new community college system as the embodiment of the Morrill act.
times change, flagship universities change as well. Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby are not research universities. Engineering, Math, and Science are where we need to be strong for the modern economy, and UMaine has the three little ivy’s beat there.
I graduated from a world class research university. UMaine’s vain attempts to compete with the top tier starting with athletics that rely on imports; and with third tier research depts. is no longer sustainable.
Time to prune out the old growth, restore the original purpose, and nourish those parts that show the greatest promise.
Not sure producing endless numbers of counselors and elementary school teachers is worth the cost in an era of declining school enrollments.
and I went to UMaine and constantly get contacted by Google and Microsoft about job opportunities. I admit it is not a world class research university, but it is the only research university in Maine and has a strong engineering program. It would be foolish to focus solely on agriculture. Engineering, Science, and Math are extremely important and the college of Engineering is one of the strongest at the University.
I’m saying UMaine must refocus on things that make sense….agriculture can become an export industry like blueberries, lobster, apples if it becomes a priority there. Right now if you want ag. advice you go to Durham, Burlington, or Cornell. Right now I’m getting resumes from India and Pakistan…..post doc’s even. There is a global economy and these people work for very little. Pouring money into teacher education is nice when you have an expanding school system to hire them; export crop??? Just get them to pay their way. More lawyers?? Maine has one of the higher per capita ratios in the U.S. and continues to churn them out. Resources are stretched very thin…like the nearly empty Darling Center in Boothbay. The last time I went through it, the engineering school was a relic. I was originally an electronic’s engineering major at Penn. State, so I know a bit about these resources. Their fabrication labs would rival many private companies! PSU fostered dozens of hi tech companies like HR Singer and created an entire industrial economy in State College.
The point being that when you compare UMaine with the rest of the world it is silly to pump money into areas in which you are in the third tier or don’t have any native attachment, i.e. forest products, yet another agriculture specialty. What happened to the $25m for bio-mass fuels?
Ocean sciences? a bit of an edge quickly eclipsed by world class ocean energy labs in Canada and down the coast.
Then there is all the money put into athletics to ‘keep up with the Jones’. Maybe it should be invested in R & D; not sports?
The bureaucratic overhead at UMaine is another source of annoyance….remember when the Chancellor’s office had 350 people affiliated with it?
Just focus and just do the best job you can.
you haven’t been in the engineering department lately I would say.
Don’t forget about the attack on science and knowledge by the TPers.They are the cancer in our society.
Esp. those KOCH’s…uh, don’t they own a world class science and engineering services conglomerate?
They inherited all their $$ and have been among the leading climate deniers.
Which their daddy built with Soviet dollars .
and you haven’t been to a top tier engineering school lately….until then, you have no idea how far behind you are. Foster centers of relevant excellence and stop trying to compete with the Jones’…they have a lot more money and expertise.
the engineering facilities have had major upgrades recently. Advanced manufacturing capabilities, state of the art clean rooms, composite prototyping and testing, … I think your knowledge is out of date.
I will absolutely agree that athletics are a major drain on most college budgets.Except for football and basketball,most college sports are a black hole.
That said,the article is about Maine’s workforce and how we’ve dropped in the rankings.
Maine has long attracted world class people but don’t retain them.
“doesn’t” retain them.
Yes, except it’s in the middle of nowhere at the end of the country’s northernmost tip and enrollment is declining.
hasn’t enrollment been up at UMaine, or at least fairly stable? One problem is they are not selective enough and a large number of students don’t finish their degrees. When I was an undergraduate in computer science from 98-02 I started with a few hundred freshman CS students and only a handful of us graduated 4 years later, a lot transferred to other programs like business when they found discrete math too hard but I know others that left school.
Yes, because we should definitely bring back the original intent of educating people (most likely directed at women) in “Home Economics.” The key term was “practical at the time.” The University has expanded as should happen as time goes by. There are more students, variations in job markets and opportunities. UM has expanded over the years to include many things such as engineering, sciences and business. Those things can satisfy your demand to “reinvigorate the original concept.”
Time to reinvigorate something written about university education in 1862? Hmmmm. I thought times had changed a bit.
You can have all the education you want but if you lack motivation to work or lack common sense what good is education? Anyway, the governor has increased the education budget, so I don’t really understand your point.
Well said.We’re already the oldest state in the country so we’re screwed in terms of innovation.All we’re doing now is creating medical jobs wiping butts.Not a pretty sight.
