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• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Q4AP5EYCYRCGZGIJGWI6TLIUEA Tom

  Don’t worry –  Presidizzle Downgrade has a plan.

• Anonymous

  There are trillions of dollars sitting in investment banks, doing nothing.  This money ought to be mobilized to upgrade the infrastructure of the US.  The money is there, the system is broken and sick.

• Anonymous

  So while the top earners of the country hoard the wealth, become richer than anyone ever before, we lose a generation of young people because of that greed. What a disgrace.

• Anonymous

  Presidizzle? What’s that supposed to mean?

• Anonymous

  try living off of 18,000 a year thats what i get from disability for the wife and i

• Anonymous

  Obama and his corporate goons like Immelt and the Solyndra company rip us off and you have the gall to bang on nameless “top earners”? The real criminals are in the White House and GE.

• Anonymous

  Obama and his corporate goons like Immelt and the Solyndra company rip us off and you have the gall to bang on nameless “top earners”? The real criminals are in the White House and GE.

• Anonymous

  Your lucky you get that.

• Anonymous

  Your lucky you get that.

• Anonymous

  I didn’t say they were criminals, I said it was a disgrace, the disparity between the wealthy and the poor. Aspirations are great, greed is not. 

• Anonymous

  I didn’t say they were criminals, I said it was a disgrace, the disparity between the wealthy and the poor. Aspirations are great, greed is not. 

• Anonymous

  Nationalize the banks!!!!

• Anonymous

  “There are not enough people fitting into the right jobs or willing to work,” he said. “I always pitch to students to declare a minor or get some other skill as a backup. The number of youth who don’t have a sense of how they are going to live productively is alarming.”
  Many people graduate from four-year university programs with few, if any, marketable skills.  Our nation’s youth need to be counseled on which majors make sense for their future.  Otherwise, they know a lot, but can do nothing.  College is not for everyone– time to start learning some practical, hands-on, technological skills.

• Anonymous

  “There are not enough people fitting into the right jobs or willing to work,” he said. “I always pitch to students to declare a minor or get some other skill as a backup. The number of youth who don’t have a sense of how they are going to live productively is alarming.”
  Many people graduate from four-year university programs with few, if any, marketable skills.  Our nation’s youth need to be counseled on which majors make sense for their future.  Otherwise, they know a lot, but can do nothing.  College is not for everyone– time to start learning some practical, hands-on, technological skills.

• Anonymous

  And you have facts to back this up or are you just making assumptions? 

• Anonymous

  yea its all ge’s fault, lets not ever use any of their products ever again. oh wait…

• Anonymous

  I’m probably going to be bashed as a communist or some stupid thing but seriously just cap personl wealth at like 100 million dollars

• Anonymous

  Umm NO i would say a majority of why younger mainers are unemployed doesn’t have that much to do with it when all the mills closed down every one scattered for work and the older class where taking low level lower paying  jobs which every where else in the us are filled by a much  younger adult group and crowding the limited market. Made a distastful market for young people so the smart ones found a way to get money that doesn’t rely on this state at all or just leave. Like me right now i live in bangor but ive been working in mexico for the last 5 months. 

• Anonymous

  Mexico mexico not mexico maine

• Anonymous

  its not there money to use for that or next thing you know the gov will be opening up your savings using it to increase the lane size on 395

• Anonymous

  obama was running for snacks not president

• Anonymous

  any liberal arts degree ? or the students that major in english but don’t want to teach or write book. Or really any degree with a BA attached

• Anonymous

  I think you hearts inthe right place just not your head say i give you 1 billion dollars ok now because of this money it makes you extremely mobile you can have like 20 houses now one of the countries that you have a home in tell you that you can only have 100 million dollars what would you do probly sell the house and set your permit residence elsewhere. The with drawing of all that money would cause the dollar to weaken this would happen over and over again until the poverty line would be 100 million dollars so then every one would then be poor

• Anonymous

  try listening to hundreds of people that say there poor on here but yet they have internet they have a computer they have the ability to work on the computer. But “can’t work” its your choice to be on disability cause you could be getting a computer engineering/design degree or other typing related jobs. That most do from home.  

