Previous story:
«
Next story:
»

LePage: More Mainers receiving welfare than paying taxes

By Clarke Canfield, The Associated Press
Posted Dec. 17, 2011, at 12:22 p.m.
Last modified Dec. 19, 2011, at 9:35 a.m.
Print this   E-mail this    Facebook this   Tweet this     
Gov. Paul LePage speaks at a news conference, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011, at the State House in Augusta, Maine. LePage defended his plan to remove 65,000 Mainers from Medicaid coverage.
Robert F. Bukaty | AP
Gov. Paul LePage speaks at a news conference, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011, at the State House in Augusta, Maine. LePage defended his plan to remove 65,000 Mainers from Medicaid coverage.

Related stories

PORTLAND, Maine — There are more Mainers receiving welfare benefits than there are income tax filers paying taxes, Republican Gov. Paul LePage said Saturday.

But Democrats said LePage’s numbers are deceptive and not entirely truthful.

In reiterating his call for the need to cut human services programs to save money, the governor said in his weekly radio address that Maine had 453,000 people receiving welfare benefits in 2010. At the same time, he said, the state had only 445,000 tax filers who paid taxes.

LePage said he doesn’t relish the thought of people being hurt by spending cuts, but said it isn’t fair to cover the $221 million Medicaid funding shortage by raising taxes or asking other state agencies to make up the difference. Rather, the state needs to rein in Medicaid costs and restructure the program, he said.

“There is no joy in taking anything away from anyone,” the governor said in his address. “But there is one question I need to ask: Why should people struggle in this economy to pay their state taxes while the state of Maine operates far outside the national average in welfare costs? It’s a fair question.”

The governor’s definition of welfare is overly broad, House Democratic Office spokeswoman Jodi Quintero said. “They very broadly define it as everything from disability to MaineCare (Medicaid), which isn’t welfare,” she said.

LePage’s tax numbers don’t include joint tax returns, so the actual number of Mainers who paid income taxes is much higher than he says, Quintero said.

While it’s true that 445,000 of the tax filers in 2010 paid taxes, there were 584,000 resident tax returns filed during the year, with the gap representing filers who didn’t pay taxes, Quintero said, citing statistics from Maine Revenue Services. Of the total, more than 246,000 were joint returns, meaning there were more than 700,000 people who filed tax returns, she said.

LePage’s numbers are purposely deceptive to support Republicans’ political agenda, she said.

“Their definition of ‘welfare’ is purposely broad to fit into their spin,” she said. “And the tax is purposely narrow to fit their spin.”

LePage is also unfairly implying that most Mainers don’t pay taxes at all, said Rep. Seth Berry, the ranking Democrat on the Legislature’s taxation committee.

“Every Mainer pays taxes when they go to the store, through the sales tax,” Berry said. “Every Mainer if they own and register a car pays excise taxes. Every Mainer when they drive their car pays fuel taxes to keep the roads up. And every Mainer pays property taxes either directly on their home or indirectly through rent. So all Mainers pay taxes.”

The LePage administration has proposed Medicaid cuts that could leave up to 65,000 people without coverage. LePage says the cuts are necessary to avoid a fiscal crisis due to unsustainable Medicaid costs.

LePage spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett said if Democrats argue that more people paid income taxes than the tax filings indicate, then it’s fair to say that more people received welfare benefits than the numbers suggest. The welfare numbers for the most part represent individuals who receive benefits, she said, but the reality is that many of the benefits go to help recipients’ families as w ell.

“If the Democrats are saying the tax numbers are higher, those welfare numbers need to be higher as well,” she said.

 

Similar articles:

Marketplace News

Marketplace

Guidelines for posting on bangordailynews.com

The Bangor Daily News encourages comments about stories, but you must follow our terms of service.

In brief:

  1. Keep it civil and stay on topic
  2. No vulgarity, racial slurs, name-calling or personal attacks.
  3. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked.

The primary rule here is pretty simple: Treat others with the same respect you'd want for yourself. Here are some guidelines (see more):

  • StillRelaxin

    Are we to believe Mr. LePage’s “Bloated” comments today because we’ve already forgotten that he was exposed by Forbes for lying to us on this very subject just yesterday? I’m not sure what’s more offensive, the fact that he’d try peddling more lies today or the possibility that he believes we a are actually stupid enough to believe ANYTHING he says.

  • Anonymous

    Please give us the numbers you have Jodi. We don’t like to just take peoples word for something anymore.

  • Anonymous

    Would someone please inform the Governor that EVERYONE pays taxes?  Purchased anything lately?  Licenses, registration, insurance, inspections, gas, food, clothing, rode the turnpike, you know done just about anything but sleep?  Why didn’t the Governor start at the top end with his cuts  instead of the bottom end?  Surely the tax money he has given away to “business” could have helped the less fortunate and would have been a much smarter way to invest our money. 

  • Anonymous

    “ She also says LePage’s number of tax filers paying taxes doesn’t include joint returns, so the actual number of Mainers who paid income taxes is much higher.”

    Even if 3/4 of the population is paying taxes it is absolutely ridiculous that there are more than 450,000 people that recieve welfare benefits in a state that has just over a million people.

    I think Paul LePage is doing what should have been been done a long time ago. If it had been done sooner we wouldn’t be in this mess. This society has become an entitlist one and it has got to stop.

  • Anonymous

    So when two people file a joint return they’re only one person, Paul?

    Give your head a good, firm shake.

  • Anonymous

    Also, if Maine has 453,000 individuals receiving assistance, then they are doing so legally and within our system until he weeds out the fraud he said he would.  Could it be that the fraud isn’t really there because our system is so stringent to begin with?  If instead he had proposed before the election to do what he is proposing to do now to Medicare, I would venture to say that the 38 percent of votes cast for him would have been substantially less.     

  • Anonymous

    What do you mean by welfare benefits? Do you mean anybody who gets a State check? Food stamps are part of  “welfare”, and some refer to anything from the state as “welfare”. Medicare / Medicaid money is used for some who don’t get food stamps, does this count? And how about the people who have foster kids, do they get “welfare”? It sounds like you and the Gov are counting some people twice and including people who are probably getting a pension from the state.

    So you are right, 450 thou getting welfare in a state of just over 1 million is a ridiculous statement. Start by explaining what you mean by “welfare”, then see what numbers you come up with.

     If you and the lying LePage are trying to say that 1/2 of the state is on welfare, as in Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), that is so ridiculous that it makes me suspect that one is lying (again???) and t’other isn’t thinking straight.

  • Anonymous

    When he was running for office it was all about JOBS, JOBS, JOBS, and that is exactly what Forbes said was needed to get Maine off the bottom of the rankings. My guess is that the JOBS, JOBS, JOBS promise was just another one of his lies. He came into office with an agenda which was provided to him by his masters , The Grand Wizard and his clan of highly paid political operatives at the Maine Heritage Policy Center, and that is exactly what he has been pursuing. 

  • Anonymous

    I believe he said the “tax filers” which would be income taxes. Too many people get tax refunds without ever paying any taxes to begin with.

  • Anonymous

    Welfare is welfare is welfare no matter how you look at it. People recieving a pension are not recieving welfare they are recieving the money they worked for. There are way too many people in the welfare rolls and it’s time we trim the fat.

  • Anonymous

    Therefore the response of deception.  I will repeat everyone pays taxes in one form or another.  I agree with you too many get tax refunds without paying in, but I start at the top (corporate welfare) not at the bottom where the most vulnerable are.  While the Governor proposes to take from the poor, he gives to the rich.  Where is your indignation at that?

  • Anonymous

    He opens his mouth and there we go again with some more of his rhetoric. [Speaking loosely with the truth.]   Why doesn’t he check the facts first before making his speech?

  • Anonymous

    Shared sacrifice for the common good rapidly looses its integrity of purpose when the administration carefully insures the pain and sacrifice is  directed onto the backs of the poor. Penguin land is composed of an elite oligarchy and  a local population , the designated “Beast of Burden” in the  Penguins new and improved Maine.

  • Anonymous

    Lepage should have just stayed employed by mardens to begin with

  • Anonymous

    LePew’s two biggest problems are his inflated ego and his inflated numbers.

  • Anonymous

    Not everyone pays taxes. I realize what you are saying, but if someone who receives $200 a month in food stamps say pays $100 a month in taxes, then they are not really paying taxes are they? They are simply giving back half of what the state gave to them.

  • Anonymous

    Easy now, we don’t want his few remaining brain cells to spill out.

  • Anonymous

    Go Guv. It’s time to put an end to the welfare state that the liberals have created.

  • Anonymous

    Is SS or DIC considered welfare?

  • Anonymous

    We will be cleaning up the mess that was left by the previous governor and the current president for years to come.  The unemployment rate will go down and so will the people on welfare and people like you will give him no credit.  That’s okay, just get out of the way, quit whining and get a job after you put your dirty, stinky, tent back in your parents garage.  The blight that has been left this governor is outrageous and he’s willing to clean it up, the least you could do is keep your trap shut.

  • hasacluemaine

    Even allowing for the generous Dem numbers, that would equate to about 40% of Mainers getting some  sort of government aid. A very thin limb to be perched on Dems.

  • Anonymous

    He is not taking anything from the poor, he’s giving less.  The rich pay 90% of the bill, period, end of story.  Quit lying to yourself and realize we have a entitlement problem here, not a revenue problem. 

  • chris reid

    Interesting from a person who claimed that he lived in Florida to finance his kid’s education.

  • Anonymous

    First we need jobs.  Then we need people to get past the urinaysis screenings.  My first job after retiring back home had a hard time filling vacancies (at good money) because welfare let them enjoy smoking a fattie.  Lots of people need the help but few are willing to work for it.

  • Anonymous

    Look: stop picking on the Gov. He had half the statement right. The 1% are not paying taxes. You need to read between the lines.

  • Anonymous

    More he said she said, how about concentrating on bringing revenue to the State, after all he says he is a professional bussiness man from the private sector……Show me the money !!!

  • Anonymous

    Yea right, you should be able to stay home, have 12 kids, and eat hohos and Lepage should write you a check to cover your rent, food, car, gas, medical, beer, cigs, and whatever other entitlement I left off and we should just shut up and pay the taxes for this great government program. 

  • Anonymous

    Dear Mr. I Know Everythng.

    For your information my first job was as a paperboy (before they were called sunrisers) for the Bangor Daily News when I was 12. I have held a job ever since, part time while still in school, then 4 years in the US Marines, two after getting married and having our first child and I continue to work, operating my own business, which currently employs 18,  to the present time. As far as living in a tent is concerned, I tried that a few times when I was in Boy Scouts and found out it wasn’t my style. I prefer creature comforts and have worked damned hard for every single one I enjoy. As far as  past Governors or Presidents are concerned I think you need to go back a lot further then the last Governor and the current President. Oh and as far as keeping my as you call it trap shut, not on your life. I earned my right to say what I feel and I feel that currently we have a “bloated”, bully as Governor who preys on the weak and poor in our society and who will stop at nothing to advance his  flawed agenda including lying as well as breaking the law. If you want to support a liar and someone who by his own admission is attempting to break the law then that is your choice and you have every right to do so, in fact I did my part to make sure you have that right.

  • StillRelaxin

    Granted, if it involves politicians or government agencies then it likely can be improved upon.  However I trust that the majority of voters out here don’t think we should blindly believe or follow a pathological liar to make those improvements happen.  We will demonstrate our beliefs when we go to vote next November.  Those who wish to survive the oncoming cleansing best start separating themselves from Mr. LePage and his “Way of doing dishonest business” as soon as possible.

  • Downeasta

    Who wants to guess that LePage will NOT get re-elected next term?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YAJZRSHZOYGTLTZOUREIQ7PRFY Mmmm

    I’m sure he just misspoke….

  • http://twitter.com/z_gryphon Ben Hutchins

    What was it Twain said?  There are lies, damned lies, and statistics?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YAJZRSHZOYGTLTZOUREIQ7PRFY Mmmm

    Of course all Mainers pay taxes–sales tax, property tax, payroll tax etc.  

    It’s a big Republican lie that most people do not pay taxes

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YAJZRSHZOYGTLTZOUREIQ7PRFY Mmmm

    He did not say tax filers.  He lied again

  • Anonymous

    Come now, Ms. Bennett, the tax filers are actual filers.  Your spin is not working.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YAJZRSHZOYGTLTZOUREIQ7PRFY Mmmm

    HuH?

  • Anonymous

    You would be right if that 450,000 figure was correct, but it is not.  Listen, I would prefer that we have absolutely no one on welfare, however, until many of our people have jobs that pay living wages, many of them are going to need help making ends meet.  We do need to get the people who are lifelong non-working people off welfare.  On yet another subject, LePage says he wants to improve our education system, however, he wants to cut headstart funding.  This man paints with a very broad brush with no thought being given to the consequences of his actions.

  • Anonymous

    First sentence. Did you not read the story?

  • Anonymous

    Well maybe it’s time some of these people got a job and started paying income taxes instead of taking, taking and taking some more.

  • Anonymous

    Interesting  what can be found when people have access to the governor’s papers

    http://bangordailynews.com/2011/12/17/opinion/editorials/dhhs-budget-woes-lie-with-department/

  • Anonymous

    If you would read, it says income tax, not sales tax,property tax, payroll tax etc! Income tax.

  • Anonymous

    Welfare is money recieved by people who put nothing into the system. If you never had a job and  if you never paid taxes but you are getting a check from the State, that money is welfare. AFDC is money given to a person who has a dependent child. It’s welfare. WIC money is welfare. If the State or Feds. help you pay your heating bill, it’s welfare. You did not earn the money, you paid no income taxes to support it…..it’s welfare. You can bend the defination any way you want……it’s simply welfare.

  • Anonymous

    This might be a good time to bring up Michelle Bachmann’s highly misleading claim:

    “Because today, 47 percent of the American people pay nothing in federal income tax”

    “Rep. Bachmann loves to cite this statistic but it is misleading.  She is ignoring a key component of the federal tax system — payroll taxes. For many Americans, payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare are a much greater part of their tax burden than income taxes. When all federal tax liabilities are included, it is clear that only a small
    percentage pay no form of federal tax. ”

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/fact-checking-the-abc-yahoo-debate-in-iowa/2011/12/11/gIQAglhRnO_blog.html?hpid=z1

    On payroll taxes:

    “More than two-thirds — or 49 million of the 69 million households — pay payroll tax. Of those, 34 million end up paying more in payroll taxes than they get back on their federal return. The other 15 million pay payroll tax but they get enough refundable credits to offset what they paid”

    http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/14/pf/taxes/who_pays_income_taxes/index.htm

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous

    Oh okay, so we’ll be back to those same improvements we enjoyed to get us in this fiscal mess! That’s something to look forward to isn’t it. Replacing one politician for another is not exactly what one would call a cleansing. And remember, even you and the other so called smarter people only get one vote too.

  • Anonymous

    Social Security and Medicare are not income tax. Stop misleading people!

  • Anonymous

    The Democratic staff of the House Committee on Education and the
    Workforce estimated the breakdown of costs for one 200-employee
    Wal-Mart store:
    * $36,000 a year for free or reduced school lunches, assuming that 50
    families of employees qualify.
    * $42,000 a year for Section 8 rental assistance, assuming that 3% of
    the store employees qualify.
    * $125,000 a year for federal tax credits and deductions for
    low-income families, assuming that 50 employees are heads of
    households with a child, and 50 employees are married with two
    children.
    * $108,000 a year for the additional federal contribution to state
    children’s health insurance programs, assuming
    that 30 employees with an average of two children qualify.
    * $100,000 a year for additional Title I expenses, assuming 50
    families with two children qualify.
    * $9,750 a year for the additional costs of low-income energy assistance.

  • Anonymous

    Every one of us, rich or poor, benefits in one way or another from government aid. Why should we see this as a bad thing? “Help” is not a four-letter word. It’s a sign of strength: for the person who recognizes he needs it and for the person who is willing to give it.

    When are we going to realize that the government is US? It is BY the people and FOR the people. WE are the government. And we have a moral obligation to help each other.

    I would much rather help someone who may not be entirely in need than to ignore someone who may really need it but whose circumstances may not be entirely clear.

  • Anonymous

    Overall, the committee estimates that one 200-person Wal-Mart store
    may result in an excess cost of $420,750 a year for federal taxpayers…….

  • Anonymous

    Willard:  thank you for spending time telling us what we already know.  Perhaps you could pass that information along to the Guv’nor’s lady mouthpiece, who obviously never read Mark Twain (see Ben Hutchins’ post).  Now, please indulge me in a personal irritant:  If you graduated from BHS in the middle of the last century you would never, ever, forget this:  it’s ‘I’ before ‘E’, except after ‘C’.  There’s more, but that suffices.  

  • Anonymous

    ”
    He did not say tax filers.  He lied again ”

    I am not sure if you read the story, but the FIRST sentence says…

    “  There are more Mainers receiving welfare benefits than there are income tax filers paying taxes, Republican Gov. Paul LePage said Saturday. ” 

    I am not sure how you could miss the first sentence of the story.  Now, I will admit I was not there, so I have no idea what he actually said.  Maybe the reporter didn’t quote him correctly, or maybe you already have your mind made up.

  • Anonymous

    Just make them take a drug test and half of them will fail

  • Anonymous

    So we can save money by getting rid of Wal-Mart stores?

  • Anonymous

    single payer health care and we elininate half of those on so-called welfare

  • StillRelaxin

    Personally I’d suggest simply replacing dishonest politicians who work for themselves or a minority with honest ones who consider the needs of others and work for the majority. “So called smarter people?” Sounds like you may be suffering from feelings of cognitive jealousy. 

  • Anonymous

    So  -  since nobody moves into a community to take a low-paying, benefit-less job at Walmart, these taxpayer costs were already in place, because almost all of these 200 employees were residents before Walmart arrived.   And so  -  some of these 200 are now supplementing their incomes at $7.25/hour for less than 24 hours/week, Walmart employment model being heavily oriented toward part time employees who have little incentive to unionize.   Uh-huh.  Wicked wonderful.   Please explain where the new excess costs come from.   Are they going to put a Walmart in Deer Isle or on Matinicus so 200 people will suddenly move in ?

  • Anonymous

    No, just recalling you patting yourself on the back frequently.

  • Anonymous

    Social Security is not welfare,  I would say DIC is.

  • Anonymous

    Make the cuts…we do not have the money to spend.

  • StillRelaxin

    Patting myself on the back frequently???  Are you trying to deflect from Mr. LePage’s lying by making an odd personal attack upon me?  You’re just not making any sense. 