When you age—yes you will—and need someone to care for you in the bathroom, you will be praying that those caretakers are paid well enough to care about coming to work, have a high school education, that they know enough not to do drugs, and that they have some knowledge when you fall or show signs of a stroke. Just sayin’.
If you look at my comments regarding LePage’s union busting among child care workers,you’ll see I absolutely support higher wages and benefits for health care workers, especially HHA’s.I’ve worked in the medical field and have had to have HHA’s for family members.They work very hard for very little money and are an American treasure.
What’s holding Maine back is a lack of a real highway system. It’s true and a sad joke that “you can’t get there from here”.
There is little opportunity. People move away. People live too far apart in too many small towns. The result is that businesses will not or simply cannot locate here. It’s too expensive and not enough workers.
The cause was the stranglehold the paper companies had on Maine for too many years. The mill towns suited them just fine. No need to change. No need for better roads. Leave well enough alone.
Well, now, the mills are closing or have adopted technology that atllows them to operate with far fewer workers, but the roads have not changed and too many people live in out-of-the-way places that economic growth really cannot reach.
Politican’s from both sides try to help, but it’s all in vain and no blame is necessary. Better to try a few bad ideas than not at all. The answer is to either: 1) develop an efficient highway system so you “can get there from here”; or, 2) stop trying to prop up every small town.
There is a reason for ghost towns out west. You cannot support a small town miles from nowhere forever.
Turn Northern Maine into a National Park. Problem solved.
they already have plans for Northern Maine …… they wanta turn it into a massive dump.
I read that, The LePage Dump. A huge massive dump for out of state garbage. That is good too. Fits the area well. They can always turn the mountain of garbage into a new Ski Mecca after 30 years of use. LePage Mountain Ski Resort..
Yep …. expect to see 300K condos on that heap in Hamden very soon.
You can’t build on landfills; but it’s a nice image of LePage hatred..keep up the good work!
Thank you, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet ….. I promise. Only when Paulie is a lame duck in Nov of next year would I consider letting up even a little. The extreme wing is going down ….. hard. The best part is …. they’re doing it to themselves.
And the extreme left is losing money and influence…gonna protest Obama’s fund raiser or join it?
given the clowns the GOP are putting forth …..Obama is a the only CHOICE ! But I am looking into goose-stepping lessons just in case, God knows we all may be wearing brown shirts and jack boots.
You’ll find ‘goose-stepping’ lessons in Michell’s tips for the obese; and plenty of uniforms in Obama’s charter schools. You just ain’t looking, are you….didn’t think you’d protest the gathering of Maine’s 1 %…you people never live out your protest rhetoric, never.
you mean like the Occupy movement? You will see in Nov. the effects of those protests.
Look at the explosion of type 2 diabetes among the young.I was in the grocery store last week and saw a mother and daughter who were both so fat they were barely able to walk(Mom was in the motorized cart)Very sad-and we will all pay for them.
We were always taught that it was not polite to pick on a dim wit.
lol
We lived in Lowell, Mass for a bit. They did indeed build condos on a dump…which of course settled and the condos have all these cracks in the walls and sloping floors, hazardous waste showing up left and right. I’m sure there are things in place now to prevent this sort of thing from happening, but as we all know, Maine is way behind the times and a sucker is born every minute…
and one to take him.
Sited a wind turbine on a land fill and got told by the town Manager DEP forbids anything on it. There are ‘hard caps’ but the DEP regs. were pretty clear.
Always look forward,,,
Well Aroostook Cty.voted heavily for Paulie.Now they’re taking it in the shorts with the insurance rate hikes.Let him put a dump up there-serves them right for being ignorant.
Gee, there’s another option. HAVE PEOPLE MOVE TO WHERE THE JOBS ARE. If there are no jobs in Washington County, but are in York County, guess what you have to do to work and provide for your family?????
Mining states the largest gain? Do you hear that Augusta?