• Anonymous

  The good news is that the top 1% of the wealthiest so called “Americans” have seen their wealth explode by 300% in the last 20 years since the advent of “free” trade. They now possess more wealth than the entire bottom 50% of hard working Americans. They do not have a problem with the current economic situation. Why should the rest of us? Stock up on rations and ammo, the tipping point is closer than you think. The reason for all revolutions in the history of man can be traced back to greed every single time. I blame a B movie actor who played the part of a brain dead president for making greed okay for the first time in history. 

• Anonymous

  Ummm you do under stand you verus roman solider in the 1300 almost even odds you vs british soliders just a little less you vs a preditor drone 0

• Anonymous

  Considering the filthy wife beater UBL dodged them for ten years, I’ll take my Marine Corps training and my chances.

• Anonymous

  Try living off of nothing, which is what would happen  to people who don’t work without entitlements. Many people work hard every day and don’t make as much as your disability income…plus bennies like LIHEAP, food stamps,  and whatever else is out there. Reality is brutal.

• Anonymous

  SCOAMF
  Look it up.

• Anonymous

  Free Trade = Total destruction of the American economy. Keep electing the Greeeedy tparty backed politicians and it will continue to get worse!!!!

• Anonymous

  25% of American children live in poverty! Are we becoming a Third World Country??

• Anonymous

  it doesnt matter if you have  a BA or BS…most of the time pople find jobs not related to their degree. 

• acadiashores

  Part of the problem, and I know the problem well, I am a case manager in a homelessness prevention program, is the lack of living wages.   Maine has become a place of service sector jobs.   Part-time, minimum wage, no benefits.   Think big box stores, fast food chains, restaurant chains….those are the jobs available in Maine.   Housing costs are going through the roof and all we have are poor paying jobs.  It’s not hard to figure out what the problem is. 

• Anonymous

  Merely having access to a computer and the ability to type words, like yourself, does not necessarilymean one is able to write well.

  It’s not 1982 anymore. Almost everyone has access to a computer now and then, be it from a library, a friend’s house or *gasp* actually owning one; they cost less than most televisions nowadays.

  Everyone is not able to be a computer engineer, writer or graphic designer, just because they can manage to string a few sentences together (more or less).

• Anonymous

  You add nothing but scuzz to these pages.

• Anonymous

  You know things are terrible when Americans are going to Mexico for work, eh? You’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do! Perhaps our job market will turn around again at some point and you’ll be able to spend more time at home.

• Anonymous

  It certainly seems that way… but sadly there STILL those who justify our poor economy by naively blaming the few bad apples in the system instead of waking up and smelling the coffee and facing the truth.

  Corporate giants have given American jobs away in favor of cheap foreign labor, they are buying cheap parts, pieces and products made in foreign countries and none of these foreign countries buy anything made in the USA.  Research any product and you will find that at least one component, if not the whole product, is “made in China” or something similar.  

  The only true “made in the USA” products belong to small businesses who are being steadily squashed by the big corporate competition and every day you see them closing their doors unable to compete. 

  If we continue in this vein China will own us… we’re already in serious debt to China and yet greedy corporate leaders driven by greed continue to take away US jobs and outsource them to China, then they buy parts, pieces and products made in China and pretty much all US corporate money that isn’t company profit is being dumped into China while the products are sold in the USA.  Think about it… what country buys products “made in the USA”?  Certainly not China and it seems, not the USA either since we’re being forced into buying products where all parts were made in China and only assembled and sold in the USA.  We are taking nothing in, paying foreign wages and buying foreign parts and products and at the same time creating big debt to China… it’s beginning to look like the USA will be owned by the Chinese government in time.

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZSBAAXFEXTIBDSRA5X3FA6TSG4 jersey

  Pick yourselves up, dust yourselves off, roll up your sleeves and get a job! It isnt my responsibility to take care of you period!

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZSBAAXFEXTIBDSRA5X3FA6TSG4 jersey

  The problem is that Mainers are getting used to welfare and being coddled. Our forefathers lived with minimal wage it was called food and water and fresh air and hard work. 

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZSBAAXFEXTIBDSRA5X3FA6TSG4 jersey

  Poverty is determined by food stamps and welfare. The governor had to assign a taskforce because of the fraud in both areas. I have a friend who gets foodstamps and makes plenty of money but doesnt get child support because the state wont imprison her ex for being a bum. 