  • Anonymous

    I am sure the governor will find joy in all he people who will die because of his draconian cuts to essential services.

  • Anonymous

    You gonna pay for those drug tests? 

  • Anonymous

    So, Bachmann should have said, “47% pay no income tax except those taxes that come out of income for Social Security and Medicare.”  Social Security and Medicare come out of income, right?  And they are taxes, right?

    I gave references for my claims, CNN and washingtonpost. What do you have?

  • Anonymous

    Keep it up and we won’t have a country. Fight, fight , fight and don’t accomplish a damned thing except having people live in fear and anxiety.  Am tired of it!!! Half on one side and half on the other. A state and country in chaos. Never thought I would see the day. :(

  • Anonymous

    My 83 year old mother is one of those who receives this “welfare” in the form of Medicaid. Let’s put her to work so she can stop taking!!!!

  • Anonymous

    Wj you are absolutely right. But, I would like to inject that, to have 99% of the populous on some type of government program, is pretty much the main plank in the Democrats platform.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1596904300 Bruce Bell

    So Jodi Quintero are you saying there no problems with the welfare in this State? Do you think we’re (tax payers) are all that stupid? Or are YOU that stupid?

  • Anonymous

    Here is the deal folks…..there are too many people thinking that food stamps, maine care etc are “free”.  Not free for those of us working so that others can sit home, have multiple children by multiple fathers and not work.  I am sick to death of being in a store or doctor’s office and seeing a 20 something come in and use food stamps, WIC or Maine Care simply because working isn’t convenient for them.  Help the elderly, the TRULY disabled (sorry all of you folks with a “mood disorder” – not you) and the TRULY injured but come down hard on the lazy, dishonest people who are feel that food stamps, Maine Care etc are an entitlement.  I don’t ask you to pay for me or mine and I am sick of paying for you.  There are jobs out there but we just keep handing people money (why not just make unemployment benefits go for a life -time) to sit at home, breed kids that they don’t want and not work.  And then…those kids breed more kids and on and on.   I had to laugh when I read that Olympia Snow has “heard rumors” that some people on unemployment are not taking jobs when they are offered…..SERIOUSLY……..why would they?  Pay me $278 a week for 3 years and heck I will stay home too.  Done with the freeloaders – shut them off and before all you bleeding heart liberals attack, I am not talking about the elder or those who are truly disabled – I am talking about the “oh, I am sad today”, “I can’t take that job because I have to work weekends” or the “I make more by having babies and getting checks for them”. So done with the freeloaders in this great welfare state of Maine – I say “farewell, welfare”

  • Anonymous

    Shame on the Governah for telling lies, and BDN for not printing the the truth of it in their headline. 

     there were more than 700,000 people who filed tax returns 
    Conservative “math”is no way to run anything.

  • Liberal Soup N Crackers

    Medicaid IS welfare and the number of filers is an irrelevant number. It is only those who actually pay taxes that matter in comparison.

  • Anonymous

    People receiving Medicare and Social Security are receiving the money they worked for and paid into the system, too.  Don’t confuse the issue — they are pensions, as well!

  • Anonymous

     Plenty of jobs out there.

     Too many won’t do them because they get more and do it easier on the backs of the workers.

  • Anonymous

     Then feel free to give away your entire paycheck to these layabouts.

  • Anonymous

    This should encourage people doing foster care.  

    They do the job of foster care more economically than a state agency.  

  • OldWench

    Here he goes with his lies again.  Of course he fails to mention that 2/3 of those receiving welfare are CHILDREN!  Can’t wait for Democrats to sweep elections in 2012 so they can impeach this imbecile!

    http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/realfacts/top_ten_tanf.htm

  • Anonymous

    When someone is acting as an apologist for a liar they certainly can’t use the truth to defend him So what is left. Deflect, deflect, deflect. I am sure you have run across parents who will claim their child is telling the truth even when everyone else knows the kid is a proven liar.

  • Tyke

    The governor of Maine lied today.

    It must be Saturday,
    or Sunday,
    or Monday,
    or Tuesday,
    or Wednesday,
    or Thursday,
    or Friday.

    Maybe there should just be a new section to every Maine newspaper titled Lepage’s lies of the day.

  • Liberal Soup N Crackers

    There were 394,000 individuals receiving food stamps or TANF benefits in Maine as of the end of December, 2010. I suspect it has grown in 2011 as the Obama economy has continued to stagnate. 

    Maine is a mess.

  • Anonymous

    In your mind, that would mean we only would have politicians with a liberal viewpoint. The ones that are more than ready to raise taxes to support the welfare system here in the great State of Maine. The Democratic party used to be the party of the people, it is now nothing more than a liberal entity that would like nothing more than to have the majority of people dependent upon the government for all their basic needs.

  • Tyke

    Under the definition Lepage is using Social Security would indeed be defined as welfare.

  • Tyke

    A lot of SS and Medicare recipients receive benefits that greatly exceed the payments they made. By Lepage’s own definition this is welfare.

  • Anonymous

    These headlines or I should say LePage cracks me up.  Guy should be a comedian instead….after all it would be a great excuse to chuck a tomato at him.  I am really tired of his leadership already, seriously, this guy wants to model everything for this state as his way or the highway or “Well other states don’t do it so neither should we”  Who gives a crap what the rest of the nation is doing right now?  Things in Maine are the same in New Hampshire, and not the same in Texas, and not the same in Utah,  etc.  Everytime he wants to make a cut, do this, or do that he always has to put in the fact that “We pay more then other states”  We do more then the rest of the nation”, etc.   This guy really likes taking things down the crapper.  He probably told Mardens once upon a time “Other salvage stores in the nation don’t do that and neither should we”  Speaking of Mardens is it me or have them stores gotten more organized and cleaner since Lepage took office, did LePage encourage them stores to have stuff all over the place because other stores like them in the nation were cleaner and had more floor space?

  • Anonymous

    Okay, this seems to be the most common argument. We are not saying this, some people truly need assistance. But notice how HDRoadQueen said SOME of these people need to work and pay taxes. Meaning that SOME of these people are on welfare because they are lazy, unmotivated, or are terrible with money, all of which are not acceptable reasons to be on welfare. Welfare is for those who are unable to help themselves and I highly doubt that 1/3rd of the population of Maine is unable to help themselves.

    Keep taking from tax payers to give to these lazy unmotivated people and soon enough you will have no taxpayers left because they will all move out. People have no problem with helping people such as your mother, that is not at all the issue.

  • Anonymous

    What’s next for the ever expanding definition and demonization of welfare?
    Anyone who get’s a tax return is on welfare.
    Anyone who doesn’t pay property taxes is on welfare.
    Anyone who can’t afford health insurance is on welfare.
    The right wing’s version of the war on poverty is to go to war against the poor.

  • Liberal Soup N Crackers

    anecdotal here … Boeing recently experienced the problem of paying for local training to provide semi skilled employees for their new assembly plant in Charleston, SC. When it came time to complete new employee screening, pay attention to this, 9 out of 10 of early applicants coming out of the training program flunked the drug screens. 90%!!!! 

  • Tyke

    The more urgent issue is whether the legislature will flip to Democratic control in 2012 so we can reign in our fool of a governor.

  • Anonymous

    I completely agree with you, and I am not implying otherwise by my comment. Just making the point that not everybody pays taxes.

  • Tyke

    Yup

    The most recent lies are all just an attempt to deflect from the administration’s incompetence.

  • Liberal Soup N Crackers

    yes

  • Tyke

    They’ve tried that in Florida and are finding a LOWER rate of drug use in the population of welfare recipients than in the general population as a whole,

  • Anonymous

    Give me a break – you left wingers drive me nuts….I don’t recall him saying anything you wrote above.  Welfare are those who chose not to work and then ask for handouts from the state and whine how others have more than they do.  There are others who have more than I do but…..I bet they EARN it.  If they don’t want to work – don’t, good for them but don’t whine because they can’t pay their bills, they are cold or they have no food.  Bottom line if they are able to work – then work and pay their own way, don’t expect me to pay it, I am taking care of my family they can take care of theirs.  Happy to help if they work and need a little something but not interested in  continuing to give handouts to those who don’t want to contribute.  Let’s switch roles for awhile and make the welfare folks foot the bill while the rest of us sit home…..wonder what song they would sing then.

  • Anonymous

    Given the numbers, it’s obvious that the Governor isn’t cutting anywhere near enough.

  • Guest

    LePage fails to mention that our State is the most elderly in the country.

  • Anonymous

    Some of the lazy includes corporations? Yes/No?

  • Anonymous

    Meanwhile across the border in Canada, apparently everyone is a parasite, and yet they are much happier and healthier than Americans:

    http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/44315.php

  • Anonymous

    Point is, welfare or not, there are more people drawing off of the sytem then putting in. This is totally unsustainable and somebody better step up to the plate and get this under control. If not the whole thing will come down, everybody looses then.

  • Anonymous

    You consider compensation to the spouse and children of military members who die during service to our country or from a service connected disability to be welfare?

  • Anonymous

    This is a ridiculous argument. More people on welfare than paying  taxes? Good grief! Aren’t a good number of those folks on welfare children? Seniors on SS? Our governor is an embarrassment to anyone capable of logical thinking.

  • Anonymous

    You been there lately? Thought so…

  • Anonymous

    Typical laplague. If he and his gang spent the same amount of time creating jobs like they promised, instead of spewing their devisive hatefull lies and misinformation maybe they would be able to actually accomplish something worthwhile.

  • Anonymous

    they are not considered “income” tax.. you know that… geesh

  • Anonymous

    hahahahaha…. best friends family is from there…. all the kids moved here and raised their kids here…… they rarely every go back to see the few old folks that hung around…. life in Canada is not what you claim it is……   again…hahahahahahaha

  • Anonymous

    No, but the man with the “sore back” down the road (btw, I have 4 herniated disks and have for years- work through the pain with only Advil – it can be done – even though my doctor would declare me disabled in a second if I would let him)……  who is 22 and is going to receive a life of monthly payment is receiving WELFARE….. he did not earn this on his own….  

  • Anonymous

    Why isn’t there a mass exodus to Canada?

  • Anonymous

    Quibble if you want, but he makes an important point. Don’t let the obfuscation obliterate the focus of the comments, even if you don’t like the message. At least he has the guts to table the issue for debate. That in itself is a stride forward.

  • Anonymous

    Surely even you wouldn’t hold back a chuckle at the narrowness of this idiotic argument. The pittance of payments contained in the limits on these payments is ludicrous in itself. Not only that, most aren’t paying the FICA at all. Bachmann makes another tough to argue point. Sharpen your spear…….

  • Anonymous

    Good luck with that. You failed last time. Let’s see what you can do for an encore?

  • Anonymous

    Of those 394,000, how many are children? How many are able to work and make a living wage? I think the numbers are being thrown around much too liberally. Too many blanket statements on both sides.

  • Anonymous

    Facts, just the facts!

  • Anonymous

    Again, SS is not welfare.

  • Anonymous

    Didn’t count Joint returns didya Guv??? Sort of plays havoc with your bogus numbers doesn’t it?? What a maroon! Does he really think people are that stupid?? Apparently, by some of the comments below, yup..

  • chris reid

    LOL…Forbes must have told him…LOL.

  • Anonymous

    The point being that folks receiving SS may not make enough $ to be filing a tax return. And some of them may be receiving Medicare, and Food Stamps, and LHeap to survive. Children also don’t file tax returns. So the #’s Lepage chooses to use are misleading at best, and simply inaccurate.

  • Anonymous

    Ok, if roughly half the state is on welfare, that means Washington County, population 33,000 has roughly 16,500 on welfare. You say there are plenty of jobs out there. I chalange you to show me 1,000 jobs available in Washington County. How about 500?

  • Anonymous

    Social Security and Medicare are not welfare.

  • Anonymous

    And people say it’s against the Constitution to test welfare recipients.

  • Anonymous

    A fair number of them are multimilliolnairs.

  • Anonymous

    No it isn’t.

  • Anonymous

    Like they swept the last one at something like 19% !

  • Anonymous

    How can you say he is working for the minority when it took a majority vote to get him in office?

  • Anonymous

    How do you know that?

  • Anonymous

    This is where a flat tax would be good… But can you tax someone when their only income is welfare???? Totally weird…

  • Anonymous

    That’s assuming the employees and their families weren’t costing the state anything beforehand, or that all of the employees/families moved from out of state. I doubt that would be the case…

  • Anonymous

    The only good news coming from this is that we are literally watching Penguin talk himself out of a job. 

  • Anonymous

    People are already moving out of the state. Not because of people on welfare but because they can’t find work with a living wage in this state. The jobs just are NOT here. Governor LePage has lied about that also. He has claimed that there are 24 thousand jobs available in Maine but we don’t have anyone capable or with the skills to fill those jobs.
    In Washington County 80% of the HS graduates are forced to leave the county if not the state to find work that pays a living wage. That should be an indicator that Governor LePage should be concerned with.

  • Anonymous

    Welfare, medicaid, etc. should be like unemployment: a limited payment period and you need to show you’re trying to find a job that would get you off the medicaid rolls. I have no problem paying for people who are doing everything they can to get off the dole: why doesn’t the state do the same. Seems like a better approach than LePage’s surgery via broadsword.

  • Anonymous

    Reiterating what ToyStory2WasOK said I am not against doing away with welfare all together. We need to take care of our elderly and those that are truly disabled first. There are way too many on the welfare rolls that are able to work but a just too lazy and unmotivated to do so. When these people receive something for nothing it becomes like a bad habit.

  • Anonymous

    Reiterating what ToyStory2WasOK said I am not against doing away with welfare all together. We need to take care of our elderly and those that are truly disabled first. There are way too many on the welfare rolls that are able to work but a just too lazy and unmotivated to do so. When these people receive something for nothing it becomes like a bad habit.

  • Anonymous

    And Governor LePage along with the rest of the Republicans elected to power in Maine in 2010 ran with the promise that they would bring jobs to Maine. It’s been 13 months, and so far they have not produced any noticable change to the job market. Instead their focus seems to be bashing the poor.

  • Anonymous

    In my response I meant to say that I am not for doing away with welfare altogether.

  • Anonymous

    Careful you are talking to all us jerks that have been paying for many years.

  • Anonymous

    Taxes must come down and be stablized at a lower level.  Again I say look to New Hampshire and adopt what they do with appropriate adjustments for situations unique to Maine.

  • Anonymous

    Oh, I see … Are you sure this is the Republican line?  You do realize that Rick Perry recently called Social Security a ponzi scheme? 

    If medicare isn’t welfare, why is Canada’s healthcare system welfare?

  • hasacluemaine

    ven allowing for the generous Dem numbers, that would equate to about 40% of Mainers getting some  sort of government aid. A very thin limb to be perched on Dems.

  • Anonymous

    Tax taken out of income is not considered income tax?  But it is an income tax, right?  Because the money is taken by the federal government out of income.

    You do see how Bachmann’s playing with words to trick people, right?

  • Anonymous

    Really now? How many multimillionares do we actually have in the state of Maine? Not too many I don’t think.

  • Anonymous

    Was he in the military?

  • Anonymous

    Ho Ho Ho — It’s a Harvard Study that claims Canada is doing much better, not me:

    http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/44315.php
     
    “Canadians, per head, spend much less than Americans do on health, and end up receiving much more and much better health care – Canadians are also enjoying far better health.”

    Ho Ho Ho — your personal story is called anecdotal evidence and means your stocking is empty. Got any other evidence, arguments, or links?

    Ho Ho Ho …

  • Anonymous

    Current figures state that 50% of all Americans are now considered low income.  Therefore 50% of all Mainers are now considered low income.  Doesn’t it stand to reason that if 50% of your populatoin is considered low income, then your public assistance rate would be at 50%?

  • Anonymous

    We pay for everything else, why not pay for the drug tests.

  • Anonymous

    Well, 45, 000 Americans a year are dying from lack of health insurance, so I assume they are too sick to jump through the bureaucratic hoops:

    http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/09/new-study-finds-45000-deaths-annually-linked-to-lack-of-health-coverage/

  • Anonymous

    Shoot yourself in the foot.

    Bill in the US:  Five thousand dollars plus.

    Bill in Canada:  Zero

    Service:  Immediate

  • Anonymous

    Some might have to move to work.

    So what?

    Life is hard sometimes. You do what you have to.

  • Anonymous

    You sharpen yours.  I gave links which contain detailed explanations.

    Answer this:

    If money is taken out of your income by the Federal Government, it is a tax right?

  • Anonymous

     Would someone please tell the liberals that their social programs are about to drag this state and this country under?

  • Anonymous

    Well just so you understand my comment. Many times you refer to yourself as being one of us smarter folks”. Hence, “patting your self on the back”. As for LePage and lying, I think he shoots his mouth off before he knows what he’s talking about. As for the “personal attack”, you’ve accused so many people of that you should learn to ” copy and paste”, save some typing ya know. Hope that clears things up.

  • Anonymous

    I have never subscribed to your description of  LePage as the penguin, but after seeing the picture the BDN has run with this article I think he is starting to look like Opus.

  • Anonymous

    Let’s assume LePage is a liar, ok. Now lets compare you commenting on a topic and completely ignoring what’s written and change things to fit your own political agenda.Twisting the truth to your liking. I’d say you’re two of a kind.

  • Anonymous

    I take it you never have paid into Social Security or Medicare?  If you have I assume you aren’t going to collect when you retire so as not to be on welfare.

  • OldWench

    Gotta love how he fails to mention that 2/3 of the Mainers that receive welfare are minor CHILDREN!!!  Gee, that might be why they don’t file tax returns!  

    http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/realfacts/top_ten_tanf.htm

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HJ7QHAWSNLX6Q464TU7IFDN6FQ JohnR

    LiarPage’s comments are AFP, MHPC, Koch brother, and ALEC approved. Those that don’t approve must be from some special interest group “other” than the ones the Gubnor likes. You really can’t make this stuff up. This lying draft dodging, Creationist, Gubnor hates special interest groups that don’t agree with him………..but LOVES those that do……?????????

  • Anonymous

    Canadians pay into medical.  How is this different from Medicare?

  • Anonymous

    who cares if forbes made the statements or not if you need anyone to tell you the state has a spending problem you are turning a blind eye and it is not worth anyones time to try to convince the unconvinceable. As far as the comment on more people collecting than paying and the dems arguement saying more people filed than collected,just because you file dont mean you pay alot of people get more money back than they pay in.  REGARDLESS THE STATE HAS A PROBLEM AND IF SOMETHING IS NOT DONE AND FAST IT WONT MATTER EVENTULLY IT WONT BE OUR DECISSION ON WHAT TO DO TO FIX THE SPENDING PROBLEM WE WILL HAVE NO CHOICE THE FEDS WILL MAKE THE DICISSION

  • Anonymous

    Maybe we could send a few thousand of our unhappy, unhealthy Maine citizens to Canada. It would be one of our most beneficial exports.  Afterall their happiness and health are of utmost importance.