So you think mining is the solution. Your willing to trade an ugly landscape, loss of habitat, loss of natural areas, and most likely polution of watersheds. The majority of Maine is tourism based for its income. And your willing to throw that away for 300 jobs? How many jobs are goign to be lost when the entire habitat around the mountain is ruined. It will be ruined! As what they are saying about “new” methods is a bunch of mularky! The profits will not even be kept in the state or even New England for that matter. It will go up to Canada. And like others have said. The majority of those 300 jobs will come from people from away that have mining experience and need jobs. So they have experience and willing to take lower wages! An you think you or your neighbor with no experience are the ones who are going to come into a quick $25-$30 an hour job. DREAM ON!!! The jobs will be going to experienced people from away. The people in Maine will still be on the state dole. And the environment will be ruined for tourism in that area. And most likely cost Mainers money in the future for clean up costs! What exactily will Maine as a whole benefit from the mining?? Your falling for the I will pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today logic. This has never worked for any state!!! They make promises, they make a mess. Then they move on when the proffits are not high enough. Leaving the mess for others to deal with.
At $4. plus for gas, Maine’s tourism is about to drop off. Sorry to tell you the bad news. What about your wind mills, really making Maine’s hilltops look great, don’t you think? Maine’s coast full of natural gas, but we can’t drill, want to guess whats going to happen? 3 miles out from our shore lines it is called international waters. People like you want to complain about any kind of progress. But have no solutions too make Maine a better state. Like my job as a logger in your eyes I’m ruining the landscape, killing trees, mudding waters, ruining the environment, but logging has been going on longer than you have been a Mainer…
Logging done properly is a sustainable living.Any fossil fuels removed are not replaceable.
Ah, but we just approved another sort of mining. Casinos everywhere as the answer! Thars gold in them thar casinos.
It would probably help if Maine’s economic movers and shakers didn’t think the ‘capital’ in capitalism is Washington or Augusta.
We need to stay positive, look at the upside …. at least we’re not 51st.
LOL… Everything lQQks up from the bottom of the barrel.
Maybe Maine will be 57th…….You do know there are 57 states .lol….
Way to go LePage and all your Republican friends! Now let’s watch all the Republicans blame Baldacci and the Democrats for the Republican failed results of cronyism, voter suppression, nepotism…
Are you kidding? They’ll spin this. If we are the lowest paid, that makes us “business friendly”.
Huh? That doesn’t seem to be working for us. Maybe Maine needs to rediscover the “friendly” part because our tourist industry seems to be where we’re heading.
The tourist industry is our largest industry. What’s wrong with holding on to what we’ve done for years and done well? We should give up on high tech jobs filling the closed Brunswick Naval Air Station—-ain’t gonna happen any time soon—- and get real. Pour money into tourism and urge people to come see Maine’s coastline. Vacationland doesn’t sell microchips and processors, but it sells vacations. Tell the nation to come buy what we have.
No surprise here. Where are the jobs you lied about LePage? You promised jobs. Where are they LePage? You know that you have a Loser as Governor when Mississippi is doing better then Maine.
MAINE: THE WAY LIFE SHOULD BE….
There. Could it really be the large corporate businesses treating Maine employees like seasonal workers?
Or the numbers of lowly-motivated people in the employment pool?
Maine’s economy is changing rapidly in several areas.
The expanding population of retirees has spawned a host of services, ranging home remodeling to landscaping, home care, and specialized food delivery, i.e. meals for two. Health care continues to expand in many ways as seniors continue to live longer and longer.
Maine’s variety of exportable agriculture products continues to grow as the climate warm. Regional warming has resulted in longer growing seasons and a greater variety of crops….and of course, a new generation of largely organic growers responding to the vague localvore musings of buyers and emergence of restaurants like Chase’s.
Entrepreneurs who are usually refugees from Silicon Valley or Cambridge continue to come to Maine to live in restored hydro-powered villages where they have inexpensive power and can kayak to work. They ‘hole up’ in odd clusters and plug into their ‘home’ campus electronically, and market globally.
And underneath this turbulent sea of change, is a new economy of growth and abandonment as leases expire or people abandon their new enterprises; while new ones take their place.
And where are these hydro-powered villages?
LePage has been in office 15 months. So I don’t think these statistics can be attributed to him, YET! His first year was the out going budget of the last man in charge. But I will admit I do not like his tactics for making change. For those reasons alone I would sign a recall petition! But Maine does not have a recall option for him so he’s safe.
I can understand a politician wanting to make changes for one reason or another. But cramming them down my throat just makes me want to toss everything back at him. This is the same tactic being used around the country. If they can’t get both parties to agree. They will just go around the rules and force it! And using false emergencies and problems just makes me madder (voter registration changes anyone?).
I agree with several posters here. Cutting education is a huge mistake! Yes, some may complain that quite a few would just up and leave the state when done with school. But many will stay. But if we cut the education possibilities, and allow the wilderness to be turned into a wasteland. We will have a harder time keeping what we do have. And even harder time drawing in people from outside. Maines’ main attraction is its laid back friendly style, and outdoor activities! They are both being threatened!