• Anonymous

  We’ve all been hit hard.  Us older Americans have just stopped wasting our time complaining about the effects of a GOP run economy.  For the most part we suffer in silence.

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZSBAAXFEXTIBDSRA5X3FA6TSG4 jersey

  If you go out of state you will see that foreigners from all over the world are working our menial labor jobs and they are efficient. The American kids are lazy and just dont care. You know why? Because they can get the government to support them. I had a student last year who applied or and got food stamps at 18 years old while still in high school and living with her family members. Then she dropped out. Why should she work? The doctors will giver her a diagnosis and the state will give her money. 

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZSBAAXFEXTIBDSRA5X3FA6TSG4 jersey

  Get a job! I lived with 3 kids and a husband on 17,400 a year and did very well without a handout. Its all in the choices you make. Why are you on disability? Too many people sit on their butts and collect disability and smoke marijauna and goto the methadone lines everyday. 

• Anonymous

  My family is contemplating a move too bangor66.  We live frugally, very frugally, but wages of servitude just aren’t going to cover even our modest expenses.  It sucks.  This is our home.  Check out the BDN story about how jobs are going to come back to the US because foreign workers are making greater demands.  We’ve been beat into submission.

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZSBAAXFEXTIBDSRA5X3FA6TSG4 jersey

  Congrats! You have figured it out. You go where the jobs are and work hard. It isnt about taking a hand out it is about taking care of yourself. period!

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZSBAAXFEXTIBDSRA5X3FA6TSG4 jersey

  It isnt Obamas fault. He is one man. Imagine if the billions of people in the US did the right thing and werent lazy. 

• Anonymous

  To paraphrase Churchill, “Capitalism as a poor system of economics. It just beats every other system that’s been attempted”.

  I propose to you that this Recession is simply a symptom of Big Government’s micro-managing an economy that’s better left alone. Maine’s domination by Democrats for thirty years has continued our continued spiral into ever-increasing poverty and while both parties have had their turn at dominating Federal policies, Pelosi and Read have done more to increase poverty since taking control of Congress than the rich like Stephen King or Bill Gates that you like to malign.

  Read Adam Smith’s writings about the “Hidden Hand of the Economy”, or Rand’s ATLAS SHRUGGED, or D’Toqueville’s DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA to better grasp just how our Free Enterprise System can work to the betterment of all our neighbors!

  To paraphrase D’Toqueville, “Democracy will fail when the masses figure out how to Legislate their own prosperity. When I can reach into your pocket and take your money for my own uses; we are both doomed”.

• Anonymous

  Thirty years of single-party domination in Disgusta has forced an entire generation of Entrepreneurs and job-creators OUT of Maine if at all possible.

  Roxanne Quimby took Bert’s Bees to North Carolina where she was welcomed with open arms!

• Anonymous

  I agree with you.

  You are a Communist… or Marxist.

  Try a little history to see just how all that worked out for Chinese peasants under Mao, or Soviet serfs under Nakita, or North Korea under Kim. The list is endless…

  It was Capitalism that allowed both Japan and Germany to rise from the (self-inflicted) ashes of WWII, just as Vietnam has used Capitalism since the 60′s to the betterment of her citizens. Even China is embracing a great many Capitalistic notions in their current meteoric improvement in their own economy.

• Anonymous

  Tell it to the hungry people without jobs.  Tell it to the children who are sick and can’t see a doctor because there’s no money.

  Your fear has clouded your heart.

• Anonymous

  Solyndra is nothing compared to Wall Street destroying the economy in 2008.  It is nothing compared to Big Oil’s record profits, giveaways to dictators, and denial of global warming.

  Here’s a list of top earners and how they pay no taxes at all:

  http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/ad-lib/2011/apr/10/tax-evaders-wall-shame/

• Anonymous

  I’m not maligning anyone, don’t mischaracterized what I’ve said. The rich didn’t get rich on their own. We are a society that functions as a whole. The rich became rich because of the opportunities available in the country that we’ve built together. It’s one thing to aspire to be successful, it is completely another to be filled and motivated by greed. It’s not about “reaching ” in someone’s pocket and “stealing” their money. This is OUR country and the generations before us worked together to make it great so the next generation could reap similar rewards. Fine, amass millions and billions, but don’t pretend like don’t owe something back, like you’ve never used roads or bridges, like you were never kept safe by the police and court system, like you and your workers were never educated.