  • Anonymous

    Having worked as a mid level Administrator in the “welfare” programs for 31 years before my retirement as well as being as recipient of such welfare after my divorce in the 70′s, I can assure you I know that the vast majority of “welfare” recipients are neither lazy or unmotivated.  Most would be very happy to be able to work and earn a living wage in order to support their family. Most are taxpaying citizens just like you and I. It is also a total myth the people are moving into Maine for it’s not so generous benefits. We did track that during my working years and it is so not true. If they move here, it is generally because they have family here. It sickens me that people look down on someone that they know nothing about and assume the worst when they don’t walk in their shoes. Where is your compassion! If there were jobs, no one would need “welfare”.

  • Anonymous

    Lapage is hell bent on hurting Mainers and the economy here in Maine.. He don’t seem to know what he is doing.. He has said so many lies on the stand to push his ideas through he don’t even know what is truth anymore..

  • Anonymous

    Most of the multimillionaires live out of state to avoid the state income taxes.  Like Steven King who lives in Florida to avoid Maine taxes while advocating for higher taxes for the rest of us.

  • Anonymous

    I wonder whether there is more Canada to US immigrtion or US to Canada.  I am talking about permanent immigration for residential purposes, not just visiting.  I haven’t researched this subject, I’ll bet there are more Canadians moving here.

  • Anonymous

    You people whine about the people drawing for the state an call them bums ,,lazy  ect than tell me this if welfare is so good than why did 200 people wants jobs at the casino dealing cards an other jobs there how do you explain it  ??

  • Anonymous

    You are grasping at liberal straws.

  • Anonymous

    I kind of agree with you, but these people are probably not receiving Medicare, but MaineCare.  Two different things.

  • Anonymous

    I’m really not trying to argue, but SS and Medicare in order to receive you have to pay into the system like you would in a retirement plan.  MaineCare, Liheap and others I agree with you 100 percent.  I won’t live long enough to get back all my investment in SS and Medicare I paid over my 50 plus years of working two jobs.

  • Anonymous

    Maybe if his precious “job creators” actually created a few jobs things would get better.

  • Anonymous

    “While it’s true that 445,000 of the tax filers in 2010 paid taxes, there were 584,000 resident tax returns filed during the year, with the gap representing filers who didn’t pay taxes, Quintero said, citing statistics from Maine Revenue Services. Of the total, more than 246,000 were joint returns, meaning there were more than 700,000 people who filed tax returns, she said.”
    445,000 paid taxes of 584,000 returns filed which leaves 139,000 non-taxpaying filers. Is she double-adding the 139,000 non-payers to the 584,000 to come up with plus 700,000 or is she adding 246,000 to 584,000 filers which would put the total over 830,000? If it’s over 800,000, then why would she say over 700,000?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    I think it would be a good idea for the people on welfare to switch roles and work, while those of us that are working now can stay home and watch tv, play video games, fish, hunt, etc. I think we deserve a long vacation so we can rest up for a bit, then we could actually know what it is like, isn’t that what you guys say, put the shoe on the other foot?

  • Anonymous

    Honestly, this is what I thought newspapers and journalism was for, to help us weed out the tit-for-tat crap and investigate the truth. I’m not interested in this tennis match, I want the truth. Is that so hard BDN? Are you more interested in the back and forth or are you interested in bring the facts?

  • Anonymous

    its not the govenors job to create jobs ,the only jobs he can create is state jobs and that would make things worse state jobs are paid from taxes then you collect income tax from them so the state loses money

  • Anonymous

    When I see the most popular post here…….Good lord, you folks in Maine are sunk by your own laziness and greed.  Section 8, food stamps, earned income credit, home heating allowance, meals on wheels, free stuff, and more free stuff is your chosen slave life.  Disgusting, ZERO pride people.  The folks of Maine used to be sought all over New England and beyond for their hard work ethic….now they are proud welfare rats….

  • Anonymous

    GO LePAGE!

  • Anonymous

    I have a relative who lives in Canada and told me we should fight tooth and nail against socialized medical.  He lives it, he knows it.  Medical news today be damned!

  • Anonymous

    SpruceDweller, Stop playing stupid!  The federal government takes health insurance payments ($435 per/mo) out of my income.  It’s not a tax!  They take out $250 per/mo. survivors benefits out of my income.  It’s not a tax. They also take out union dues, not a tax!  They take out life insurance premiums…not a tax.  And if I wanted to, I could surf the net until I found links to support just about any point I was trying to make and paste the links on my post (which is what your’re doing),  but that’s like the proverbial “shooting an arrow into a tree and painting a circle around it……………So give it up.  They deduct more than taxes.

  • Anonymous

    If there are only 445,000 mainers paying taxes that ought to tell Lepage that very few rich constituents(Republicans) paying any income tax at all!!

  • Anonymous

    Its common knowledge the money paid into the social security system by individuals during their working careers is actuarial y  insignificant.   The simple passage of time devours that balance in no time, it vanishes like smoke, leaving the average participant being subsidized by the  whole system.  I expect thats true of all payroll deduction funded care schemes.  I’m working on my ninth year of retirement and I’ve been flying on their dime for a long long time. That makes me a parasite in the eyes of some but thats BS. Its just the way things have to be structured to provide for the people. Unless of course one take to position that everybody is deficient on multiple levels if they’re not Bill Gates, Warren Buffet or Paul LePage the Slim Jim king.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SCNJPPZDX7GEYELESV2YGQFLN4 Pat T. Riot

    Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, and South Carolina evidently have no minimum wage.  This looks promising.  If Governor LePage can eliminate welfare in Maine, or nearly so, and take a lesson from those southern states, maybe he can get Maine off the bottom of the Forbes list.  I’ve always admired Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, and South Carolina for their progressive ways.  The Scopes Monkey Trial in Tennessee is one of my favorite episodes in American history.  Fort Sumter, Birmingham, Strom Thurmond, George Wallace, Mississippi Burning, so many happy memories.

  • Anonymous

    I have to moderate this a bit:  If the BDN is cherry picking comments or if the vast majority just gave up on having anything to do with the BDN then my take is all wrong. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    Try telling that to half the people up here and you get a blank stare. The graduation rate hovers around 80%, what does that tell you. They don’t want to even try to study once and awhile and try to graduate, it is tooo haaad (inflection of whining while slack jawed). We all know some of the people that actually graduated with straight D’s, what does that say about the rest that could not be bothered.

  • Anonymous

    Dude:  You’ll find all of the rich guys are Democrats feeding you the KoolAde….  George Sorenose, Warren Buffet…..  Obama gave them billions on his insider trading deals.  It’s legal if you are in government.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PJKQARAGYNJV2ES7FMPQDBJHNQ dawgdawg

    Hello

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PJKQARAGYNJV2ES7FMPQDBJHNQ dawgdawg

    Lepage is finally taking it to the freaken freeloaders. Good for him

  • Anonymous

    And I am sure you think Obama is doing a great job, while tripling the deficit while in office.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    Intelligent people do not usually post as it is frustrating to try to communicate to the HS dropouts, the gene pool is poisoned up here. It is just getting worse.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    They just like hitting a bees nest while a bunch of people are standing under it and then running away. Always turns into a big chucklefest.

  • Anonymous

    Would you and Bangorian please post pics ? It’s only fair. Didn’t mom ever tell you to not make fun of peoples looks?

  • Anonymous

    Don’t forget slavery, a wholehearted and cheerful embrace of the ultimate evil and foul stain on the country right down to a remote posterity.

  • Anonymous

    I guess you think Social Security and Medicare aren’t welfare. Good for you!

  • Anonymous

    Is anyone else sick of seeing pictures of LePage?  Just reminds me how much I need to go on a diet once the holidays are over.

  • Anonymous

    It seems like the liberals  are having a hissy fit.  They can’t stand that hard, working Mainers are fighting back. We will help the truly needy, but we are saying NO to the liberals who steal our money in order  to control people by making them dependent on the government.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    I posted something similar. You will not get a immediate response to the request to switch places, that is what they usually bring up, “You can’t put yourself in someone else’s shoes.” That is their mantra, using child psychology sends them running around the playground until they group their minds together and return with a retort much later. Predictable bunch.

  • Anonymous

    You wish.

  • Anonymous

    I know a lot of stellar folks from Maine.  Just reading the BDN on all the moon bat comments and bath salts and welfare demands….just makes me feel like the place is toast.

  • Anonymous

    So why are you still here Sprucy? Why haven’t you moved to Canada?

  • sassyfrazz

    I agree.  There are way too many blanket statements thrown around on both sides.

    Minimum wage is definitely not a living wage, and most service jobs pay minimum.  Not everyone can go to college and get a PHD, and even if they did, Maine has prostituted itself as “Vacationland” for decades now.  We’re getting what we asked for IMHO. 

    Rents are ridiculous now.  I have a friend who just packed up and moved out of state because her efficiency apartment was sold to an investor who wanted to kick her out for renovations to re-rent it for a higher rate.  That’s the second time it happened in 6 months.  She worked one full-time and one part-time (10-15) overnight jobs.  A lot of the available jobs pay minimum and/or do not offer a full 40 hour week.  There are many people who work at convenience stores (some more than one) trying to make enough money to live.  They still often qualify for MaineCare (although many of them won’t go through the grilling to get it and just don’t have any).  

    Unfortunately, they don’t get a lot of press. It’s probably because they’re working.

  • Anonymous

    AFDC has been called TANF since 1996, it is welfare. Food Stamps & Medicaid or MaineCare are both welfare programs.

  • Anonymous

    Do you? If so you should do some research on where that money comes from. You have never had those deductions every week for years have you?

  • Anonymous

    Oh ok, so while you go after Lepage for being a liar, the facts remain the same and there are no longer federal dollars going toward healthcare in the state. The best the democrats had to offer was a governor who just stopped paying hospitals and doctors, and put it off until the next governor was elected. I have not seen a single state Democrat come up with any solutions as far as how to deal with this loss of federal money, the only thing I have heard is squabble about how the governor isn’t interpreting data properly. These people are elected to office to solve problems, not create them, I don’t care what party they belong to they need to fix the problem or get out of the way.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    Because the graduation rate hovers around 80%, what does that tell you. They don’t want to even try to study once and awhile and try to graduate, it is tooo haaad (inflection of whining while slack jawed). We all know some of the people that actually graduated with straight D’s, what does that say about the rest that could not be bothered. Those 200 do not belong to this group. Sesame Street says “One of these things is not like the other, one of these things doesn’t belong.” Try to guess.

  • Anonymous

    A majority didn’t vote for LePage. there were 5 people in the race &  Libby Mitchell & Cutler split the liberal votes.  about 61% voted against LePage.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    I know a bunch of stellar folks up here, they work hard and do not mind supporting the folks that need help, but the dregs up here make them sick.

  • Anonymous

    what is DIC?

  • Anonymous

    But we do know something about those people:  they’re picking our pockets.

  • Anonymous

    A slight problem with your logic.  You are assuming that no AFDC  (actually TANF) parent or WIC worked before or is working while receiving that benefit.  Or that people receiving heating assistance never worked or are not working now.  ”You did not earn the money, you paid no income taxes to support it….it’s welfare.”  News flash!  Many recipients have work histories (especially the elderly who struggle to stay warm or parents who worked before they became parents or became too ill to support their family or had a disabled/sick child)!!!!!!!

  • Anonymous

    Some of those ‘parasites’ are children…this world just makes me sick sometimes. I hope you never find yourself needing help. 

  • Anonymous

    It’s not a misleading claim, and the answer is in the evidence that you cited.  The Washington Post did distinguish between payroll and income taxes.  Payroll taxes fund specific “benefits,” while income taxes are funding the general operations of our government.  Those who don’t pay federal income tax aren’t paying for anything that will not be directly returned to them at a later time (for the low income the benefit will overwhelmingly outweigh the money they’ve put it).  Don’t forget that capital gains taxes are also on income, and yet we still make the distinction.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    I am an Independent and have no party affiliation, but the BDN will let the left say anything they want, name calling, pornographic terms, etc., but if the right does something equivelent or lesser the BDN will lift comments. I get the idea the left gets their feelings easily hurt and runs to mama BDN. It is also obvious that the BDN has no shame in posting bad photographs of people they dislike and favorable photos of those they like in the political arena. They also make sure to post mug photos of the less fortunate in our area when arrested. You never see a clean cut person in one of their mug photographs even though clean cut people get arrested. Just an observation.

  • Anonymous

    The amazing thing, I recently discovered about WalMart, is the difficulty of just going through their hiring process. I thought I would apply on line to start with and apparently there is another sight disguised as WalMart jobs that I got a virus from. Went to the store with my wife to have her apply and it took almost 3 hrs. on their computer to go through the process. I tried to get myself on and there was no password that I tried or a store employee tried that their program would accept. I tried down at the Job Center and got almost through the 65 questions when the program kicked me out. I took this as a sign that I am not destined to have a part time or anytime job in the WalMart kingdom. I wonder of NASA employees have to go through as much psycho bable to get hired?

  • Anonymous

    Social Security and Medicare are government run social policies that take money from some and give it to others.  It is clearly welfare.  

  • Anonymous

    Lewiston is a prime example of what I am talking about. It is essentially “little Detroit.” Many people move there for welfare benefits, many of which simply refuse to work.

    Welfare is meant as a way to help people get back on their feet, it is not meant as a lifetime income supplement. I realize that many people do need welfare assistance who work hard, but if they need such assistance for extended periods of time (say 20 years)then they need to consider a career change. They maybe should consider going to a trade school and acquiring valuable skills.

    And from personal observations, every person I know who is on welfare (quite a few) does not need to be on welfare. I know people who are welfare because they refuse to work, I know people who are on welfare because they dropped out of high school and have never had a job. I know people who work jobs, making plenty of money but are able to “hide” it and thus collect welfare. I know people who are self employed making a lot of money who collect welfare benefits. And I know people who are on welfare who do drugs, drink, and blow all of their extra money on “toys.” Personally, I have taken people in who are down on their luck, only to be taken advantage of. I honestly do not know of a single person who is on welfare who truly needs it, I do on the other hand know people who do truly need welfare but are unable to get it.

    And regardless of all of this or not, if you have more people receiving welfare benefits than you have people paying income tax then you have a very serious problem. This is a problem that roots much deeper than simply people who are down on their luck. It is a problem in which the disease needs to be cured instead of simply treating the symptoms. This is a problem that requires more action than simply throwing money at it.

  • Anonymous

    That post was a knee slapper!

  • Anonymous

    Just because you file a joint tax return doesn’t mean both parties actually worked. Regardless.  How can anyone think its fair for those working to continuously pay for those that want to sit on their butts…meaning the ‘non-caterogized’ people covered right now.  Those that are not elderly or disabled should be able to get out and find some kind of job to at least help. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    Hell ya, I have to take them to work, why not take one not to work. I know you can’t pay fer “em.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    She ran away and hid. No response.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    The few people I know that work at food pantries are working people that volunteer. Shouldn’t these be full of people that come to the food pantries to get their food?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    Because they might have to work when they get there.

  • Anonymous

    I am not sure by your reply if you are saying that LePage is or is not a liar. Be that as it may, but as far as federal dollars for medicaid (Mainecare) are concerned  every state dollar spent on the program will be matched by two federal dollars. That is hardly no federal dollars being spent on healthcare in the state. What the previous administration, which I was no fan of by the way, did as far as the way they administered the medicaid program was wrong. I also was not in favor of selling the liquor monopoly the state had to private out of state interest for pennies on the dollar. I acknowledge that we have a serious problem with Mainecare as well as the rest of the programs that are administered by DHHS.  There are way too many people on public assistance in this state. We are also in the midst of the worst economic recession since the great depression. Too many of our citizens are out of work, most not of their own choosing. I pay taxes in this state and I don’t want to see my tax dollars wasted anymore then the next person does.  I am in favor of fixing Mainecare and the rest of what is wrong with our state, but I also know that simplistic solutions do not work when you are dealing with complicated problems. What I am not in favor of is management by crisis. It just does not work.  If we are to believe what Commissioner of DHHS Mayhew has said, and I have no reason not to believe her, is that this particular crisis was caused by poor planning by the LePage Administration when it came to the bi-annual budget.  I do know one thing though Governor LePage has shown himself to be a liar and to be perfectly honest with you I do not care who the liar is or what political party they are a member of I have no use for liars. I also know that our problems will not be solved by the methods that LePage is proposing, he himself has said that his proposal violates federal law. Our problems will be solved by reasonable people working together to come up with long term solutions to them and not by lies, rhetoric, playing groups of citizens against each other or deception.

  • Anonymous

    Yep, my whole family did.

  • Anonymous

    July 2009 Article by The American Thinker studied the study you linked to. Figures don’t lie but liars figure.

  • Anonymous

    Life is MICH better here than in Canada.

  • Anonymous

    The study, which analyzed data from national surveys carried out by the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), assessed death rates after takinginto account education, income, and many other factors, including smoking,drinking, and obesity. It estimated that lack of health insurance causes 44,789excess deaths annually.   
          YEAH,  including smoking, drinking, and obesity. A little personal responibility towards ones own health may help more than “ lack of health insurance”…

  • Anonymous

    The study, which analyzed data from national surveys carried out by the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), assessed death rates after takinginto account education, income, and many other factors, including smoking,drinking, and obesity. It estimated that lack of health insurance causes 44,789excess deaths annually.   
          YEAH,  including smoking, drinking, and obesity. A little personal responibility towards ones own health may help more than “ lack of health insurance”…

  • Anonymous

    More die because of our health care.

  • Anonymous

    Service is NOT immediate in Canada! I have relatives there that have to come to the U.S. to get needed care for diabetes,and glaucoma! They come here because the waiting list there is so long! Why don’t you actually ask some canadians yourself before you believe the biased media, or the haaaavvvaaadddd studies!

  • Anonymous

    Actually social security pays if you don’t pay in! Look at all the illegals that get disability AND welfare! They are here illegally and have NOT payed anything in!