30 years of crooked politicians [ like our irving owned rep] and free spending quasi govermental organizations…welfare capital of US etc…..will take time to turn this around..politicians wont solve this problem.. every mainer needs to step up..
Maine is last in income growth yet Lepage feels the need to favor Canadian citizens over American’s every chance he gets.
Maine’s earnings growth does not fluctuate because we have so little earnings and such a high percentage of the population who rely on the government, either from welfare or social security. Our earnings did not drop much during the recession, so they will not rebound during a recovery. This is basic economics and common sense.
It is OK, dont worry about this, we are still very high on the list of welfare, EBT cards, subsidizd housing, Medicaid (mainecare),…… We may not make a lot of money but we sure know how to give it away. Even if it bankrupts us. Thank you Gov for trying, TY to the men and women in Augusta who are trying to fix 35+ years of kicking the can down the road.
Don’t forget to thank those of us still working to foot the bill.
I saw my income grow by 0 percent last year. You’ve heard the saying ” You’re lucky to have a job “The study found that 93 percent of the growth went to the top 1 percent of earners…
That is not just this year either. This trend has been happening for 30 years straight. At the same time the amount of taxes paid by the 1% who have gotten all of the gains have fallen considerably.
We have a consumer economy that is under performing because of this basic shift.
Those who worked their way to the top ranks of management in the 1970s and 1980s were the greediest class in modern history. Our system of government and the structure of our economy are not capable of supporting greed to the extent we now have.
It is wrong for workers to get more efficient each year and earn little to none of the benefits of it. Getting a raise used to happen yearly. Most workers have not had a meaningful raise in a decade or more. This pressure on top of having Wall Street engineer away our home equity has decimated the middle class. Since congress works for the beneficiaries of these policies, we have had no relief.
Stories like this frame the narrative of why we are in the precarious place we are as a society. The same politicians and the same two parties offer little hope of relief. This is precisely why we need to get the money out of politics. We are being led to our own slaughter. With no good choices, we need to either change the electoral system or take the country back by force. The former would be much easier, but it has to happen soon. If not, rebelli0n will come. This model is not sustainable.
Funny, I had a Boss that told all the workers every morning for years, Your Lucky You Have a Job, I quit and went back to college. Glad I did.
What income growth? Besides my own, I help pay for someone else’s healthcare, rent and grocery’s. It’s rather discouraging.
We have the lowest earnings and one of the highest amount of poeple on welfare….Why would someone want to work?
If the minimum wage were $10 per hour or if there were plentiful jobs above $10 per hour, the number of people settling for handouts would be much smaller.
If you see that you can have $100 for doing nothing or $105 by busting your azz, which would most people choose? It is obvious.
Because the top management of corporations have elected to keep 93% of the gains over the last thirty years for themselves, they have shifted the balance of things. Working hard used to mean you had your basic needs met. That is no longer true. The fastest growing group of people who are food insecure is the working poor. The ranks of the working poor is growing all the time.
There was a time when you worked your way up in a company from min wage to a better paying postion. Are you saying that can’t happen today?
Slaves can’t replace the owner of the business can they? Work yourself up to where?
I work at a company that has 150 employees: there are others in Maine, most of us worked our way up the ladder to good paying jobs. We have many employees with over 25 years invested-That’s how they prospered in Maine-they stuck to it.
You can do the right things year after year and fall further and further behind. The land of opportunity we once knew has been stolen from us by an elite few who place no value whatsoever on our dreams or our plight.
Now you see, for me it is no contest. I would bust my azz for $105 rather than sit doing nothing and going nowhere for $100.
Yeah, me too. Still, many have not ever had engaging work or a hard working role model that helps to develop that work ethic.
More importantly, why would anyone want to bring a business here? For years the workman’s comp policies gutted private industry.
That’s true, but I really believe that if someone works hard enough they can find success here in Maine or anywhere else-regardless of government policies. People want to work 40 hours a week and bring home a fat check with limited skills or ambition. Look around- there are plenty of Mainers enjoying a good life because they earned it. They didn’t wait around for someone to provide it for them.
This surprises anyone?