• Anonymous

  Too simple.  There are many kinds of capitalism.  It’s not a choice between pure capitalism and pure socialism.

  Besides, we don’t live in a free market economy, not according to Adam Smith’s principles.  For one thing, there has to be mobility of labor–but when the factories go to China, labor in America can’t move there. 

  We live in a very corrupt, corporation-dominated world that is very close to monopoly.

  Until you fix Wall Street and get rid of the general corruption, nothing’s going to change.

• Anonymous

  Sounds like you’d make a good slave.  You don’t question the system, you work till exhausted for years, and if at the end of that time, you get screwed, you only blame yourself.

   

• Anonymous

  Welcome to a world where big corporations destroy the fabric of America by putting factories in the cheapest country.

• Anonymous

  Drug lords control huge sections of Mexico.  The country is on the brink of  civil war.  35 bodies were found in two trucks under an underpass yesterday.

  Why don’t you stand up to corporate greed, instead of letting it leash you.

• Anonymous

  I’m no Warren Buffett, so am paying over 50% of my retirement income in Federal Income Taxes, State Income Taxes (no longer as of July), Maine Sales Tax, Property Taxes, Excise Taxes, Fuel Taxes as well as another 10% to various charities each year. That’s more than my Fair Share.

  Please don’t lecture me about “oweing something back”…

  I don’t know anyone of my generation that’s volunteered more time to helping our neighbors through the United Way, Maine Community Foundation, service to several college boards, YMCA, etc, etc.

  “Luck is Opportunity coming face-to-face Hard Work” and my family is one of the “luckiest” I know. At the same time, I don’t know of another that’s worked any harder to enjoy that “luck”.

  You gotta’ look elsewhere to complain…

• OldWench

  No, the problem is that most Mainers still QUALIFY for assistance even if they work full time because the majority of jobs have no benefits and don’t pay enough to survive on.  You can rant and rave about all the people who get assistance but if there were jobs that paid a living wage and provided decent benefits people would NOT be on assistance at the rate that they are.

• Anonymous

  You’re the one complaining. Taxes are a fact of life, especially if we’re going to continue to be the best country in the world. I didn’t say anyone wasn’t hard working, but the fact remains, nobody succeeds in this country completely on their own.

  You want to fight wars, have roads and bridges, courts, fire departments, schools, etc? We have to pay for them. You admit you give back, so what are you arguing for? You pay your taxes and apparently volunteer your time, that’s great. We all have that duty. Some people seem to think they get successful all on their own and owe nothing to nobody, that’s wrong.

• Anonymous

  That’s a mean looking chart, when expanded.  The alleged “job creators” aren’t doing their job!  Automation and out-sourcing don’t help much either, unless you’re the one hugging the “bottom line”.  Sure, there are jobs that require techincal skills but a severe shortage of training schools available, it up to the DOE to re-do some of the higher education setup.

• Anonymous

  You’re both right! 

• Anonymous

  It would appear they got OUT of the whole country not just Maine.  There are plenty of people to blame who aren’t politicians, think of the Wall Street theives then look at the politicians (hands in the pocket) so to speak.

• Anonymous

  I say lets hire them at less than minimum wage “”"Training Wages”"” like lapage wants to do and make them work longer hours.. Lets cut funding to public schools and fund private schools where the elite go to have their children learn scholastic’s.. Kick the poor harder..

• Anonymous

  I use all the things you state and I pay my taxes.  I have heart burn with our country paying out, to the “poor”, more tax refund dollars than the person paid into the system in taxes.  We are paying them to be poor…how is that fair to those of us in the middle class that are busting our butt just to make ends meet?

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZSBAAXFEXTIBDSRA5X3FA6TSG4 jersey

  I dont know I have one. I supported three children on 17,500 one year and went back to school got a job and work. Servingschools.com is always looking, the newspapers are full of ads and there is so much aid out there to go back to school it isnt funny. Cut me a break. 

• Anonymous

  I did see that several manufacturing plants are bringing their jobs back to the US.  It was on the news the other night.  Not only are they making greater demands, the quality of the product they produced was not as good as they could get in the US.
   