  • Anonymous

    Would you be kind enough to point out where I have twisted anything. What did I completely ignore? You have no idea what my political agenda is and to be honest with you it varies by subject. Did Forbes say that what LePage said was the truth? I must have missed that. I believe they denied saying what he said they said and then they went on to correct it. Did LePage count joint tax returns in what he said about there being more people on welfare then there were tax filers? How many of the welfare recipients were children? Before I call someone a liar I do my homework and I am sure of the facts. I suggest you do likewise.

  • Anonymous

    if you want to doublethe amount by counting the joint returns lets count the actual number that are in the families supported by welfare

  • Anonymous

    Sounds like Deeeetroit..

  • Anonymous

    Hopefully…. there is no one that would disagree that we all want the fraud to stop in our Welfare System…and our Government… and our voting…lets start with those three !!! 

  • Anonymous

    there is no one in this country that is denied care reguardless of their income or insurance status, all bogus figures

  • Anonymous

    cnn and washington post, two of the most liberal sources available, lets see what glenn beck and rush have to say and compare notes

  • Anonymous

    ssi is a ponzi scheme  i have paid in for ever and if I drop dead before I am able to draw I get nothing and my family gets nothing

  • Anonymous

    Is the free healthcare the reason that Canadian MP, Belinda Stronach, came to the US for her cancer treatment?

    http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20070914/belinda_Stronach_070914/

  • Guest

    After you do that, they will put you through a series of interviews,, even for a part time job. You really have to want to work for the store badly.

  • Guest

    I agree, however, how would he get all those big benefits for life?

  • Guest

    Napolean

  • Anonymous

    Disqus generic email templateThanks for supporting me.

  • Anonymous

    we paid that bill in blood 700,000 …rivers and lakes of blood

  • Anonymous

    I don’t know about him being a liar because I can’t rely on any of these stories released by the BDN as being credible by their headlines because they sometimes directly contradict themselves. But the issue we have is that the federal government has just pulled away a lot of money, and now we need to cut 220 million as part of a federal mandate. I know Lepage gets very emotional about things like this and he does sometimes say some things that aren’t exactly clear, but the emotional aspect is exactly why I voted for him and continue to support him. Does he produce figures for dramatic effect? Of course he does, as a society we have proven that we have always elected officials that simply borrow and borrow and don’t worry themselves about tomorrow, and the only way to make a change is to look at these things for what they are. Is he lying about figures for his own gain? Why would he? What difference does it make? This isn’t Russia where we have fixed elections and politicians stay in power through fear, from what I’ve seen this is a Mainer who worked his way up to this position because he wanted to do well for the state. Even after voting for him straight through the primaries and election I have tried to keep an unbiased view on the articles I read about him in the BDN, and so far the only thing I have really seen is trash talk from democrats as opposed to actual coverups or crimes exposed by the BDN. I know its not always a good thing to have a knee jerk reaction to a problem, but Baldacci really got us in a mess here and something needs to be done quickly.

  • Anonymous

    anyway ya slice it we got to many ticks ….ya;ll are sitting here arguing if the whole dog is covered or just to the tail….* SHRUG *  

  • Anonymous

    This is so left, it’s funny. This doesn’t take from the fact that we need to cut a system that is corrupt and holding this stte in a giant hole.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OEFDEYGJYWX3MMI4S2QHDC5DXA Thistle

    What is your explanation for the cap at $106,800?

    I never knew income tax rates to have a cap.

  • Anonymous

    See that is the interesting thing. There are a lot of countries that have socialized this and socialized that, and are generally happier and they are able to accomplish all of this with very similar tax rates as us yet much less revenues as us. This would suggest that raising tax rates and increasing spending is not the answer. This suggests that we need some serious reform, and more efficient programs.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OPAW6MFKY2SIYUQYNRYFVIR3V4 Retiree

    You just don’t get it do you! You must be one of the local Blood suckers, leechs of the State. Well I am sick of supporting you leechs.
     

  • Anonymous

    Oh How RIGHT you are!

  • Anonymous

    Hey smart guy, go on a diet, a long, long, long diet and don’t come back!

  • Anonymous

    Hey jerk, do what you said you would do, CREATE JOBS, people will go to work, people will get off welfare.
    Pretty simple, just do YOUR job like you promised.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OPAW6MFKY2SIYUQYNRYFVIR3V4 Retiree

    Go get them Gov. lepage. We need to get the drug testing law in place and start testing monthly. We need to check every welfare person and have them reapply for benefits and have new workers check them out befor giving out the benefits.

  • Anonymous

    My original comment had to be reviewed by the BDN censorship staff….ie: CCCP.

  • Anonymous

    The Canadian government does have waiting list and will send people to the US if needed and does so immediately. They goverment pays the entire bill. So whats the problem with that?
    The american medical facilities love it, they get paid. So whats the problem with that.

  • Anonymous

    The US has better facilities for some medical issues. Again, they send them to the US. so whats wrong with that? they still pay, so whats wrong with that?

  • Anonymous

    Tax Chillie Pingree Sussman and her Hubby Don an additional $100 million a year.That freakin’ one per center can afford it. Feed the very entitlement sow she helped create.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SK5V4X3IYAITNF452MMUONDYQM Jimmy James

    I say just throw em off the welfare system… do away with it ….then you will see this country go back to being the way it should be ….. hard working people with a sense of direction.   If they don`t do something soon I may just quit paying taxes .  force their couch tired asses and beer drinking waist lines out and do some good for a change .  although most of them have no job skills at all so ……. oh well!!!

  • Anonymous

    Not a true statement, your spouce can draw from yours.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    That is a laugh. You show these people a shovel and they will have a heart attack. Only happy until you have to work.

  • Anonymous

    No , but-they WILL be billed until they are broke and homeless. !

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    Like buyimg votes from the welfare bums for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ per year with my money. The ones that can not finish HS vote for who will give them the most $$$$$$$$$$$. To me that is voter fraud. Votes all bought and paid for every election cycle. Makes it hard for working people when we pay for your vote to turn around and steal from us. It would be better if you just tried mugging us, at least we would have a chance and you might get some exercise.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6LTDLSW4TVTH6S4LX7GC5JQ2HY Regina Hosebeast

    So the correct figures are 584,000 taxpayers, and 445,000 collecting welfare. Now that’s something to be proud of. The average welfare payment in Maine is $485/month. How many of the 584,000 taxpayers are paying $485/month? Not very many. In other words the vast majority of taxpayers’ have every penny of their taxes spent on others’ welfare checks. And the Feds, (every other taxpayer in the country) make up the rest.

    So a Maine taxpayer is basically taking care of 2 families; his or hers and some other family. And you jump on Lepage for trying to help you keep what you earn.

    Obviously we have arrived at a time when ‘consumers’ ( non-producers ) nearly outnumber wage earners. And clearly the ones that will be most affected by responsible spending and cut backs are screaming the loudest.

    I am embarrassed to admit I have lived most of my life in Maine. What a bunch of whining, worthless and despicable boot lickers we have become.

  • Anonymous

    What a Mess Governor John Baldacci left to clean up… 8 years of depending on federal funds and Bonds to pay  the bills…, yet when he retired he moved to washington to figure out how to deny Vets health care…. Sorry folks the candy man left and spent the money before he left…

  • Anonymous

    Agreed vote buying,,, Obama is out in the open about it..

  • Anonymous

    The federal government isn’t mandating that we do anything as far as the $220 million is concerned. And like you I voted for him but I can not describe away his untruthfulness as getting emotional. Even if that were the case, management by emotion is as bad as management by crisis. He is no longer running a chain of surplus and salvage stores. He is supposed to be running The State of Maine. And that is far different then and a much larger enterprise then Marden’s. You ask if he is lying about the numbers for his own gain and my answer to that is yes and no. I do not feel it is for his own personal financial gain, but rather for his ideological gain. He is not using fear as a means to get re-elected, I don’t even know if re-election is his goal. What he has been doing is using fear in an  attempt to get his agenda passed. I am convinced that this is not just his agenda but one that is being directed by the Maine Heritage Policy Center in this state and by the Heritage Foundation on a national basis. As I said earlier I was not a fan of the Baldacci Administration but I think the problems we are facing today didn’t start with Baldacci or even King. I think both parties can share the blame. The democrats for the legislation they passed and the republicans for the un-electable candidates they kept nominating. I have been a registered republican since 1967 and I truly feel that had the republicans put up less radical candidates  the democrats would not have held power or at least the amount of power they did for such a long time in the state legislature. To solve our state’s problems it is going to take serious people working together to get the job done for the good of all Maine people. Unfortunately , in my opinion, Paul LePage is not keeping his pledge of putting people before politics. 

  • Anonymous

    The Welfare system is the largest industry in the State.  It was designed by the Dems and they are the ones making all the money off of it… Example. If you owned a grocery store chain and the food stamp program put 1/2 a billion dollars a year into you’re stores,  who would you support for politicans???? Democrats!!!!  low income housing mostly owned by Dems is one of the best money makers… senior housing owned by dems.. The Government pays up to 2 K per month for secured  entrance units, and 1.5 k per unit per month for private entrance units… Dems designed the whole system to make money on.. They don’t care about people….$$$ is their love.. 

  • Anonymous

    To say that “LePage’s numbers are purposely deceptive to support Republicans’ political agenda”, as House Democratic Office spokeswoman Jodi Quintero said, IS DISINGENUOUS. Yes, she correctly pointed out that the number (445,000) the governor referenced as the number of residents who paid taxes is actually the number of tax returns filed by residents who did not pay taxes. The actual number of residents who paid taxes is, according to her, more than 700,000. But, lets not forget the governor is not a tax expert. While a distinction such as this is important, the governor who is not not an expert is not expected to get his facts correct all the time. But Ms. Quintero doesn’t seem to think so and basically calls him a liar. So who made the bigger mistake, the one who confused a fact – LePage – or the one who launched a baseless value judgement – Ms Quintero?

    While Quintero accuses the governor of deliberately using deception, Lepage spokeswoman Adrienne Bennet rightly points out more people receive welfare than numbers seem to suggest. According to the news article, “the welfare numbers for the most part represent individuals who
    receive benefits, but she said, the reality is that many of the
    benefits go to help recipients’ families as well. Ironically, Quintero neglects to mention this fact.

    This to me underscores the importance of debate. It helps clarify facts and issues. But accusing a debater like the governor of lying (that is, purposely using deception) by jumping to conclusion concerning his intentions is totally uncalled for in civil society.

    As I’ve stated before, many liberals have a tendency to attacked the character of their adversaries. They take the attitude they are superior because lying (purposeful deception) is something only their adversaries do.

    With this, before you make any more broad accusations against the governor, I strongly suggest you reread the news article in its entirety with an eye on all the details, not just the ones that you find appealing.

  • Anonymous

    Don’t shoot yourself in the foot, cost zero.
    Link http://WWW.don‘tshootyourselfinthefoot.com

  • Anonymous

    What a Governor’s job is, is to cut cost which keeps taxes low and puts the house in order.. This attracks buinesses to come to Maine.. When the State is known for the worst business climate in the country and the highest welfare rate and taxes in the country, who would want to open up shop here??? Putting the States Business in Order first will convince businesses that Maine means Business… That is how you create a place that people want to create jobs by opening businesses…. If you’re thinking that the State Should Hire people just to Hire people and call it some cute name like Green Jobs costing taxpayers money, that won’t work.. The pension debt for Maine employees is over 1/2 billion per year.. and new employees filled the jobs which means we are now paying for the new employee/ one maybe 2 or 3 retired people from that same one job plus benies.. It is insane…

  • http://www.facebook.com/tom.harvell Tom Harvell

    So… by your logic it is immoral to vote for any candidate that advocates programs that could financially help you?  Then the logical conclusion is it is immoral to vote at all. Candidate likes tax cuts? Buying votes! Candidate likes schools? Buying votes! Candidate likes a police force that prevents people from ‘mugging’ you money? Buying votes!

  • http://www.facebook.com/tom.harvell Tom Harvell

    Yes the graduation rate in Maine is around 78%. However, this places us 13th in the nation meaning 74% of the other states graduate less than we do. Your baselessly insulting everyone around  and you can’t even apply skills like simple logic. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/tom.harvell Tom Harvell

    Yea, have fun doing that on $483 a month. Not just for you but for your wife and a kid. That is a solid $161 a month for all that fun your gonna have…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    He supposedly pays taxes in both states, but I am not sure if it just property tax in Maine or if it also includes State Tax. I know Maine will try and go after you if they even think you worked one day in the state. I moved back years ago in the middle of December, did not work a day here in that year, but they tried to go after me, almost gave me a heart attack. That it what I hate about government, if you are honest and hard working they try to strike fear in you. The dishonest people just sneer at them and get a good chuckle. I have always tried to do the right thing in case they want to make an example of me, create a scapgoat for stealing a pen. Twenty years, click.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2NTDKUR3COU242UQD42E3F3ZU Rod

    This may be odd, but the few people I know that work at food pantries are working people that volunteer. Shouldn’t these be full of people that use the food pantries. I wonder, there must be some.

  • Anonymous

    You wouldn’t want to spend a week living the life that people suffering from a mental illness have to experience. You should be ashamed of yourself for proudly displaying your ignorance of how disabling a mental illness can be.

    If you have no experience with a subject, you’re better off saying nothing and withholding judgment.

  • Anonymous

    You actually think the governor is a debater? And you really think that liberals are the only ones who attack the character of people? What rock have you been living under for the past year and a half? Name calling is a tactic right out of the tea party handbook. I wasn’t aware that group was made up of liberals. So far today I have been called a leech by one poster and you have strongly implied that I do not read the complete article before making comments. I assure you neither accusation is true. I do not leech, I have never applied for or received any type of public assistance,   and I do not make accusations without the evidence to back them up. I not only have read this news article  I have read similar articles published by several Maine papers. Further more I took the time to do the research to find and to read the report provided to the legislature by Ms. Mayhew which once again shows that LePage is lying.  Just this week he was caught in a lie in what he claimed Forbes said. Forbes denied it. When he is proven to be a liar by his own Commissioner of DHHS and Forbes I would say that is pretty credible evidence wouldn’t you? Oh and by the way I am far from being a liberal, I have been a registered republican since 1967. I just don’t care for liars. As far as your suggestion that I read the entire article rather then just the parts I find appealing I most certainly find that to be an insult. I not only read all of the BDN article, but many more and they were read completely I assure you. Perhaps you should take your own advise and know what you are talking about before you make broad accusations. 

  • Daisy Mae Yokum

    What part of Social in “Social Security” don’t you understand.   I am 73, and I receive Social Security, I wish I had had the option to invest the thousands of dollars that was taken from me, so instead of chump change I could actually enjoy my life. 
    You Socialists are disgusting, you sit at home doing nothing, open a bottle of Gin, and tap at the keys, enjoying the check from the county, a check that you paid nothing into, a check somebody else, some productive person is providing for you and your children.
    I read were you said that some of the people received Medicare are children.  Well if you are unwilling to care for your children, then they should be placed in a home where they will be cared for..

  • Anonymous

    Social Security is a  Insurance Fund which is funded through payroll deductions of 4.2 percent for the first $106,800 of  employee earnings  and 6.2 by your employer up to $ 106,800. The 2 percent reduction on the employee side is the Obama tax cut. Medicare is  1.45 percent for employee and employer for all earned wages. SS was intended for old age retirement, survivor, disability, health insurance and unemployment benefits.  SS was later amended to fund social welfare programs  ie “ tanf ” temporary assistance for needed families, “Medicaid”‘ Grants to states for medical assisitance programs, “ Schip” state children’s health insurance program, “SSI” supplemental security income. Now we have Obama Care. There are 453,000 people recieving some type ” Social Welfare” in this state. Maines population is 1,368,000 as of 2010 census. The deductions on your check “FICA” Federal insurance contribution act and Medicare are the only funding for all these programs. Do the math people and don’t what if it to death. Can’t link it to anything but these are the facts spruceDweller so don’t fall out of your tree.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KJEUWEYRHIPWV3PTTWWNUZ2CTQ mcmaineacjam

    Lepage lies to make his case and [eo[;e are chocked? I am more shocked about that, the Governor is just proceding as normal. He is not for the voters of Maine, but for his version of the Republican Party.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KJEUWEYRHIPWV3PTTWWNUZ2CTQ mcmaineacjam

    Boy, what a complete dis to Americans that their votes can be bought. Everyone but you of course. Same old same old. People who don’t agree with you are flawed or influenced. Distortion and smokescreens are the Republlican way!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KJEUWEYRHIPWV3PTTWWNUZ2CTQ mcmaineacjam

    You see Rep Nutter’s photo all the time.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KJEUWEYRHIPWV3PTTWWNUZ2CTQ mcmaineacjam

    You should examine who ownd the bulk of senior housing more closely. There will be more Republican owners, guarenteed. Remember all the ones that got caught milking the system in the 80.s. those were just the ones that got caught.

  • Anonymous

    If we have socialized medicine, we will also have a long waiting list. Where will we send our overflow to Mexico? When you say the government will pay the whole bill, you know that means the government will pay the whole bill with other peoples money. The problem with that is we are running out of other people.

  • Anonymous

    Some medical issues happyguy123. If you need to see a doctor at all you better get headed south with you passport in hand.

  • Anonymous

    If you want truth and no spin, why would you be a Democrat? The Democrats are telling you that somebody else is going to pay for all these services. There is nobody else, just us. The Mexicans are not going to pay for it for you.

  • Anonymous

    What countries are you talking about and what makes you think they are happier?

  • Anonymous

    They are manadtory deductions for the ss insurance fund since 1935 and medicare fund since 1965 . If you don’t want to pay them don’t work and let other people take care of you.  If you drive a car in maine it is manadtory that you pay for auto insurance if you don’t want to pay for it don’t own or drive a car. Car insurance comes out of your pay too. I think you need to come down out of that tree SpruceDweller the air up there is effecting your thinking. No link here just common sense thinking

  • Anonymous

    Medicare isn’t welfare. People pay into the medicare insurance fund all there working life. Then there is a monthly premiun once you recieve medicare. no link just facts

  • Anonymous

    The Democrats are screaming. I guess that means Governor LePage must be doing a great job. Keep it up Governor.

  • Anonymous

    His facts are good, yours not so much. Also noticed that you are a former Mainer that went to where the grass is greener.

  • Anonymous

    Not the ones I have talked with.

  • http://profiles.google.com/retired04497 Mike Kiernan

    No, what’s happening is that LePage is making statements out of political convienience instead of accuracy. Maine is rapidly becoming the joke of the country, right behind Wisconsin and Walker’s nonsense. The only question now is when is the joke going to be turned into a re-call vote. LePage keeps making these assinine statement’s, and direspecting the voter’s, and he’s gonna see it far sooner than he thinks possible.