We have the slowest income growth and that doesn’t even tell you how inequitably it was distributed. Nearly all of that paltry growth was concentrated in the top 1% of Mainers incomes. Since these numbers are averages they don’t tell much of the story. It like looking at the average net worth of three guys sitting at a bar and then Bill Gates walks in…..
If someone wants work that pays he should just head south to Cumberland or York counties. Maine’s problem does not start at the Piscataqua River river, it starts at the Kennebec. Let’s get a move on with truncating the northern Maine ‘basket case’ from the real Maine.
Hmmmm…”Maine – Open for Business”… Maybe the term needs to read,”Maine – Up for Foreclosure”
This story illustrates why Occupy Wall Street happened late last year. Since the problem has not been solved, it is reasonable to assume there will be more and bigger protests going forward.
Yep this forum is just like politics. Lot’s of people yapping, but nothing ever results from it. Oh the age in which we live. God have mercy on the pitiful human being.
There is Occupy Wall St we have just started. The 99% is out there waiting. Forget the yapping on this blog and Loser LePage. When all Republicans have been voted out of office this November, LePage will have no power. He will wait it out in Florida his last 2 years till he can collect his pension. Guess the Radical Tea Party will be the next party to oppose the Democrats. Most Republicans will be gone, out of office. The Ironic part is the Republicans have done this to themselves. The 99% is alive and well WAITING to vote. No split vote this time to save LePage. All Republicans OUT.
North Dakota is #1 in growth because they have their own bank, the only state in the Union with their own bank, they cut out the middleman banker and deal in wholesale not retail, it is a lot cheaper, but in Maine the bankers rule and we all pay through the nose. Taxation without representation through bankers usury. What is it going to take to wake up people in Maine?
They have one of the largest new oil and gas discoveries in North America. That is their Bank, OIL.
Exactly. You cannot compare them because they just had a HUGE boom in the past few years because of the oil and gas industry. in those towns where workers are moving from all over the US, the housing and rent prices are just as high as NYC. It’s a very unique boom situation. I wouldn’t use it to compare to Maine, that’s for sure.
LePage stop all the controversial political garbage. You’re the governor finially for once do something for the state and for the people of Maine.
My sister works as a cashier for Costco [like sams club} in Mass. She makes $42000 a year and likes going to work
Yeah, and the cost of real estate in Massachusetts is unbelievable.
Plus they have that terrible mandatory health care law! Horrors!
Yeah that’s “reported income”. In my area I bet 3 maybe 4 in 10 report their
actual income. Total underground economy/barter system in play. No money on the
books allows one to sign up for: LIHEAP, WIC, EBT, Rent Support Etc. Etc. Etc.
Always money available for: Neck tattoos, Oxy, Coffee Brandy, Scratch Off
Tickets, Marlboro Lights and Four Wheelers.
Sounds like Washington County.
Plese forgive me, but you should move to a more affluent neighborhood, it sounds like you live in the ghetto. Move away to your values and leave the poor people alone. You have more talent than many people, appreciate it for what it is. Don’t let bigotry despair your life.
Truth hurts doesn’t it…
Question for writer Matt Wickenheiser: Why doesn’t the data distribution match up between the two maps that you have shown, since they supposedly represent the same information (i.e. “Personal income: Percent Change, 2010-2011”)? For instance, on the map that shows “quintiles” in the legend, West Virginia is depicted in a beige color that supposedly represents the “second quintile”, relatively low for income growth among the 50 states. But in the US map that’s transposed over Google Map, West Virginia is depicted in light blue, presumably “fourth quintile” or among the higher rates of growth. Also, neither of these maps substantiate the claim you made in the article that West Virginia and Louisiana are two of “the six fastest growing states”. You may wish to clarify the map(s) and/or update the article accordingly.
Do these figures surprise anyone?
Yay, we came in first in the Race to the Bottom! Now what?
Nice job Paulie.No way the MHPC can spin this.
I know someone who lived there.Their kids developed asthma and they lost a ton of money.I think the class action suit is still ongoing.Love your ID too.
Why shouldn’t he?They don’t need healthcare from their employer,saving thousands per person per year.Oh wait…
Congress is not required to honor wage and hour laws.
I hope you’re right but I’m not sure.The Koches have had all winter to “educate” the cops.
OWS are the greatest of America!
And all the tax breaks they got that they already didn’t need.Great point about Gates.At least he helps people.
The way life will be after the next two elections.
SS recipients got no COLA in 2010 and 2011.R’s on the Senate floor said that the 2009 increase was enough.