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZSBAAXFEXTIBDSRA5X3FA6TSG4 jersey

  NO I am a high school drop out who turned my life around, went to college, and have a professional job. I work my arse off and this is why I rant. i work with children whose parents collect SSI and welfare when they are perfectly capable of working. Maine needs to get a life. 

• Anonymous

  Canada gives all its citizens affordable healthcare–are they paying Canadians to be poor?   Canada ranks far better in happiness and health than the US, according to Forbes.

  Or maybe you’re saying US citizens are more greedy and lazy than Canadians?   Do you really hate your fellow citizens that much?

• Anonymous

  At some point, you have to raise your head up and ask Why life is so unfair.

  If more people challenged corruption in this country, we wouldn’t have to work so pathetically and miserably hard.  I remember better times, right here in the Good Ol’ USA.  One parent stayed home and watched the kids.  Two cars.  House paid for.  Recreation and vacation time.

  It can be better, much better.  But you have to question.

• Anonymous

  ……but suppose I don’t have the money to join the internet….. what do I do now???

• Anonymous

  Canada doesn’t “give” their citizens affordable healthcare…the Canadians pay taxes that support their socialized medical care.  Have you talked to some of the residents of countries that provide socialized medicine?  And what does your response have to do with my statement that I resent that there are people in this country that receive more money back in their tax refund than they ever paid in taxes?  If I really hated my fellow citizens, I NEVER would have served my country…

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZSBAAXFEXTIBDSRA5X3FA6TSG4 jersey

  I dont really question because I know. It can be much better. We need to start attacking the issues and stop attacking eachother. Maine and the Catholic church pay out millions of dollars to stop two adults from marrying yet the methadone lines are full everyday and they are opening new ones. Priorities people. Maybe two drug addicts should be stopped from getting married, raising children who end up on SS and get special education which costs even more money. 

• Anonymous

  It is affordable healthcare in Canada.  Anyone and everyone can go see the doctor when they need to, and the bill is zero.  End of story.

  Yes, I have talked.  Yes I have been.  Yes, the American people, once they find out how much happier and better off people are in countries where medicine and other things–like child care and college–are paid for, are going to realize they’ve been taken for a ride.

  If you’re willing to risk your life for your country in Iraq, et. al. then give a dime more in taxes so children can see a doctor.  I don’t question your passion and patriotism, but I question your consistency.

• Anonymous

  I agree.  But we also need to change the corruption on Wall Street, and we need to keep big corporations from bribing government officials through lobbying and other techniques.

  There is a huge amount of money in this country–400 billionaires own as much as the bottom 50% of the people.  Until you fix that, we will have the same economic gap as an African dictatorship, and people will turn to drugs.  

• Anonymous

  Mexico’s Unemployment rate is half what the Unemployment rate is in the US.

• Anonymous

  America was built and made great on a shared commitment to one another.  There are not enough jobs to go around, neighbor.  When someone wants to work and cannot and then has people accusing them of laziness, it makes matters worse.  They are hurting and you help that along by making them feel like they are leaches.  While it may be in vogue to spout sociopathic rants against those who are struggling, it is contrary to the values that this country has embraced for over a century.  If you have a job to offer, go ahead and offer it.  The GOP policies of regressive taxation, financial deregulation and legislating greed have cost us.  It is unfair to blame those who have been pushed aside by the wealthy so they might enjoy the greatest period of prosperity in recent times. 

  A sociopath is someone who lacks regard or feeling for other people.  Your greed and lack of compassion are clear examples of that sickness. 

• Anonymous

  There are roughly seventy five thousand Mainers out of work and many more who can only find part time or minimum wage work.  Tell me where there are 75,000 lobs listed for these people to apply for.  Blame is not a solution to a real problem.  Your world where opportunity abounds is the stuff of fantasy. 

• Anonymous

  I take it by your screen name that you are from New Jersey? Actually I am too, born there, grew up there and lived most of my life there.  I lived in Lawrenceville and Pennington, NJ.  Okay… so enough of the “home town” stuff!

  I know what you are saying and I don’t at all disagree that there are some who abuse the system… for absolute certain, however, the number of jobs lost vs the number of jobs restored/created aren’t even close to being balanced. There were millions more jobs lost than restored. These aren’t just numbers, they are individuals who were working but cannot find work now.  These people by far outnumber the system abusers.  