  • Anonymous

    “Although Ontario has the shortest average wait times compared to other
    provinces, patients in Ontario are still waiting more than three months on
    average before they receive treatment”.
     
    That was from an article in the Toronto Sun that describes
    how costly and how it is going under. So much for being
    immediate but it is free. Sounds great, until you have
    to use it.

  • Anonymous

    Canadains pay for health insurance through income taxes it’s not free and areas of canada have copays. Medicare is a insurance fund that all wage earners pay into to take care of the elderly over 65 and disabled people under 65 as long as if they payed into the system. just facts no links and i didn’t get it from the huffington post

  • poormaniac

    That’s an interesting spin on the story of the litle boy that cried wolf. Politically motivated I guess, can’t see what the wolf did to cause the drowning. As for the article read Bennet’s comment near the bottom , seems you also forgot some of the details.

  • poormaniac

    I met a biker from St. Johns NB this past summer , during our conversation he complained about having to wait a year and a half to have a wart removed. He didn’t sound to happy about that ! Also please tell the Mexican citizens who sneak in here to keep going north because it’s much better there.

  • poormaniac

    Harvard is also the place that produced most of the Wall St. thinkers that you protest so much about.

  • Anonymous

    He’s a professional connman!

  • poormaniac

    That is optional. Just the facts.

  • Anonymous

    Illegals don’t recieve any social security “ legally” and that is a Federal law. They can get free emergency care including child delivery and some limited  housing assistance if they had already recieved it prior to 1996. They may get immunizations shots and treatment of symptons of communicable diseases. Just facts people. no link just read it off the social security web site.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SHNOU64ZBOBIKWUF5IM6WSH7WA entitled4life

    He also forgot to count the number of welfare recipients there are as well.

  • poormaniac

    100% on the money. Great post ! I’d probably vote for him again , hope he does get Maine’s finances straightened out before the complainers get him discouraged. With all these great thinkers on here you’d think we’d see more solutions ! I also must say I don’t like a liar either , most politicians are.

  • poormaniac

    Let me quote a well known liberal ” I did not have sex with that woman”. Also a liar.

  • Anonymous

    How about a “Norquist” like  pledge.   Will you sign it ?  
       I hate Welfare and Maincare. If I get hurt, get a horrible disease, my house burns down, or any other reason I might become “poor”,  I promise to NEVER take ANY help from the Goverment. I will take no cash, fuel assistance, healthcare, or food stamps, EVER !
    Beuller,……Beuller,…….Beuller………..

  • Guest

    sure let’s take it away from EVERYONE who doesn’t have children; or is not disabled, will that include the methadone clinic recipients? I surely hope so, if you want to see some Medicaid fraud, go to Acadia hospital on any methadone clinic day and you can see it first hand. Medicaid pays for taxi’s for trips to this clinic, but I can’t use my car payment and insurance as a deduction for anything when I am working two jobs to make ends meet, MAKES A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT OF SENSE.  Stop giving free things to the drug addicts, and the abusers, and help those who WANT to help themselves.
    OK, NOW COMMENT AWAY, I AM A RECOVERING ADDICT AND ALCOHOLIC, AND I DON’T PERSONALLY CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS TO ME, IF YOU WANT THE HELP YOU WILL GET THE HELP, GO TO REHAB, DON’T TAKE A PILL AND JUST DO COUNSELING, GO TO REHAB USE MEDICAID FOR SOMETHING GOOD.

  • Anonymous

    I think you have fallen out of your tree SpruceDweller. Social Security and Medicare are not social welfare programs. People pay into these insurance funds so the elderly and disabled have some form of a retirement and health insurance upon retirement or become disabled also unemployment insurance.. Now the goverment takes money out of these insurance funds that working people pay into and fund all the social welfare programs that the Governor is talking about. Now when you have 463,00 people recieving some form of social welfare and your state has a population of  1,328,361 something is out of balance. Just facts no links do your own research and don’t believe everything you read on the internet.

  • Anonymous

    It should become a job requirement, that all politicians, be required to take a polygragh test monthly. Why should they have anything to hide from the people their working for?

  • Anonymous

    So my wife and I file a joint return. LePage counts us a one taxpayer. Liar? Dope? Both?

  • Anonymous

    Well said.

  • Anonymous

    Sigh- here we go again – just over generalize.  Not one single person is saying “Don’t help those who really need the help” but instead of stepping back and admitting that in this state, we have an issue with people who could -and should be working, choosing to stay home and get handouts that could be helping those in real need, you left wing, share the wealth dems try to make us normal folks out to be some kind of beast!  Everyone needs help now and then, but we need to stop the multiple generations of families receiving welfare because they view it as “their right”.  We need to make it tougher for a 20 something to get food stamps and Maine Care and encourage them to work at the local call center, the potato factor or  walmart (don’t start on the tired Wal Mart crap either).  If you earn it yourself you appreciate it, if you just get handouts you don’t learn that sense of “I earned this myself”.  What is wrong with making people work for what they want and stop whining about “my neighbor has more than I do”.  If you want more than get off your (not you personally – better clarify that or I will be crucified) butt and work for it – don’t come to your local gov’t and complain you don’t have what you need if you are not willing to get out there and work regardless of the shift, the job, the hours the pay……..

  • Anonymous

    Sorry, not a mandate, you are correct , I was on the run, but we do need it to apply for the federal exemption. All I can say is that I disagree, I haven’t seen anything to change my mind about him so far but with politicians it’s a tricky thing to judge.

  • Anonymous

    sigh…..I know how disabling it can be.  The ones that should be ashamed are not those who seriously have an issue but those who manufacture the issue simple so they do not have to work – that gives the legit folks a bad rap.  Of course there are people who suffer from mental illness and I said a couple of times – help those who are TRULY disabled but of course that comment gets overlooked.

  • Anonymous

    The governor did not talk to the Forbes people himself. His staff people advised him of what the forbes people said. Now you and I and everyone else ” including the governor “ on here wasn’t there for that meeting of the minds so we don’t know what was said. Now I don’t believe everything I read in a paper because the person writing could have a bias. So to call a person a lair without any facts and using news paper articles for truths is just not  fair. Oh Forbes sells magazines too just saying.

  • Anonymous

    It was a Harvard Study that proved prayer helped the sick whether the individual knew they were being prayed for or not!  So, while we debate, let’s keep praying for the sick.

  • Anonymous

    There was…bus loads of people used to cross the border to buy prescription medication…that is untill big pharma outlawed the practice with the politicians they bought and paid for with our money.

  • Anonymous

    Part of the reason they spend less is because of much lower rates of obesity and lower incidence of diabetes, more exercise, etc. Maybe you should read what is on the links that you post. Fact is far more Canadians come to the US for medical treatment than Americans go to Canada.

  • Anonymous

    That is not true. If they pay anything, it will get them by. Say $10 a month.

  • Anonymous

    How would you pay for healthcare if you worked one of the minimum wage jobs you suggested ? 

  • Anonymous

    They do not always pay. They get to decide when you get to go to the US for treatment, not the patient. 

  • Anonymous

    That dog just won’t hunt. If I get unemployment, it is because I got laid off from a JOB! That means that I up until that point I was gainfully employed and lost my job for reasons beyond my control like the state of the economy or whatever it may be. You were obviously competent enough to hold down a job but now you need to collect unemployment insurance (which you pay into and cannot collect if you were fired for cause). In that instance, why should the state be able to look in your bodily fluids for evidence of illegal drugs when there is no other reason than you are collecting an insurance pay out from a fund you paid into by working?

    I can see where you may have a point though. However maybe instead of testing everyone without the proper level of suspicion, we acknowledge that sooner or later an illegal drug user will get arrested for it. We can review wether or not that individual remains entitled to welfare then.

    Just to put a finer point on it though, there is a difference between unemployment insurance and welfare.

  • Anonymous

    Weed out the cheaters,have more for the needy.

  • Anonymous

    That only happens when there is a draft for the military.LOL

  • Anonymous

    His solution, push the elderly off a cliff. Governor, move back to Florida with your family, plenty of young people there. I’m sure the Heritage Club and Koch Brothers will find something for you to complain about there. Lord, he really is one of those Antarctic birds that are short and rather stout.

  • Anonymous

    Imagine how healthy and happy he could be .

  • Anonymous

    Sprucedweller does not have to PLAY stupid.

    He/she/it is stuck there.

  • Anonymous

     Many of those mental illnesses have been created by the dope these rocket scientists feed themselves, causing permanent problems.
     People with too much time on their hands because they don’t have to work to survive.

     ”For Satan always finds some mischeif still for idle hands to do.”

     Isaac Watts

  • Anonymous

    And what does that also say about our highly unionized teaching workforce???????

  • Anonymous

    Aspire to something more than a minimum wage job, perhaps?

  • Anonymous

    That is a lie, my son recently had a large bill from the hospital.  He doesn’t have insurance.  They worked out a payment plan with him for $25 a month.  

  • Anonymous

    My next door neighbor with five kids, two live-in boy/pregnant girlfriends, seven feral cats, eight weeks worth of garbage in the garage, and a bad ?back? didn’t go to work.

    It must be Saturday,
    or Sunday,
    or Monday,
    or Tuesday,
    or Wednesday,
    or Thursday,
    or Friday.

    Maybe there should be a section in the BDN that would help him get off his lazy (_!_).

  • Anonymous

    IF you are working, and giving it all you have and you still need a little help – I am ok with that.  I am talking about the folks that won’t even try, the better to sit home and do nothing and get everything handed to me drive me nuts.   Those are the folks that I have an issue with.  Do something to contribute.  Stop having kids you can’t support (and of course I don’t mean YOU personally), stop living beyond your means.  I am not adverse to helping those who help themselves  but unfortunately too many are not even trying. If you are in good health etc.  get two jobs if necessary put some effort into trying to be a contributing member of society. Let’s be honest, do you seriously want to pay so that the able bodied folks can get a free ride – don’t you get tired of paying for those who can work and simply refuse because it is not convenient?  How many times have you seen well dressed, healthy young folks using food stamps, or Maine Care – who is NOT getting these benefits that really need them because of the rampant abuse?

  • Anonymous

    It is so nice to see so many posters fighting back at your constant misinformation. 

  • Anonymous

    Rick Perry recently called Social Security a ponzi scheme, so whether you think it is welfare or not, if he gets his way, it is going away.  The other GOP candidates have similar negative views.

  • Tyke

    When all taxes are taken into account (sales, property, income, payroll) the bottom earning 20% of Americans pay the highest tax burden.

    To cherry pick and select one tax over others  when speaking of who pays how much is just an attempt to spin data in a deceptive and dishonest fashion.

  • Tyke

    When all taxes are taken into account (sales, property, income, payroll) the bottom earning 20% of Americans pay the highest tax burden.

    To cherry pick and select one tax over others  when speaking of who pays how much is just an attempt to spin data in a deceptive and dishonest fashion.

  • Anonymous

     Baldacci did exactly that, and that’s why we are in this mess.

     The former governor never saw a government job he didn’t like, or a private business he didn’t want to tax.

  • Tyke

    In your opinion?

    The Heritage weenies define a welfare recipient as one who gets a government check on a regular basis that exceeds any amount paid in.

    i.e. the poorest recipients of Social Security.

  • Anonymous

    Ya.

     They encourage their welfare seekers to come for the generous bennies.

  • Anonymous

    Really, the all caps thing is a bit much. Have a drink, relax, and take off the caps lock.

  • Anonymous

    So, who paid for all his treatments? Thanks for admitting that your son just soaked the taxpayers. According to the GOP line, your son should have worked harder to have insurance, instead of leeching off the rest of us.

    Basically, your son took advantage of welfare, like they have in Canada– except the Canadian system is much more efficient.

    Oh, if your son ever misses a payment, payments he could be making for the rest of his life, his credit rating will likely drop.

  • Anonymous

    Here is the quality of your argument, back at you:  There are some bad people in Texas, so everyone in Texas is bad and we can’t trust anything any Texan says.

    Are you ready to turn your back on any and all Republicans that went to Ivy League schools?

  • Anonymous

    So you’re saying Canadians are just better people than Americans? 

    Or maybe they have a superior health system that does a better job helping people stop smoking, drinking and eating the wrong foods.  Ever been to a nutritionist?

    Every Canadian gets regular doctor check ups for free (the bill is zero). Americans can’t afford regular check ups at the doctor’s office. It makes a huge difference–

    Just like getting your car checked up. I admit the human body is more resilient than a car–but we still benefit from regular doctor office visits. To test for high blood pressure, for example.

  • Guest

    Where do I sign up?

  • Anonymous

    Here’s the quality of your argument:  Some Republicans are bad, therefore all Republicans are bad. 

    Think about it: Well-run studies use the scientific method, which brought you that computer you’re typing on.

  • Guest

    well I have lots of friends from Canada and they love It there.  I guess I don’t find my statement as funny as yours, but it is true.  And as for the service you get in Canada, I had to go to DECH two days ago, and I waited almost three hours and then recieved the crappest medical service at top dollar prices.  So I don’t think a lot will change for Me.

  • Guest

    It should make you feel better the smartest people in the country go to school there.

  • Anonymous

    “Part of the reason”–thanks for acknowledging that.  Secondly, the lower rates of diabetes, obesity and so on are due in part in regular medical attention, which is unavailable to many people in the US.

    Actually, 50 million people in the US have no insurance and can’t afford regular check ups.

  • Guest

    And that is why they are really good at making money for themselves.

  • http://katzporch.com/ Ferd_Berfle

    Well, Pat T. Riot, have you ever actually been to Tennessee?

    Didn’t think so.

  • Anonymous

    We already have socialized medicine.  The Government already pays more per capita than in any other country, and our health is much worse.  Canada pays less per capita than we do.

  • Guest

    whats that for three or four years?  And what happens if they go back to the ER once or twice durring that time?   FFL, that’s what happens.

  • Tyke

    I’m not an  willfully ignorant fool who does not bother to learn actual facts.

  • Guest

    Ive been saying that for years..more people are getting welfare in maine then people paying taxes.

  • Anonymous

    All the super intelligent people on here, and as I read through the comments 3 things are apparent,
    1. like it or not LePage is governor , none of your derogatory comments is going to change that.

    2.people who know there is a problem with our spending ,attack the numbers regardless of if  they are right or wrong but fail to address the problem with a solution.  because  its being brought up by LePage.   If you know so much, put forth a solution! or even run for governor! 

    3.Mainers hate change.  But I’m going to tell you if we don’t change our spending ways , we are ALL going to hate the changes later on.. remember, the budget has a big hole, the more and longer  we bicker the bigger it gets, it was a long time coming and it will take a long time to solve.  this is a start. 

  • Anonymous

    Yes and then  tragically abandoned the  black race to a dismal century as north and south achieved a measure of reconciliation  while standing on the backs of Black America.  Stone Age racism the equal of any that flourished in slave times was their fate within living memory.  If you see whats going on about us today on the political scene  you cannot help but notice there is still  plenty of this toxic legacy fouling the body politic and our political discourse.

  • Anonymous

    I can’t find the article you mention, but here’s a similar article:

    http://www.globaltoronto.com/surgery+wait+times+shortest+in+ontario+at+143+weeks+fraser+institute/6442540439/story.html

    The article concerns certain kinds of non-emergency surgery, something you fail to mention.  You make it look like it applies to all medical services–which is a major and deceitful distortion on your part. 

    I’ve exposed you.

  • Anonymous

    The evils of poverty are socially and politically determined.

    Demonizing the poor will change things, for the worse, Mr. Le Page.

  • Anonymous

    Spend a few hours watching Sick around the world” and then “Sick across America” You can google them. They’re about 60 minutes each. Should be able to give you a perspective on other health care systems. After watching you may want to move to Singapore…..

  • Guest

    So what is your solution??????  If you’re poor you can’t smoke or drink?  Are we going to have treadmill prisons where we force poor fat people to eat salad and work out daily?  It would have to be this way because I don’t know anyone who’s going to give up those personal freedoms so someone else’s taxes are lower.  Are we going to start forcing people to have personal responsibility?  Are we talking about fundamentally changing our country?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SCNJPPZDX7GEYELESV2YGQFLN4 Pat T. Riot

    I just did a quick check comparing Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire.  I used usgovernmentspending.com as a resource.  In 2010, Maine’s welfare cost per person was $887, New Hampshire’s was $864, and Vermont’s was $1150.  Not much difference between Maine and New Hampshire, that model of enlightened economic thought. 

    I think Governor LePage likes using the sledgehammer approach when a scalpel would be more appropriate.  Of course, the sledgehammer gets people fired up which I think he likes.  Maybe some sort of inspector general’s office in Maine would be better.  An IG could investigate and deal with fraud or misuse or whatever Maine residents were doing that was wrong instead of the blanket charge that Governor LePage prefers. 

    I also think that Governor LePage is working from the playbook of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative “think tank” pushing a very conservative agenda on the United States.  ALEC is not from Maine.  They are from away.

  • Guest

    Ha Ha Ha Ha????? again HA HAHAHAHAHAHAH     : (

  • Anonymous

    I was looking for the number of millionaires/billionaires who LePage exempted from paying any or more taxes in ME.Funny,that number didn’t seem to be available.And his lie about how he “takes no joy” is ridiculous.A conservative  always sleeps better at night knowing he/she has stolen someone’s vote,jacked up a college student’s tuition,left a poor person hungry and made sure the disabled and elderly go without medications or heat.That’s a good day for them.