Maine would be growing if they weren’t taxing good businesses right out of the state, and giving instant “entitlements” to undesirables arriving from other states.
We left Maine last year, taking our business with us, and all our employees chose to leave, too. Why pay thousands in state income tax each year while Maine uses that money to feed and house convicted child molesters who are sent there by other states?
Sure, we miss our friends, and Maine was beautiful, but we now pay no state income tax, and we pay less for food and far less for health insurance. Florida takes a much tougher stance against sex offenders and, where we live now, they’re not permitted to live near parks and schools. In Bangor, they can live anywhere they want. We tried to get the city council to change that but they seemed more concerned about the rights of convicted child molesters than they were about the rights of innocent children. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Leaving Maine, and Bangor, was a no-brainer for us and for our employees. I strongly recommend it for any business that feels Maine is digging too deeply into their pockets, and for families who are concerned about the high number of convicted child molesters moving to, and already living in, Maine.
I hope the Florida economy takes a big turnaround. How’s the weather down there in the summer months? Hard to get use to for a Mainer?
The economy is fine down here – much more stable than Maine. In Florida, business owners can afford to hire more employees because the state isn’t taxing them to Kingdom Come.
And, I’ll take a 90-degree day on the beach any day over a blizzard. Today, it’s 83 and sunny. The kids are in the pool and I’m working on the back patio on my laptop. Peeeeeeeerfect.
We’re glad you’ve gone to Florida. You obviously belong there.
Nice work by decades of democratic governors & legislatures. They did the damage, not Gov. LePage. He is trying to undo their mess.
Aww…
Looks like Obama will lose Maine because of his sucking up to the 1%…in Portland Friday…..is that what you mean? or will it come because of the embarrassing presentations in front of the Supreme Court this week?
But I thought Maine was Open For Business?
The LePage economic miracle marches on.
Yessah
Le Page only wants low paying non-union factory jobs, that are owned by his friends.
They have one out of touch billionaire and another out of touch religious freak, and an ego maniac against people with a conscious. My money is on the Black Man.
turned over my new DELL keyboard and stamped on the bottom was MADE IN CHINA! My LLBEAN shirt has a similar point of manufacture.
I prefer to design things and have them manufactured overseas when it makes the most sense.
I’ll give you a few reasons why it’s so dismal up here, it’s a poor state for ANY company or corporation to start up in. Add up high taxes, high energy cost, very little incentives and the Federal Government pushing healthcare reform and you have a recipe for a failing state. No new business = no new money to pay wages.
I think part of it is that Maine needs to be modernized. This whole concept of oil tanks for heating is insane to me. It is ridiculously expensive AND uses electricity. It’s sad to see that natural gas is only just making its way here. That obviously isn’t the only reason but I think there are many symptoms to this problem.
And no, I’m not some city-slicker saying this. I come from a sparsely populated state but I also have a college degree from a great university. I moved TO Maine! Yes, it happens to people who aren’t even retirement age. It’s difficult to make a living here, that is for sure. Sure it’s great that people can enjoy a quiet, rural way of life (and I do) but if the state would update some things, some of us could get along easier.
Who knows. Just spouting off…and I’m staying here.
PBMann, if you dont like the price of gasoline…………………then dont buy it.If you owned Exxon Mobil would you give it away????? How much is too much??? They’ve got it . You need it…………its your choice.
LePage and his administration has turned us into the “laughing stock” of New England and the entire US. !!! Now we are right down there with the bigoted, southern “Red States” !!! Thanks a whole bunch Gov. You are a real beauty ! ONE AND DONE !
This is what you can expect when you run off the union jobs, and allow foreign free trade.
Other states grow out of the Recessions quicker because there are factories and jobs and things to do and businesses that can afford to open in their states rather then ours. China wanted to open businesses here in Maine and they stated if the Electricity can come down they would do it! Would Maine budge?? Nope.. of course not! I would love to see some jobs in Maine and Maine back to work and out of this slump we are in and the Recession is over?? Really?
wow I thought it was still going on as many ppl in many states say they cannot still find work. I do hope we see some differences in Maine though so the Jobs and the Work can finally come in to Maine’s Hard Working People..
“Now we’re finding there has been a structural change in the economy [and] it favors the occupations we don’t have,” Gabe said.
I hope all the people that want to keep Maine in the horse and buggy ages are happy. Whether you know it or not, you’re killing this state a little at a time. industry can be done tastefully in the right areas. There’s a lot of space in Maine. Better catch up with the times!