  I think we all know people who we believe abuse the system or did at one time… long before I really understood what unemployment was even about I had several different friends who owned a variety of family businesses in the Princeton, New Jersey area. If you know anything about Princeton – you know these are not people in need.  Often times I would hear conversations about laying family members and friends off to collect unemployment during their slow times and then I would see them working while they were supposed to be unemployed.  It’s just an additional point I wanted to make, not only are the young 18 year olds abusing the system… so are the very wealthy. So I’m not blind to abuse… I know it’s there but I also know that the numbers of jobs lost are far more than could be replaced… and millions remain out of work.  That is a separate problem that needs to be remedied.

  The lost jobs are not all manufacturing either although many think they are – jobs were lost by distributors of parts such as nuts and bolts, executive jobs were lost and regained in foreign countries to negotiate these “deals” and pretty much everything from food products to clothing to medical supplies to aluminum fencing to you name it… It’s not difficult to see where the lost jobs have gone while corporate conglomerates are turning their best profits ever, millions of Americans can’t find jobs in the USA.  This is not happening because of 18 year kids on welfare…

  Now about 18 year olds who you think collect unemployment – no one can qualify for unemployment insurance who didn’t work long enough to qualify. In fact, self-employed people don’t qualify unless they paid into the system. So, I think you are kind of mixing up food stamps, TANF, WIC and other programs that a person qualifies for just because they’re poor. It takes more than being poor to qualify for unemployment insurance, social security disability, etc… Just an interesting side note – did you know that the vast majority of disability claims are denied and that it now takes about 2 years of working through the appeals process with no guarantee the person will be considered “disabled” by social security standards (which are incredibly high). I know of people who have terminal forms of cancer who were turned down by social security when they first applied who have had to go through the appeals process until they are put on a docket before an administrative law judge. Some people die waiting. So, there is just no way that 18 year old kids can just get a note from the doctor.

• Anonymous

  I don’t understand how someone can be so consistently lacking in feeling for others.  Everyone who needs and obtains help is not a leach.  If you think that the way of life in America for the last hundred years is so bad, you should head off to Somolia where government is non-existent.  They have none of the problems you refer to in your posts.  No regulation, no public assistance, no laws.  It is the best example of extreme libertarianism anywhere.  Sounds like you would be right at home.

• Anonymous

  I’m no expert, but I detect a waft of racism in that post.  Disagreement is one thing, but your post is ugly for ugly sake.  Is this the definition of tea party patriotism, hating the president the American people elected?

• Anonymous

  Unless the economy receives some direct investment from the government, this is going to get worse.  The stimulus of 2009 worked to stabilize.  When passed the forecast was on track for a 3% GDP drop.  That was revised just weeks after the stimulus bill passed, revised to a 9% drop.  The result was a +1% increase in GDP.  That is 10% better than the revised forecast.  The rich are insulated from the downside.  The middle class, families with children, etc, we face the brunt of the recessions impact.  No surprise, many in Washington are content with this trajectory.  We need direct investment now.

  Stimulus and the debt are almost unrelated.  Debt results from structural spending problems, like wars, excessive military investment, Medicare Pt D, heath care spending.  Stimulus is one time spending that creates a cycle of positive activity.  A dollar of stimulus creates much more than $1 in impact and costs less than $1, as tax revenues increase.  Don’t believe the hype.  It isn’t true we can’t afford a short term stimulus.  the truth is, if you are not a billionaire, we can’t afford not to do it.  We are all falling behind now.  The ones who are not don’t read the BDN and only visit in the summer.

• Anonymous

  And what policies are you talking about?  Maine is one of the better states for having resources available to help entrepreneurs.  We have excellent loan programs, entrepreneurship training and economic development professionals.  Please be specific if there are policies that are anti-small business.  I think you are just spouting unsubstantiated claims as a partisan, but willing to listen if you have real examples. 

• Anonymous

  “Health care in Canada is funded at both the provincial and federal
  levels. The financing of health care is provided via taxation both from
  personal and corporate income taxes. Additional funds from other
  financial sources like sales tax and lottery proceeds are also used by
  some provinces.”  (taken from http://www.canadian-healthcare.org)  Doesn’t sound so free to me!