  • Anonymous

    now compare the pot of money each state has to spend

  • Guest

    By reading these comments it seems to me that most of you would rather watch people die than pay an extra few bucks of your precious money to help your fellow Americans.  Is this what it has become to be an American?  Capital over Compassion.  Most of you are too stupid to realize that you self proclaimed “hard workers” are the ones getting screwed over the worst.  You scream until you are red in the face that a small percent of your ‘hard earned’ dollars go to keep ‘parasites’ alive.  But you are too brainwashed by your conservative idols who keep you so focused on what the poor people are getting for nothing, you never raise your head to see what the people above you are taking away from you.  You don’t want to listen to anyone speak of compassion because that makes you feel guilty, so you equate compassion with liberalism.  Liberalism you can hate, that’s easy because the word means nothing to you.  Compassion you can’t hate because that would make you feel bad about yourself.  So you cling to your ideals that anyone who needs help from the tax pool are not working hard enough.  You make this assumption because you know nothing of their situation.  You find the worst example of welfare abusers and use that as a defining criteria for everyone on welfare.  Using the bottom class to anger the middle class is no new tactic, it has been going on for centuries, and it works.  While you’re looking down on the poor, your eyes aren’t on the rich and what they are getting away with. You outrage at the welfare recipient who buys soda with food stamps and gets 5 cents in cash for the bottle, but care nothing about the investor who manipulates his cash in such a way that he avoids paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in income tax.  Dollars that you can’t afford to invest because you have to pay the taxes the rich people are dodging. So continue to rage against the childless adults who are living on less than a thousand dollars a month, who have to have food stamps because there is nothing left after paying rent, heat, electricity, gas, …, …, . Hate them because they get a few hundred dollars of ‘free’ food every month.  Deny them healthcare because they can’t afford to pay the premiums for insurance that you do.  Ignore the fact that they will just end up crowding the emergency rooms and urgent care centers, increasing the cost of healthcare by an order of magnitude because services get rendered and payment doesn’t get received.  Of course, you’ve already written off everything I just wrote as ‘bleeding-heart liberalism’ that’s the easy thing to do isn’t it?  What would Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh say if you didn’t comment to this post and tell me to go live in Canada if I don’t like it here?  A couple last questions, why are you so upset about paying taxes?  Why don’t you just invest in a tax shelter so you can avoid paying them altogether?  What?  You can’t afford it?  Hmm.  Must not be working hard enough.  

  • Anonymous

    So does nearly every other civilized country.Watch Sicko,Lindsay, and have your eyes opened.The fact that insurance and Big Pharma execs make $Millions while never helping a patient is disgusting.Thanks SD for the info.Always great to read your erudite posts.

  • Anonymous

    why is it we have the fatest poor people in the world

  • Anonymous

    453,000 people on welfare? How many of them go to work every day for “public assistance” wages and need help with their groceries, heat, and health care? Do you throw them to the wolves just because they work for big corporate America who refuses to pay them a living wage? A lot of these “bums” that our governor wants to slap the horse out from under are just victims of “free” trade and wages that are stuck in the early 90′s. The cost of living keeps going up, but the wages are not. Should we tell these people to just go away when they ask for help to make ends that keep getting farther apart meet? Does anyone out here really believe that anyone can actually live on $7.50 an hour in 2011 America without help? The 6 Walton heirs are now worth $93 billion, or 93,000 million. I think they could afford to give their employees a raise so they could pay their own way without our help. Then we could send them a bill for all the assistance that the tax payers have had to give their employees while they stacked up that kind of insane wealth. Keep pointing the finger in the wrong direction and chasing your tail governor. People who do not make enough to pay any taxes are also eligible for every government program there is, as they should be. It is a lose lose situation for everyone but big corporate America and the top 1%. For them, life could not be better. Does anyone really think that they care about the tax payers of Maine carrying their workers, so they don’t have to?

  • Anonymous

    And the conservatives couldn’t get in which is why they hate it so.Instead they’re stuck going to schools surnamed A&M that do nothing but play football.Rick Perry et al,anyone?

  • Anonymous

    has anyone noticed that all the while the democrat/liberal/progressives are railing against so called Republican greed it is they are are screaming for more

  • Anonymous

    What federal mandate”????? It’s a LePage mandate, not federal!! He also doesn’t “just get upset”, he lies!!!! Look at all the lies he’s told about so many things when he doesn’t get his way.

  • Anonymous

    I think most folks have a problem with the government ( us ) supporting folks not because of their conditions but because of their choices …dropping out of school …..drugs …..booze ….proson ……breeding for bucks

  • Anonymous

    Just one way of how screwed up the system is.Medicare will not pay for home health care or non skilled nursing homes.Both are preferred by everyone involved EXCEPT SNF nursing home owners.Yet Medicare will pay for SNF facilities so patients go there at several hundred dollars a day when they would rather stay home.Nice racket.

  • Anonymous

    And if your relative had the opposite view would you tell us?Doubtful.Twist away.

  • Anonymous

    did that study say the average household wage in NH vs ME?  And I would want to know know how many people receiving help from the state used that help to offset their tax payments . receiving food stamps and tanif so they can afford to pay excise on that car ?do they pay tax on Ebt cards?  Is It not a vicious circle with a net gain to the state of zero?  after I post this I will go read your link. thanks

  • Anonymous

    Because I am due back on Earth.

  • Anonymous

    You are SO right.I worked at the border and we had buses every day with senior citizens “shopping and going to lunch”in Canada.Sure they were.But CBP thought nothing of destroying some kid’s VW looking for a joint.I’m not advocating illegal drugs but let’s not lie about the double standard.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SCNJPPZDX7GEYELESV2YGQFLN4 Pat T. Riot

    This is pretty much what I think.  John Q. Public is the classic pick-pocket victim.  His attention is distracted, “Look at those welfare bums!”   And while he is looking at them, his wallet is rifled.  Angela Braly, CEO of Wellpoint, the company that writes much of the health insurance in Maine, made $13.1 million in 2009, executive compensation.  That’s over $5000 an hour.  She must be very hard-working.  Recent economic analyses show top executive pay increased by over a third in the last year.  Part of the strength of this country has been its middle class.  But now we are starting to take on more of a third world breakdown, a small number of very, very wealthy at the top and a huge number at the very bottom.

  • Anonymous

    If we really wanted to fix ME, we could get rid of all the Christian conservatives.Ship them to someplace with great health care-say Mississippi,led by that picture of health Haley Barbour.ME becomes smarter and better off immediately.

  • Anonymous

    A wart?Oh the horror!

  • Anonymous

    And what is the ONLY state to get back more than $2 for every $1 they pay into the feds?Oh yes-ALASKA!So that whinebag Palin cries about government overreach while she stuffs her pockets.Liar.

  • Anonymous

    MB has never said a single honest word in her life.

  • Anonymous

    Junk Study from Harvard, again. Leave out population to land mass ratio’s and all it  has to offer, leave out  population  density and where those are focused , Leave out  their  Lack of an effective Military and just look at their energy cost. Look at the number of  Hydro dams they have, look at the amount of  oil “production” they  have annually.  figure in the savings of this cheap energy, and the profits they make in sales and taxes,figure how it affects the competitiveness of it’s industries, then  ask why we are not doing the same with our  resources.
     It seems the same folks who have  worked so hard to make sure we no longer drill our oil or  use  hydro dams are the same folks touting  how swell the Canadians have it. hypocrites one and all.
     

  • Anonymous

    That is a great and  often missed point.My insurance(BC/BS)had a lifetime cap of $1M individual/$3M family(now illegal or will be soon). The idea that SS/Medicare has an income cap and no benefits cap is a recipe for fiscal disaster even without the change in demographics and medical advances since 1965. It should be the other way around.

  • Anonymous

    I can see that all children should be covered by insurance, have a roof over their heads and food on the table.  What I don’t understand is this program covered by Mainecare that entitles these kids to have a one-on-one worker for up to 40 hours a week to take them out of their homes and away from their parents who aren’t working (but need a break) Oh and by the way these kids go to school all day — the ones I see (I work in an elementary school) are picked up by their “worker” from school taken out until its bedtime then taken home. I have been told that this serve cost the State of Maine about 25.00 an hour per kid.  Is this really a necessary service.  Especially during the school year when kids are already out of the house for much of the day.  Maybe if these services were cut others could be kept.

  • Anonymous

    If you get sick unexpectedly,which I hope you don’t you might”get back your investment” in one hospital stay.I have a friend who is 26 and in a wheelchair through no fault of his own.What do you think he would rather have-the use of his legs or worrying about his return on investment?

  • Anonymous

    How many of those 55 mill.  have chosen not  to  acquire  insurance? Let’s put that another way, How many of those folks have chosen to spend their money  on other thing, rather than Health Insurance.

  • Anonymous

    everyone knows that harvard is a liberal base school and my opinion was not based on the opinion of a texan so why did that get into the issue  maybe because that is where bush is from and you libs are still trying to blame him for the actions of the current bumbling president

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SCNJPPZDX7GEYELESV2YGQFLN4 Pat T. Riot

    Maine spent 2.3% of GDP on welfare, New Hampshire 1.9%, and Vermont 2.7%. 

    Oh, and Mississippi spent 1.2%.  Mississippi’s per capita GDP was $32,487 and Maine’s was $39,725.  Should we become more like Mississippi?

  • Anonymous

    absolutely true, your spouse draws which ever one is of the greater amount she or he does not draw both   get the facts

  • Anonymous

    “placed in a home?”I see during this week of Christmas Scrooge is alive and well.Too bad there aren’t still match factories for them to work in until their hands are blown off.And if you are getting SS/Medicare you are getting yours and mine so stop complaining.Maybe if you cared about other human beings your life would be more enjoyable.But then most of the TP’ers are bitter hateful liars.

  • Anonymous

    sounds like you base intelligence on income the richest go there not the smartest Bumbling Obama didnt even know how many states there were in the country he was elected to run, I guess that is smart to you

  • Anonymous

    Great stuff, thanks!

  • Anonymous

    I am sure they would be willing to have their mail forwarded to you so you could help, all BS you can make a payment arrangement for as little as 25$ a month  and pay what you can

  • Anonymous

     Thanks, I appreciate the back up!  I am pretty much used to getting mobbed.  It forces me to hone my arguments.

  • Anonymous

     You mean instead of food, childcare, car and house  /r entpayments?  Maybe you mean instead of electricity or heating oil? 

  • Guest

    Please, give me a break!  They’ve brain washed your brain away poor zombie

  • Anonymous

    True enough,sadly.Your knife is pretty sharp though and we are better for it.

  • Anonymous

    Yes Governor, even if the number of people receiving assistance is greater than the number paying taxes (and you may be forgetting that even people who don’t pay income taxes still pay sales taxes and other fees and taxes), that can only point at the economic difficulties most of us are currently facing. That is precisely the time to not stereotype poorer people or to grandstand about budget cuts that directly affect the healthcare and survival of those least able to pay. If your Christian values mean anything it is the time to look for cutbacks in areas that do not harm fellow Mainers.

  • Anonymous

    your still not comparing the pot of money each state has to spend ….isn’t you progressives who are always screaming that its O.K. to tax the evil rich more because they have more and a few thousands more won’t hurt them as much as a few hundred more hurts the so called poor. So lets see New Hampshire has 1.3 million people with a budget of 10.2 billion ….. vermont has 623,000 thousand people with a budget of 4.8 billion ….maine has 1.3 million people with a budget of 3 billion ….So N.H. has the same number of people with 3 times the money as Maine …..Vermont has 1/2 the people with a budget that is over 60 % larger …..hey maybe you should go take some money off New Hampshire

  • Anonymous

    okay and the solution to the problem you outlined above is~? I just read it twice and didn’t see a individual problem solved , just a  whole long list of gripes.. 

    here is a solution for one scam I have seen, bottled water dumping for the deposit.  just require the buyer to pay the deposit, as it gets returned to them.   problem solved .

    should I not give to the food cupboard? or donations?  isn’t that a form of tax on me?  One that I willingly give year round?  I don’t see deductions for cans of manwich  to the local school on my tax return, or slots for the local bottle drive. 

    bottom line is we have too many receivers and not enough givers or wage earners to even begin to fix the problems, we must tip the balance if we are to survive. 

     P.S. I am a independent. 

  • Anonymous

    Employees do not contribute to unemployment insurance. It is funded by employers.

  • Anonymous

    Like your hero Ronnie Raygun who sucked off the public teat for millions for nearly half a century while he drooled like a moron?Look up his 1961 LP attacking socialized medicine while he reaped the benefits the rest of us would never see.And if your relative hates socialized medicine so much why isn’t he living with you in Maine?That way you could both bleed us honest taxpayers while complaining about the system that treats you so well.

  • Anonymous

    Disqus generic email templateThanks for that one. I kinda wanted to say that but I was trying to be nice.

  • Anonymous

    FFL?

  • Anonymous

    LOL….ya know I have been hearing for years how the evil republicans are killing our old and babies ….can you get me a list of the deceased ….I’d like to see if we’re making progress ….I can’t seem to find it

  • Anonymous

    Is anyone getting the point here? Maine is spending MORE than it is taking in. Cuts have to be made somewhere. It seems most agree on that point but no one agrees from where…It’s a tough call and everyone won’t be happy, no matter what. All I know is that my family has to live within our means; we could never get away with the excess spending that states (not just Maine) and our federal government have done for years.

  • Anonymous

    or your on welfare but they only count you as your head of household and they don’t count your wife and 6 kids ….* SHRUG *

  • Anonymous

    That is absolutely true and to an extent that happens now.Don’t forget that the states got hundreds of billions from the 1998 tobacco settlement.Yet LePage wants to raid the Fund For A Healthy Maine,among others.But Medicare for example will not pay for any type of weight loss programs for just one example.If I were overweight and on Medicare and they offered to help me be healthier AND they saved themselves $$,I’d jump at the chance.Everybody wins.

  • Anonymous

    me I would go back and finish high school …..stop drinking…..doping ….breeding and stay out of prison then maybe get some vocational training ….plumbing maybe ….a lot of really fat plumbers out there ….they seems to be doing as well as the welfare folks considering weight gain

  • Anonymous

    Throw a few paragraphs in there and someone might read it.

  • Anonymous

    Actually that study has been disproved.That said,my church prays for many people all over the world and I am grateful for them doing so.

  • Anonymous

    if it takes money from me to support you in pretty close to the lifestyle I have who works while you don’t yea it is immoral

  • Anonymous

    You should look at the arguments and research studies, instead of closing your eyes because you have preconceptions.   What you’re doing isn’t rational.  In fact, there’s a name for what you are doing:  the ad hominem fallacy.

    “Appealing to personal considerations rather than to logic or reason”

  • Anonymous

    odd most of the people and issues you memtion are or were democrat or in democrat states at the time

  • Anonymous

    You mean instead of food, child care, home and car payments?  Or maybe you mean instead of electricity, fire wood or heating oil? Or maybe you mean instead of clothes, gasoline, car inspection and car insurance?

  • Anonymous

    so why did the democrats create Jim Crow …..the black codes …..the KKK ….lynchings

  • Anonymous

    You mean the taxpayers pick up the bill.  Does that make the ER person a leech?

  • Anonymous

    If I were King… my rules for receiving any form of “welfare”:

    You cannot buy, pocess or use any form of alcohol, tobacco or any illicit drug

    You cannot have cable or satelite TV in your residence

    You cannot have a cell phone with over 250 minutes per month

    You cannot buy fast food or soda

    There can be only one motor vehicle registered at your residence

    Violation of any of the above renders the individual ineligable for 6 months. Any criminal activity, beyond a motor vehicle violation, and you lose welfare, of all kinds, for a year.

    …but I’m not the Welfare King just one of the minority paying for it!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IFKSZ43FQA3HF4YOOEIQHUXHG4 stephen Treadwell

    So No one is arguing the 453,000 receiving welfare benefits.  Subtract that number from the states total population.  Subtract the number of maine residents under 15 years of age.  I think you will find his numbers are not that far off.

  • Anonymous

    Lord the liberal hand wringing and tears over the poor …..spare me the angst please ….our poor largely live in 3 bedroom homes in the burbs or high rise apt buildings in the city …… they have AC …..heat …. hot water ….. T.V …..cars …..cell phones …..free food ….. free medical …… free education if they chose to partake of it…. when our poor are living in tin shacks with dirt floors eating every other day and dying because of bug bites by the 10′s of thousands let me know until then ….we do more than enough

  • pbmann

    The rich DO NOT pay 90% of taxes, they do however have 90% of the wealth.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, if he doesn’t make an honest attempt to pay the bill.

  • pbmann

    Everyone pays taxes of some kind and the poorer you are the larger the percentage of your income is taxed

  • Anonymous

    One of the best posts I’ve seen in a long time.Hope to see you post often.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

    A little personal responibility towards ones own health may help more than “ lack of health insurance”…

    The Republican answer to exploding health care costs.

    Dead People don’t use  health insurance!

  • pbmann

    Would somebody tell the conservatives that their policies are destroying the countries ability to do anything and is turning us into a 3rd world economy.

    I define a 3rd world economy as one that exports raw materials and imports finished goods, if you are wondering.

  • Anonymous

    the difference being is that these evil companies are generally only denying the federal and state governments when they reduce their tax burden ….in other words keeping more of their own money ….not reaching into the federal coffers and taking other people money …… those welfare bums can not make the same claim …..can they …. unless of course you want to count G.E run by obama’s buddy jeffery emmelt who paid not a thin dime and yet recived a nice chunk of change from the feds for green energy crap  

  • Anonymous

    That is already in process at the federal level and is being fast tracked,as it should be.And thank you for providing for others even if there is no immediate dollar benefit to you.Your reward might come later but it will be much longer lasting and much more enjoyable.

  • Anonymous

    I should have said “a large part of the reason”

    “the lower rates of diabetes, obesity and so on are due in part in regular medical attention”

    I guess this is true in a very small part. It has far more to do with personal dietary habits and exercise.

  • Anonymous

    Then I’m glad I could help someone in real need.

  • pbmann

    How much do you want to bet he is counting each check mailed out not the individuals.  So a person who gets food stamps, heating assistance, Medicaid, MaineCare would be four people in Lapage’s world.

  • Anonymous

    and random drugs testing and a end to the breeding for bucks programs …..the number of children you start out on welfare with had better be the same number today as tomorrow because we ain’t paying for you to sit at home and spread your legs and use whats between your legs as a ATM machine to draw on public funds

  • Anonymous

    When Sam Walton died,5 of his family members IMMEDIATELY went onto the list of the top 15 richest people in America.Tell me that they deserved that.No hard work,just great luck on their part.

  • pbmann

    Show us your facts then or be considered a woefully ignorant fool who does not bother to learn facts.

  • Anonymous

    That is quite simply one of the cruelest lies I’ve ever seen.And I suppose you want to take away their hot water so they can’t take the bath Gingrich told them to?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

    My daughter asked me who elected this fool.

    I asked her if she voted in the 2010 election,

     she said that she was to busy,

    So I replied  ”"”YOU DID”"”!

  • Anonymous

    So you are lucky enough to have never needed help?May you continue to be so blessed.And do you follow your own rules?I doubt it.Of that list how many of those terrible items do you use or have?
    Fortunately we do have Kings here-Stephen and Tabitha who are real Mainers who care about their neighbors.
    And my tax dollars pay for Lauren LePage and the MHPC.What’s a bigger waste of money than that?

  • pbmann

    You stop misleading people by saying 47% don’t pay taxes when it has been proven wrong so many times but right wing lemmings keep spouting it.

