Poliquin huddles with bankers
Television viewers in eastern Maine have probably noticed a ubiquitous campaign commercial being run on behalf of Republican 2nd District Rep. Bruce Poliquin, who’s up for re-election this year. The ad, sponsored by the American Bankers Association and its state affiliate, begs the question of what exactly the ABA is and why it’s so fired up for Poliquin.
The ABA represents the nation’s $17 trillion banking industry, which stands to benefit from Congress’ watering down of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law, carried out with Poliquin’s unqualified support. Keep in mind this same industry, through its reckless speculative activities, nearly brought down the entire economy barely a decade ago. Now, it’s being invited to try again.
Thanks in part to Poliquin’s help, banks with less than $250 billion in assets (including 25 of the country’s 38 largest institutions) will no longer have to undergo inconvenient “stress tests” to ensure their viability in a downturn. They will also benefit from eased restrictions on trading with depositors’ money. In addition, smaller lenders will no longer be required to meet certain disclosure requirements on home loans.
The banks claim they need such deregulation, but according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., they took in a record $56 billion during the first quarter of 2018, up a hefty 28 percent over last year.
A bumper sticker making the rounds asks, in reference to Poliquin’s avoidance of ordinary constituents, “Where’s Bruce?” Now we know. He’s huddling with the bankers.
Wayne O’Leary
Orono
Recycling crisis
This letter is not a complaint. It is a call to action. In a recent meeting of the Gouldsboro Board of Selectmen, a group of concerned residents found out that our increasingly expensive recycling program will soon be burning or burying our “recycling.” The issue came to our attention because, the Board of Selectmen made, what we now realize, was a fiscally responsible decision to suspend the recycling program. A call was sent out to environmentally minded residents to attend this meeting to advocate for some alternative to the suspended program.
Unfortunately, what we found out is that there is no viable alternative. This isn’t just a Gouldsboro problem or even just a Maine problem. We were told the market for recyclables just isn’t there. Across the country towns are faced with similar problems.
This is a call to action. A number of good ideas were raised at our meeting. People should place more emphasis on reducing and reusing items. We discussed starting a town composting program. We should be more conscious of packaging when we are shopping (less plastic, more compostable packaging). We need to advocate for and buy products made from recycled materials and support businesses that make them. That means welcoming them into our state and offering them incentives to do business here.
Finally, we need people to come up with new ideas and those people need to collaborate with others across the country. Together, we can fix this problem.
Catherine McLoud
Corea
Cruise ship swarms
This summer, Bar Harbor is being swamped with huge crowds, so much so that many people no longer travel south of the Village Green. To say that congestion is important for our businesses is to ignore the fact that some of the tourists who are here for only a few hours rarely spend more than a small amount. In fact, sometimes our small village seems to be a free amusement park as hurried guests glance quickly into shops, each one a sideshow viewed through the circus tent flap. They then order one lobster roll for the party to share so they’ll all have “a taste of Maine.”
Check Trip Advisor where visitors are cautioned to stay away on cruise ships days. Many of our traditional, repeat, long-term visitors say that they will never return. View the “vacancy” signs along our major streets; the two- to three-hour visitors are driving away the people who would otherwise live among us for a few days or even longer.
Is it time for us to wake up and see what is happening? Some of us want these facts not to be true. Denial works for people who have it because it allows them to avoid doing something about the problem.
Please, let’s all, with courage and strength, address the problem of what could happen to beautiful coastal towns, such as Rockland, before it’s too late.
Annemarie Vickers Quin
Bar Harbor