And people here in the state wonder why the younger generation is leaving so fast!!!!
We must go easy on the gov and lawmakers of our poor state as soon as they find funding for jobs for friends and relatives and companies of the same that do business with the state and give major campaign contributions, then if there is time left they will work on the rest of maines people problems
this is what a state looks like after 40 years of one party rule
But we were told that Meaty, beaty, big and bouncy was going to make a difference?
Come on, if you are naive enough to believe it happened in less than year, there’s a bridge waiting for you to buy. Baldacci created trickle down depression that has finally come to roost.
No mistake on my part. I’ll vote for LePage again in aheart beat.
He’s doing agreat job in cleaning out the Liberal closets in this state.
You just can’t spend more than you make forever and expect business that will pay a decent wage to locate here. Liberal spending has crippled Maine…..
We need to move away from the 2 party system. What can we all agree on government waist money. People are greedy . What can we do to make it more fair? I am not saying socialism is the best policy but when anyone wants to look at what they are doing right and we are doing wrong. We are call commies . Capitalism is not working perfect. People do not look at all the facts we are all to biased by are own opinions. We need to all work together. Many on both side have great ideas. Lets unite now before we see riots in the streets I hate to say it on the path we are now it is not 10 years away.
I say again sad unhappy commie,
Come to Massachusetts friend! Leave this tainted vile evil republican
Maine government. We have a nice liberal gov you would just giggle
silly about.
People just don’t get it. It’s not the Republicans or the Democrats, not the Liberals or the Conservatives. It our Government. Senators and Congressmen sit back, make bank and laugh at all the partisan rhetoric. They are rich, have the best health care plan in the world, make none of the sacrifices they ask us to make, don’t give a rat’s rump about the rest of us, and when their term is done, just walk away that much richer.
Our local, State and Federal Governments love it when we bicker amongst ourselves because it takes the spotlight off them. IMHO, they are mostly self serving, self centered bureaucrats that have never faced the trials and tribulations the rest of do on a daily basis. They need to go, and the American people need to stand up and tell them we are not going to take it anymore, and take back our country.
600 jobs in Brunswick. Gone to friends of Lepage in Wisconsin., 35 jobs in Burnham. Gone due to government in action, 600 jobs in Millinocket. Gone. Despite Lepage giving 17 million to his friends in Toronto.
“Competitive with the Dakotas, Iowa, and Wyoming”? This is a sound bite from Bruce Poliquin’s failed primary gubernatorial campaign. Those states get jobs and money from exporting energy to other states in some form or other. The Dakotas export oil, Wyoming a mix of gas and oil and Iowa adds power from its wind farms to the electric grid.
What does Maine got? Tourism, a depleted ocean, and a competitive college hockey team. Just this year, a branch of the University of Maine finally got around to creating a degree in hospitality – years after third world countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, and Jamaica have done so.
Compound all of the above with a pervasive Maine attitude that I ran into in Camden last year when a a seasonal employed permanent resident told me that the root cause of Maine’s economic and government malaise was due to single teen mothers on welfare.
Plus 3.4 % ?? Who….Where… not me ! Just finished my taxes and my income went up +0 .36%! Kinda sounds like the interest on the cds.
Wonder why,we are taxed right through the backside and leaders of the welfare systems. I think Lepage is trying to curb that problem.. But I don’t think he will be in office long enough to fix the whole problem. But half in fine with me. Does the welfare consider EBT cards a job.
The way I see this is Northern Maine should be called Quebec and the people in the county should have all the benefits canadians get, because that area of Maine, and I would dare say Augusta, is ruled by one canadian company. Lets face it, as for the logging industry, mechanical machines replaced hundreds of jobs in the early 90’s and nothing was done in Augusta to try or even figure out a way to create new jobs. Since that time the population of Northern Maine has declined in big numbers. But it seems to be perfectly fine that the remaining forest in Northern Maine is being cut a whole lot faster then it can grow and if any one tells you different, I would have to say there lying or they don’t even have a clue. During the Second World War this county exported the majority of all potatoes that was shipped out of this country, and this was all done mostly by manual labor. It is an insult and a disgrace to our ancestors who worked so hard to clear this land,” mostly by hand” and to watch these fields being taken over by brush and alders just sticks that torn a little deeper into the sides of the elderly that made this county what it was. Shame to the majority of the previous and present politicians of Maine for allowing this to happen.