  • pbmann

    There should not be  a cap but rich people paid off too many conservative politicians for there not to be a cap on earnings

  • Anonymous

    Yes, on snowmobiles, 4-wheelers, cell phones, big screen tvs, cable tv, boats, a camp at the lake, $150 nikes, etc…

    It goes both ways. Rich or poor, there are good people and there are bad people. In either case, they should take responsibility for themselves.

  • Guest

    It’s a shame that you will believe anything anyone tells you and except any excuses, jump on any bandwagon as long as it fits your political ideology.  When was the last time you thought for yourself?

  • pbmann

    Car insurance comes out of your pay ONLY if you have a car.  Payroll taxes come out of every penny you earn period, no exeptions.

  • Anonymous

    Over time what parties stand for changes as circumstances and constituencies change.  The Republican party was the vehicle for the most glorious moments of this republic during the civil war, the democrats a nest of copperhead pro slavery racists even in the midst of that bloody war.  The political poles have reversed.  The national Democratic party gradually evolved from a stone age racist tradition and spearheaded many long overdue reforms in America and that party has been punished for it ever since as white supremest democrats  migrated to the Republican party, a party that turned its back on its finest moments, and became a party of fat cats, white men, and exclusion.  Its more important to worry about right and wrong than being locked into a historical blame game.  No one comes to the table with clean hands.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, but it counts as part of your compensation package. Your employer would not have to pay it, or for your insurance, taxes, or salary had they not hired you. Bottom line: You worked for it, and earned it and should not be subject to a 4th Ammendment violation to get it should the need arise.

  • Anonymous

    Then let’s get real and stop demonizing contraception.Every kid on welfare should be paid for by the anti choicers who have destroyed the legal right to birth control and abortion in this country.Women who get abortions should be honored.They are saving taxpayer $$.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, instead of dinners out and junk food. Yes instead  of child care  for infants of  the generationaly unemployed,unwed mothers. Yes instead of electricity  for cell phones, flat screens and X boxes. Yes instead of heating assistance to “families” who have never been employed full time, ever. Yes instead of  clothes that  most of us working folks could never afford, or have sense enough not  to buy. Yes for gasoline used for not going to work or looking for a job.  Yes on tax money spent  on mandated  auto expenses. Yes.

  • Anonymous

    I would stay out of the betting if I were you, you’re not very good at it. There are 365,000 people that receive MaineCare benefits alone and there are probably more than that that receive food stamps.

  • Anonymous

    I guess this means Quimby was right, Maine IS a welfare state. Kudos to you commie-wannabe Democrats. You did it. It only took you 30 years but you managed to turn this State into a government entitlement dependent bunch of crackheads. And now of course we get to read the comments from multiple members of that dependent crackhead bunch tell us how its all “LePages fault”. I think Ive heard this someplace before. Wasnt there another bunch of marxists who tried to blame their failed Alinsky-ish policies on kiosks and ATM’s? I suppose we’ll hear that next from the hippie crowd in here. ATM’s ruined Maines economy and killed the lobsters and scallops too.

  • Anonymous

    Hey hey..ho ho..these killer ATM’s have got to go!!!!

  • Anonymous

    I really wish you would put your money where your mouth is and just move to Canada.  Rugged individualism made this country great, not class envy.  Until you stop coveting other peoples’ wealth and success, you will never be happy.

  • pbmann

    Two thirds of those 365,000 on MaineCare are children and I would bet that percentage holds true for food stamp recipients also. So I will stand by my original statement.

    I’ll stay in the betting business when it comes to anything a Republican says about welfare.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

    LePage: More Mainers receiving welfare than paying taxes

    and BPA causes women to grow little beards!

    If someone tryed to invent the most ridiculous statements ever made they couldnt come up with the likes of these

  • pbmann

    It comes out of your income, you have no choice in the matter and it is a tax. 

  • Anonymous

    You know I think you’re right. It’s probably less than 47%. My bad, sorry about that.

  • Anonymous

    As an employee you “earn ” the agreed wage…..The rest is an expense the employer must cover. Expenses can exceed income in business but you are not responsible for that. The unemployment system has been very fair to people that play by the rules. I agree that a person that has been laid off and is actually  trying to find work should have no problem.

  • Anonymous

    I will keep checking in here to see if anyone actually answers the questions I asked.
    Would you sign the pledge ?
    How would you pay for healthcare with a minumum wage job ?

  • Anonymous

    Plus you get 200 big ones to help pay for your box!

  • Anonymous

    In your little mind it must be.

  • Anonymous

    Let us not lose sight of the fact that society put in safety nets for good reasons.

    If thoughtful examination of the inappropriate use of these social benefits is prudent, it should be done prudently and not with a meat ax.

    Many postings here talk about those who know of others abusing the benefits, working under the table, PAYING PEOPLE UNDER THE TABLE, or otherwise gaming the system.

    You should be reporting them. What they are doing is a criminal act against the honest.

    And if you report it and nothing is done report it again and again and let the newspapers and other media know about it.

  • pbmann

    Please tell me with your huge mind with little words so my little brain will understand what was wrong in my statement. 

    Payroll taxes come out of your pay, you have no choice in whether they do and they are taxes?

  • Anonymous

    Wow……Something needs to change…..Pretty soon Maine will end up like Greece….

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, you’re “overtaxed” because your right wing buddies give all the tax breaks to your millionaire and billionaire job-killing corporate masters.  If you gave FAKE News and OxyHeadRush Limbaugh a break and got some real information you’d understand that.

  • Anonymous

    Are you trying to be a rational Republican?  You better be careful, you’re going to get RHINO’ed 

  • Anonymous

    Wooooo   Talk about misleading.

    First, what Bachman said is totally true: 47% 0f  the American people pay nothing in Federal income taxes.  Totally true., not misleading.

    Then you go into some strange rant about “payroll taxes”, or mandatory payments for Social Security.  This is a compulsory retirement program run by the Feds, and probably shouldn’t be called a “tax”.

    The fact that 15 million Americans get back more than they paid into this just means that those people aren’t paying for their retirement–the rest of us are.

    In the past, the vast majority of people who paid in to Social Security got back far more in benefits than they ever paid in.  This is unlikely to be true in the future.  Sadly, because of demographics, Social Security has turned into a giant Ponzi scheme, which could only continue if our population kept growing at a fast enough rate.

    Perhaps Social Security could limp along in its present arrangement if all employees, including all Government employees (Federal, State, and local) were forced into it.  (and I mean Senators and Congresspersons, and all military  etc etc.  Otherwise, there just aren’t enough people paying in to support the people collecting.

  • Anonymous

    Half of my family still lives there, including the old ones(grandparents).  Life in Canada may not be all peaches ‘n’ cream, but they certainly feel very fortunate to have a healthcare system that provides medicine and treatment that would cost a fortune here.   I have also lived in Canada, (I have dual citizenship) and they certainly are not robbing the poor to give to the rich.   Something Lepage seems to have a nack for, because if it weren’t for a massive tax break to less than 500 of the wealthy, there would be no need to kick all of these 65000 people off of the only form of affordable healthcare they have.

  • Anonymous

    Really, Harvard produced “most of the Wall St. thinkers”. What an obviously fabricated bit of misinformation.

  • Anonymous

    I won $7 on a Megabucks ticket. Does that count as welfare?

  • Anonymous

    Unfortunately we ARE answering your question – but you will keep checking back until we give you the answer you apparently want. 

  • Anonymous

    Slip of the  tongue is different than not knowing. 

  • Anonymous

    What? Trying to provide affordable healthcare to all Americans? I suppose you would prefer LePage, who bends over for the wealthy and then kicks 65000 of the most vulnerable people off of the only affordable healthcare they have. 

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

    We’ll never be like Greece. They have nice weather, good food, and most of their women dress out under 200 lbs.

  • Anonymous

    I’d guess when Aggie95 is old, she/he/it will need medicare or SS, maybe I’m wrong though

  • Guest

    How many employers are poor? If you want to attract job creating business into moving to Maine you create a business atmosphere where they can profit. Too many simpletons believe that business exists to provide jobs and pay taxes to support unproductive welfare bums. I’ve worked hard since I was 14 years old and collected a total of one month of unemployment in 1973. I’ve raised and supported five kids who are all employed today. Now I see my investments being eaten up by inflation and I’m paying taxes to support other people’s failures!

  • Anonymous

    This fight was picked to deflect the Forbes fallout and shift focus to another outlandish issue that is a least a bit more defensible than the last.  

    The only thing more absurd than the governors blaming the cuts to Mainecare on Forbes is the way he doubles down with this truth stretching red meat.  Ever the bully, never courageous.  Blaming others for his morally bankrupt policies.  We should expect no more from him at this point.

  • Anonymous

    If any of this had been dealt with before now, what is being construed by many as a “meat axe,” would not be necessary.  The issue just keeps ballooning, and LePage is the bad guy for actually stating that it is a problem.

    I say start with this:Take care of the elderlyTake care of the mentally ill/disabledWhy a 19 y/o girl can have a baby and let the benefits just roll in is beyond me.  Covering the child is one thing, but why does HAVING a child entitle one to healthcare?  The system is so broken it doesn’t even have to be gamed.  The guidelines are just too easy to fit within for many.When illegal acts/fraud occurs.  The libs say it is such a small percentage that it costs more to investigate than it does to simply keep paying.  When a convervative mentions it, they are hate mongers who hate old and poor people.  I think that seems to sum up the differences on this issue between libs and conservatives on this issue. Well, that and the libs seem to think that there is an endless supply of money, and no matter what has to be cut, they say “oh, you can’t cut that.”

  • Guest

    And there are plenty of Canadians that would disagree with you.

  • Anonymous

    Right, and the Iraq war will last 2 months.
    Sad that you have to make up fake information about people you don’t know who you disagree with. It indicates the weakness of your argument. “Keep your trap shut”? Seriously? What are you, the Mapleton Taliban?

  • Anonymous

    Why dont you move to Canada?

  • Guest

    Well, over 10,000 Americans permanently relocate to Canada every year, and that number is increasing.

  • Anonymous

    In their opinion.

  • Anonymous

    If he pays for it, what does it matter what he has?  Let me guess, people who live off the system are entitled to everything that those of us who pay our own way have?  Well, I guess the recipient class then deserves a house (not an apartment), a vehicle or two, televisions, wireless internet, etc.  I mean, why should they have to get by with less than those of us who are paying for all of it?

    Why is it that if you don’t just want to pay for everything for everybody else, you don’t “care” about your neighbor?  Many people give to charities (myself included), pay what I think are outrageous taxes, had the nerve to get an education (so apparently the fact that I have healthcare as part of my benefits package somehow makes me the devil).

    Do you honestly believe that we should simply have to pay (welfare/Mainecare/whatever other form of public assistance) to those who just won’t do anything…..drive around a few streets from Main St or Ohio St in Bangor any day and see the able bodied young people just walking around(most smoking cigarettes of course), but yet there are only a few people outside Labor Ready by the Greyhound station on any given morning.  Many of the recipient class are NOT looking for work.  Sure, some are, and there are working poor out there (who I certainly believe should get a helping hand when they need it, but I honestly do not believe they are the majority in this state…..just look around the streets of Bangor.

  • Anonymous

    What does calling somebody out for making up information have to do with moving to Canada?

  • Anonymous

    You think demonizing contraception is what is causing young women to have child after child?  Wow, I am still laughing at that one.  A child is their meal ticket……free healthcare/food/housing/schooling/daycare….Yeah, they really struggled with the decision to have the child as a moral issue…..it is a financial issue more than anything.

  • Anonymous

    I was at a state park and I found a quarter. I’m on welfare too!

  • Guest

    “Wealth” is NOT taxed! Only income is taxed. Wealthy people hide their money in tax exempt foundations and pay very little, or nothing in income taxes. The majority of “rich” people are small business owners who are taxed and regulated into oblivion!

  • Anonymous

    Ok, so what will happen if one of your loved ones gets a horrible disease, and you have to consider large bills from the hospital on a regular basis?  What happens after the medical bills start to pile up and you are barely able to pay your normal bills, let alone an insurance or hospital payment?  I can tell you from personal experience, that is the point that they begin to deny care.  That is the point where an insurance company or hospital will put a value on the life of your loved one, and if you have already gone bankrupt making payments on medical bills, you have no recourse.   I would much rather have most of my healthcare be for free, so that I would have the income for further care, if anything serious happened.

  • StillRelaxin

    Sorry ath20 you’re still making no sense. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen ANYONE here (Even the ones that can’t spell, have poor grammar, know no history, or don’t know that you should put periods and commas before quotations) ever say they thought they were “Smarter” than anyone else. Now I do occasionally group myself in with people with higher moral standards than others I see and read comments from now and again but really let’s face it, when you’re comparing yourself to Mr. LePage or those who blindly follow his every utterance out of both sides of this mouth, that can hardly be considered bragging. I’d trust a convict who’s done his/her time before I’d trust him. I sense that you feel people here are calling you stupid when they are really simply suggesting that those who think like Mr. LePage (And you?) may be either ignorant (That would be unknowing/uneducated not stupid) or simply selfish game players who have no sense of societal ethics. Thanks for following me, I do think I’ve seen your name here before. I don’t know if we’ve ever chatted but sense the lessons you have to learn will keep you endlessly coming back for more.

  • Anonymous

    where is the massive tax break? the rate has been same for a few years now, how much should they have to pay

  • Guest

    ______  for life.

  • Anonymous

    Does this man know how to read reports and accurately interpret the data?  I think not!

  • Anonymous

    Canada has population of about 34m compared to 307mil here so you cant compare the 2

  • Anonymous

    Yep totally sustainable government give away .Why can’t those  evil conservatives understand that they should just work harder  and give more .So what if theres 49% of the country receiving aid , there is no way that any of them could actually be abusing the system .Nope  mean old republicans are just evil and want people to suffer,all they ever talk about is personnel resposibility .Don’t they realize that if we paid for our own food and housing  we wouldn’t have any money left for smokes or booze shoot and the price of bathsalts has gone thru the roof.Whats a guy gonna do.

  • Anonymous

    And if your house catches fire, put it out yourself. Don’t be a lazy parasite and call on the Socialist Fire Department to help you.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SCNJPPZDX7GEYELESV2YGQFLN4 Pat T. Riot

    New Hampshire’s GDP was $60.8 billion with welfare at $1.14 billion, $864 per capita.  New Hampshire’s per capita GDP was $46,000.  Maine’s GDP was $51.6 billion, $38,000 per capita, with welfare at $1.18 billion, $887 per capita.  Vermont’s GDP was $25.6 billion, $42,700 per capita, with welfare at $0.7 billion, $1150 per capita.  So NH’s per capita income is higher and welfare is slightly less than Maine.  Vermont’s income is also higher than Maine and spends quite a bit more on welfare. 

    New Hampshire has a budget of $10.2 billion?  The National Association of State Budget Officers gives NH’s 2010 budget as $5.5 billion (which is $4170 per capita), Maine’s as $8.3 billion ($6240 per capita), and Vermont’s as $4.7 billion ($7830 per capita). 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_F7VMUU5NIDG3Y2AUPJUMBJY7B4 JEFF

    I don’t know how this guy got elected.look at him does it look like he  ever missed a meal, bought clothes at tag sale or second hand store or choose between heat or food or medicine? I think not.I wish he had an office up here in the county and had to work out of it for a year.We have been living in a depression for years and it is getting worse.Technology is killing us up here. potato planters and harvesters that nobody rides on and as some growers get bigger and use this equipment their product can be sold for mere cents less than smaller producers thus forcing them under.  mechanical timber harvesting where as little as 4 people can run an operation with no one on the ground with a chainsaw.Today logging practices clear cut swaths as deep as the cut area every 50 feet and in each buffer row they take every thing over 8″ these area will not be able to be logged for another 40 or more years.The high cost of fuel and having to “dead head”  or load less  at the driver expense to Bangor our further south to pick up a paying haul have made a lot of owner operators to stop trucking as they cannot make enough money to support the truck and a family at the same time.These are our three major industries and employers.The state should build a gasohol plant here in the county as there are tens of thousands of acres of farmland just growing weeds.

  • Anonymous

    That is exactly what I would like to know! Where has the $200 million tax break, that was supposed to create hundreds of jobs, gone? Straight into the pockets of less than 500 of the wealthiest people in the state, and in turn LePage would kick 65000 people off of their only form of healthcare to pay for it.

    http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/12/nation/la-na-maine-healthcare-20110412

    http://www.kjonline.com/opinion/columnists/health-care-cuts-tax-cuts-demonstrate-skewed-priorities_2011-12-12.html

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joshua-Wallace/1838123783 Joshua Wallace

    He must run out of toilet paper quite often considering all the crap that spills out of his mouth. He’s a goon and an proven liar. 

  • Anonymous

    Thank you! A sensible post. I couldn’t agree more. Why others cant see it the way you and I are seeing it is beyond me.

  • Anonymous

    where has the pill been taken away …..and the why you said it implies that at least at some point the pill was availible ….can you tell me if the pill was availible at the same time the unwed birth rate skyrocketted in some communities reaching over 70 % of all births cause if was then some people are to stupid to use it ….and as it was the black community who achieved that somewhat doubious honor followed by the hispanic community and as they supported obama at 97 % and 73 % respectively it would be safe to conclude obama supporters are to stupid to stop breeding even when give the means to do so ….or they see their reporductive organs as ATM machines ….which do you think it is

  • Anonymous

    Is he just realizing this????Dah!!! This is what everyone has been asking for….the REDO our Welfare system FIRST!!!!

  • Anonymous

    Okay, that is not true.

    Say a family of four makes $20,000 a year. Now, it is true that they will pay there mandatory FICA, sales tax(es), etc. However, what you seem to fail to take into account is is all of the welfare benefits that they receive from the government, thus reducing their effective tax rate to zero, and in some cases up to NEGATIVE 40%. Aside from any food assistance, WIC, etc. they may be receiving they are also receiving a very handy federal rebate on their taxes likely to the tune of $5,000. Yes, the federal government is not only returning all of the withheld taxes, but are also giving them an additional $5,000.

    This is what I am talking about when I say they are not paying taxes. Sure they are paying taxes, but it does not count if they are getting it all back and more from the government.

    So as you can see, I am not cherry picking taxes. I am taking into consideration all taxes that they pay. Income, FICA, sales, excise, property, etc. But it is all negated in the end.

    And not sure where you are getting your bottom 20% have the highest tax burden, but as I just pointed out that is simply false. If you are talking straight taxes as percentage of income and/or dollar amount then the highest income earners have the greatest burden. If you talking percentage of income from excess costs from inflation on essential goods and services, then by far the poor and middle class have the greatest burden. However, this is a product of the federal governments horrible monetary policies.