  Why should I give an additional dime to anyone?  I bust my behind to make the money I do and I pay my taxes just like everyone else.  I was responsible and only had the number of children that I could afford to raise, didn’t buy more house than I could afford and sure as heck didn’t run up my credit cards.  Thus I am not one of the “problems”.    Whose paying for my kids college?  ME…whose paying for my kids insurance?  ME…who paid for the private school because the public school where we are stationed is a dive and not accredited?  ME… 

  Go back thru all my posts…I have never been anything but consistent!

• Anonymous

  Rex,

  First of all, don’t take my word for it, just check FORBE’s recent hammering of Maine’s Business Climate as the most recent in a long line of nation-wide rankings of pro-business states! In fact, any Internet search of entities which compare individual states consistently lists Maine near the bottom in Small Business Start Ups.

  The Maine Develoopment Foundation annual Measures of Economic Growth report of Maine’s “small business climate” has consistently marked “red flags” for anti-business laws which have spewed out of Disgusta for thirty years; unlike the several “gold stars” in areas such as low teen pregnancy and smoking cessation.

  Closer to home, my Bangor Hydro rate is exactly twice what my rate is in GA. That’s not a function of price gouging by Bangor Hydro; but of Legislative actions like Stranded Costs and Maine’s hyper-inflacted and niave love with wind power coupled with the removal of so many hydro-electric dams vs. improved output with state-of-the-art fishways as on the Columbia River.

  My BS&BC health insurance in Maine is exactly twice what it would be for the same policy in GA. That’s not a function of Anthem’s price gouging here in Maine; it’s a function of the Maine legislature mandating so many more services than most other states.

  My Maine Income Tax at 8.5%, which reaches the Top Marginal Rate at a mere $16,500, is effectively higher than Illinois’ Top Marginal Rate at 11%; but isn’t reached until income over $75,000.

  My combined Local and County Real Estate Tax rate in GA in just about HALF of the rate I paid for my Bangor home before selling it… at a loss.

  My annual excise tax bill for a nice, new German SUV would have been $1,200 the first year. By registering it down south, I only pay $48 a year.

  Under Baldi, Maine’s tax code stepped away from Federal Code such that Business Expenses allowed on my Federal Tax Return were no longer allowed by the State of Maine. Not only has my effective tax rate increased; but I now have to keep TWO sets of books: One for the IRS and one for the State of Maine.

  Until this new governor, the Maine DEP has consistelty been listed as the most difficult agency to deal with and obtain necessary permits for business expansion. Why don’t you check with the Maine Oil Dealer’s Association to get their take on Maine’s “pro business attitude” at the MDEP?

  While you’re at it, go ahead and check with the Maine Aggregates Association, Forest Producst Council,  Maine Small Woodlot Owner’s Association,  Maine Truck Owner’s Association, MEREDA, National Federation of Independant Businesses, The Maine Alliance, and Maine Economic Research Institute…

  So, how many more examples would you like me to print on the topic?

  Are you working for George Gervais at DECD these days? Your statement strikes me as pretty Polyannaish from someone claiming to be familiar with Maine Small Businesses.

  Have you paid ANY attention to Paul LePage’s Red Tape Removal hearings around our State for the past 8 months?

  Thirty years under the thumb of The Two John’s:  King John (Martin)  and Prince John (Baldacci) have just hammered Maine’s small business community!

• acadiashores

   Most landlords I know don’t accept payments of food, water and fresh air.  The days of having a piece of land and working on it for your living are over.  It may be sad, but that time is behind us.  Now people have to pay rent, pay for lights, heat, food.  They need MONEY to accomplish that.  If somebody is working for $7.50 and hour and their rent is 600 bucks per month it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out it isn’t doable.

• acadiashores

   You are so right.  I know people that are working full-time and they STILL qualify for the programs because they are living in poverty while working 40 plus hours per week.  That is a huge problem.

• acadiashores

   Thank you for saying this.  You are completely right.

• acadiashores

   What year was that?  Did a three bedroom apartment cost 800 plus bucks per month back then? 

• Anonymous

  Thats an interesting point, perhaps its more of a problem with humanity than a problem with our financial system.

• Anonymous

  Solyndra is chump change.  The real criminals WERE in the White House and worked for Haliburton!