  • Anonymous

    If you are talking about actual taxes, then this could not be farther from the truth. I posted part of this comment in another place, but since it also applies here I will repost part of it.

    Say a family of four makes $20,000 a year. Now, it is true that they will pay there mandatory FICA, sales tax(es), etc. However, what you seem to fail to take into account is all of the welfare benefits that they receive from the government, thus reducing their effective tax rate to zero, and in some cases up to NEGATIVE 40%. Aside from any food assistance, WIC, etc. they may be receiving they are also receiving a very handy federal rebate on their taxes likely to the tune of $5,000. Yes, the federal government is not only returning all of the withheld taxes, but are also giving them an additional $5,000.

    Thus all of this negates all taxes said poor people might be paying. They give taxes to the government, but the government gives it all back and then some.

  • Anonymous

    your still not getting it ….I don’t care how much the citizens of the state make ….how much does the state have to spend

    New Hampshire has a budget of $11.5 billion, including federal and other funds, for the two-year period that ends June 30, 2011

    http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/New_Hampshire_state_budget_(2010-2011)

  • Anonymous

    Vermont is the only state without a balance budget requirement. In Dec. 2011, Governor Peter Shumlin’s
    administration proposed $25.5 million in adjustments to the General
    Fund spending plan that lawmakers approved when they passed the $4.8
    billion budget in the spring of 2011,

    http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Vermont_state_budget

  • Anonymous

    Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Iceland, The Bahamas, Finland, Sweden, Bhutan, Brunei, Canada, Ireland, Luxembourg, Costa Rica, Malta, Netherlands, Baruba, Malaysia, New Zealand, Normway, Seychelles, Saint Kitts, and United Arab Emirites.

    Based on the Satisfaction with Life Index.

    If you base it upon the “index of happiness” then
    Switzerland, Denmark, Iceland, and Austria

    But it is interesting that everyone comes to the conclusion that these countries are “happier” because of government intervention. I don’t know about you, but I would be happier with less government intervention. Like the fact that I can’t put any type of external structure on my property, or a fence. Yeah, go government!

  • Anonymous

    well I might but how about that list ….I still can find it ….I find that surprising because as long as we have been out there killing babies and old folks you would think it would be a long list …..but anyway I can’t find it can you post it please

  • Anonymous

    Technically no, although I could see why you would think that. I am very much a Libertarian.

  • Anonymous

    Not lucky- Mowed grass, rode a rubbish packer, loaded trucks at night while getting 3 college degrees. Worked 35 years since averaging 50 hours a week…lucky, no; earned it all!!!

  • Anonymous

    yea right ….you would like folks to believe that ….why is it that under the democrats oh so benevolent tutiledge the plight of the black community has become some much worse ….they have committed 59.3 % of ALL  felony murders in the U.S. from 1976 to 2005 …..over 70 % of all births are to unwed mothers …..12 % of the population 42 – 44 % of the prison population …. 12 % of the population 39 % of the welfare rolls ….you democrats stopped working them for cotten years ago now its votes ……and that is the only difference between then and now ….I live in an area that is 3 to 1 democrat …..some of the most racist folks I have ever seen in my life and they are all democrats ….if I were a black man the last thing I would want is democrat party friendship or help …..cause sorry to say you ain’t helping much ….but hey ya had noble intent ….right ….* GRIN * …so what that once again you failed …..as usual

  • Anonymous

    I can say that I’m a taxpaying citizen, I receive no services from the State.  I am the father of two children and wife, we both work.  We both claim zero and single on our taxes both Maine and federal.  One would think that you should receive a pretty good chunk of money back which I do federal.  State well that’s another matter, I usually have to pay in.  That just shows how much we are taxed in Maine and it’s just plain wrong. 

  • Anonymous

    what lies ….show me your shanty towns …..1/3 of the entire state population is on welfare i.e. poor can you spot them on the street ….where do they live …bet they are your neighbors ….can ya tell ….every 3′rd person you pass on the street laddie ….look just like you don;t they …..living preety well ain’t they

  • Anonymous

    you all letting spruce dweller change the subject???

  • http://www.facebook.com/tom.harvell Tom Harvell

    You have two children? Do they goto school? Will they goto school? That is a State service no matter how much you want to pretend it isn’t. You use state roads. Did you goto the U.Maine system or another State college? 

  • Anonymous

    By exaggerating the facts, he only deepens the ignorance of the believers and furthers those that seek a moderate apporach that curtails the abuses while not neglecting the truly needy.  Bad play Big Paulie.  

  • Anonymous

    better send him some glue cuz his tongue slips everytime he opens his mouth

  • Anonymous

    That’s what I thought it was,thanks.Too true.

  • Anonymous

    Well there is no shortage of stupid whites out there.Too bad your parents didn’t use contraception.At least they might’ve raised a decent speller.Oh wait,you’re an Aggie.Enough said.

  • Anonymous

    Can’t wait to see where this latest set of made up numbers came from…Another anonymous letter, perhaps?

  • Anonymous

    Go ahead and laugh while we all go broke.You are absolutely right that the child can be a financial advantage.look at those disgusting people like the Duggars and the Octomom who are making fortunes by being on TV.They are the worst of America.

  • Anonymous

    You accused the governor of lying in his radio address by stating, “His lips are moving again and the lies flow like water down the Penosbscot in the spring”. You didn’t make a good case for this contention, and I told you why. Also, the governor is a debater (all politicians are) although admittedly not the most effective debater in my opinion. Furthermore, for the sake of accuracy, I implied you had not interpreted the news article correctly, not that you had not read the complete article.

    That said,  I’m I sorry you feel insulted, but your accusation of deception by the governor for making a mistaken claim is totally uncalled for, and I felt it needed to be countered.  When comparing the number of resident tax payers who paid taxes to the number of welfare recipients the governor erred in two ways. 1) He wrongly assumed – in favor of his argument – that the number of  tax returns filed by resident tax payers is the same as the number of resident tax payers. 2) He wrongly compared this number – a move this time NOT in favor of his argument for revamping welfare – to the number of welfare recipients rather than the number of welfare beneficiaries that includes family members of recipients as well. Either way, one gets the same picture. The number of welfare beneficiaries is likely about the same as , if not greater than, the number of resident tax payers, since a relatively large number of recipients have family members who benefit. To imply the governor intended to deceive in his radio address is a far reach.

    If you want to know how the State of Maine can better manage its welfare system, I suggest you read the following link that identifies its weaknesses and offers suggestions on how it can be improved. I think it’s a worthy read.

  • Anonymous

    I agree with you that there are many who don’t need a bit of help but who are taking from those who need it.I could share several examples that I know of personally.I’ve reported them and nothing was ever done.That said the ADA was passed in 1990 and signed by… GHWB.The amendments to it which expanded it greatly was passed in 2008 and signed by …GWB.The con now is the mental disabilities which are being claimed by those who have never worked.I absolutely agree with taxes being absurd and would like a complete review of the system.I don’t have those luxuries that you referred to before.My single TV is a $15 yard sale find with the converter.So be it.I’m not much for TV anyway.
    You are VERY lucky to have health care and I hope life stays good for you and you stay healthy.
    And to your point about LR-I’ve worked for them as a coordinator many years ago.Trust me,the crowd that comes in there knows how to work the system as well as anyone.

  • Anonymous

    It was just announced that 50% of Americans are now considered low income.  Doesn’t it, then, stand to reason that 50% of Mainers would be receiving benefits?  It just proves that the majority of Mainers who are receiving benefits are entitled to them because they are low income.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks, Bush, for destroying the middle class.  50% of Americans are considered low income, why are you surprised that 50% of Mainers would receive some sort of benefit?

  • Anonymous

    It doesn’t really matter whether it is considered welfare of  not.  The states problem is that there are a high number people drawing monies from the state faster than it is being replaced.  The question is how to stem the difference.  Does the state then tax at a higher rate, business and individuals thereby driving them away from this area and make matters even worse than they are now or does the state try to rein in spending to the best of it’s ability and hope that business stays and can be encouraged to grow thereby making jobs for those who are currently unemployed, yet have a service which can be profitable and for them, and remove them from state dependency.  Difficult decisions with unknown results; but only a true version of history can show us the way not a wish list which many people seem to believe in.  This is not easy for anyone with hard decisions to make.  The idea that no one will be happy and that everyone will be affected is the best that this state can accomplish.  This is what happens when there are people in government who for years just couldn’t bring themselves to stop spending because they needed the votes. Party affiliation in this instance is irrelevant.

  • Anonymous

    Bottom line is too many people dependent on the state of ME entitlement programs.  The answer is to monitor the programs better, get rid of those abusing the programs, work with those that get dropped in helping them find jobs.  Too much abuse of welfare programs overall!

  • Anonymous

    So you have an answer for everything.  I wish you the joy of their fruits.

  • Anonymous

    Maine hasn’t a safety net problem, it has a revenue problem, a result more and more jobs that have replaced good paying jobs with jobs that pay low wages, that leads to a need for a larger safety net.

    Why is it more important to provide welfare for Corporate profits, that lend itself to the state and feds having to pick up the costs of the gap between living wages, so that some corporations can turn big profits on the backs of low wage earners?

  • http://twitter.com/Georga2012 Georga Grivois

    Again Gov LePage speaks with a forked tongue as he tries to make Main Street Mainers look like we all want a free ride..Does he know that the Maine Work Ethic is legend throughout the USA? I know for a fact that Employers  in other states take this into serious consideration when hiring Mainers. So why does LePage talk down disparagingly to us? He  (LePage) is the only one giving Maine a Bad image these days.. And  (sigh) Again I implore Mainers..THINK RECALL before he damages Maines reputation further!

  • Anonymous

    What do you expect. Worst state for business and jobs two years straight. Only jobs left are for slave wages and no benefits. Maine is finished. It is truly a welfare state. Guess LePage’s sign on 95 isn’t working too well.

  • Anonymous

    RECALL   LePage   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Anonymous

    we need jobs..gov.LePage…what part of that you don’t understand !!! and the ones that are offening jobs don’t wont to be tax too hell…..!!!!

  • Anonymous

    Funny, but true…..

  • Anonymous

    A lot of the problem in filing taxes is the more you make the less you have to pay in taxes.there are more tax breaks for the wealty then the working middle class i am not allowed a tax break for traveling to work. Maybe i need to get a job in augusta.The minimum wage that was created to help people in low paying jobs keeps getting battered by big business every time it comes up because they cannot afford the increase for their workers.The more the cost of living goes up the middle class has no way to pass on costs like big business does we have to absorb them and struggle on,with the rising costs more and more people ars falling under the poverty guide lines.96% of big business offers no benefits to  new workers and are downsizing so no benefits will have to be paid.Most families have both spouses working and between child care and fuel and food and other expenses have no choice but to apply for help.Law makers at the state and federal levels need to be aware of the fact that some day they may be on the other side of the coin and not be on the free or reduced  health care system they are on now,maybe their jobs should be reduced to minimum wage jobs and take away some of the tax breaks to see how they would cope. GO MAINE  

  • Anonymous

    are you a stupid white person ….what kind of spelling is this

     demonizing
    …. or this choicers

  • Anonymous

    Not to mention that they closed the Career Center in Houlton.I don’t hear anything about “Mr. Jobs”opening it back up even the the TP conservatives up there voted for him like drones.

  • Anonymous

    Sorry both are correct.Buy an OED instead of Sarah Palin’s book.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RXQLBTRYIHKOTBQAGM4APIOMCQ Harry

    Leanr two speel.

  • Anonymous

    That’s a real intelligent reply. Did you go to Harvard?????

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RXQLBTRYIHKOTBQAGM4APIOMCQ Harry

    How can most of these people on this site expect a job when they do not know how to spell. I hope they did not actually gaduminate High Shcool.

  • Anonymous

    you’ve got six of them on the ropes who ever said this [bangor daily news] was a liberal rag must not have had a clue [sarcasm for those who can't understand normal thinking]

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RXQLBTRYIHKOTBQAGM4APIOMCQ Harry

    ” The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.” Frank Zappa

  • Anonymous

    I work in billing and have worked for a hospital billing dept. They will put a lien on your house even if you make a “payment arrangement” if your bill is above a threshold. It’s unfortunate that by just not having health insurance you could be doomed for the rest of your life if you get really sick or have an accident.

  • Anonymous

    Please show me your proof. I have googled it and came up with nothing to match your numbers. I did however find that the imaginations dept. says there is a major backlog of Canadians waiting for American visas. They didn’t offer a number.

  • Anonymous

    Try a little selective reading ,spruces posts never change if you’ve read one you’ve read em all.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RXQLBTRYIHKOTBQAGM4APIOMCQ Harry

    “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
    ― Albert Einstein

  • Anonymous

    I’ve worked collections at a local hospital. When you offer to make a payment plan they can say no to your offer of $10 payments. They want the bill paid by a certain amount of time and can and will deny your attempt if it is too small. They will tell you to make the arrangement with their collections agency. I’ve seen it done.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Y3AXQVNDVKK5OL7F2JGONIRWMI Mainer50

    Sorry but Bennett’s remarks don’t make sense.  If the governor is putting into the melting pot, disability along with TANF along with non-category the figures are real scewed.  Disability is not welfare but social security for those that can’t work.  TANF is suppose to be temporary with lifetime gap of 5 yrs.  Where are those no.s of those that should and have lifed out of those no.s? That leaves, lets see, non-category maincare.  Should we count the retired on Social Security and SSI that have mainecare to supplement their Social Security?  According to his interpretation that should be considered welfare as well.  Looks like anything with Mainecare in it is considered welfare…how about clarification governor?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Y3AXQVNDVKK5OL7F2JGONIRWMI Mainer50

    Like the poor is suppose to support the rich?  Working man for years have had the businesses on their backs, literally keeping the rich in the lifestyle that they have become accustomed to.  There isn’t any giving, the numbers are real off.  Love to see the numbers of the rich paying to help the poor.  Working class and middle class people are just about non-existent with everything going into the Big businesses.  I’m afraid that your confused on what entitlement programs are.  Social Security, retirement is an entitlement program. Medicaid, TANF are means tested programs.  That means people have to show proof that they qualify for these benefits.  SSDI is a supplemental program for those folks that have disability and/or retired and don’t meet the minimum income of what the state sees that one needs to have to live on.  A few years ago, the minimum income level was $640. a month for one person…don’t know what it is now.  I guess if things have to change, then with your thinking, change the minimum income guidelines to say, $300 a month, that will get alot of people off SSI, medicaid.  That should see some improvement in getting the revenue income for the State back up there.  But that would mean more homeless, more ER visits…guess we can’t have it all.

  • Guest

    All this guy does is Lie!!! He tells one after the other and that is what he did before he got elected and he is still doing it!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Y3AXQVNDVKK5OL7F2JGONIRWMI Mainer50

    That doesn’t make sense.  Food stamps are federally based with the state being the gate keepers for the mean tested.  Gate keepers are different from state to state.  Anyone uses food stamps can only buy food, which if you should realize, don’t have state tax on it.  If someone buys clothes soap, food stamps don’t pay for anything non-taxable.  Therefore the tax has to come out the recipients pocket. NOT Foodstamps.  Is that clearer?

  • Anonymous

    Just look at Le Pages math skills   1 + 2 + governor = 0

  • Anonymous

    Hee dont not speel offen

  • Anonymous

    Didn’t a federal court rule those drugs test in Florida be halted because they were deemed to be unconstitutuional?

  • Anonymous

    Same as the state did with 1992 reforms of Maine workers’ compensation law and it worked!!! Today employers pay 1/2 of the cost of what they payed in 1992 because the laws are enforced and monitored. The people that need it get.

  • Anonymous

    The biggest industry in the state is healthcare. 7 of the top ten corporations in Maine are hospitals. How do they make their profits….the state and federal government. Maine does not have a Safety net problem and the revenue problem would disappear if they fixed the system and use examples from other states that have well run systems. There is no reason to cut benefits to people who need them, if the governor and legislature weren’t bought and paid for by these organizations and someone actually fixed it.

  • Anonymous

    Either way, it is still close to 50% of the population that are paying taxes, and of that 50%, I thought close to 40%, or close to 40% of the state, work for the government which means their income is paid from the taxes of those in the private sector; therefore, even less people are sustaining the state.

    Doesn’t matter if someone pays sales taxes, everyone needs to eat, and transportation has been deemed a necessity.  Otherwise, welfare recipients wouldn’t get that sort of help either, and a home is a necessity etc., and no one can be sustainable if they are not making an income.

    Even though people file tax returns does not mean they pay into the state for taxes, many people file returns so they can get a return of money they paid in to taxes.

    Now how about giving all citizens a right to trial before taking away rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, so less people are on the street and get rid of the general publics paranoia and discrimination.  For example, when one gets out of a hospital at least give them a list of things that are now illegal, instead of them dumbfoundly getting arrested for something they had no clue, because they were released for being harmless, and there are no charges, so they never got a chance to go to court.  What happened to the 14th amendment?

    “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_J5XVHRZG3GXBWY3WX3ZZAPK5DQ Harry

    Pay attention. We are not talking about Obama right now.

  • Anonymous

    All of us are taxpaying citizens. From taxes at the pump to taxes on your utility bills to sales tax, to excise tax, to fees. We are inundated with taxes. Everyday you pay the government.

  • Tyke

    Lepage treats Heritage Foundation weenies’ opinions  as facts.

  • Anonymous

    Okay, I understand perfectly well what you are saying, but you are not understanding what I am saying.

    If I give the government $50 in taxes, and the government gives me $100 worth of cheese then I paid a net of negative $50 in taxes.

    Let me use a more extreme example, say a “poor” person pays the government $1 in sales taxes for an entire year, but receives $1 Million in food stamps in which they use all of it. Are you telling me that they are tax payers because they paid one whole dollar meanwhile taking $999,999 from other tax payers? It does matter that it is food stamps and can only be used on food. It still has value, and it costs money.

    And it doesn’t matter if it is between the federal government or the state government. So they pay the state government, but get everything back and more from the federal government. It is irrelevant.

    They are not tax payers, they pay zero or negative NET taxes.

    And if you don’t understand then I am sorry, I really can’t explain it any better, and you may want to consider learning about finance.

  • Tyke

    http://www.bankrate.com/financing/retirement/social-security-benefits-vs-taxes/

    I won’t bother to wait for your apology.

    The FACT that many ss beneficiaries collect more than they put in has been very well known for a very long time.

  • Guest

    He needs to spin on out of here. Drastic changes are only going to hurt people and the State.

  • Anonymous

    Most of my property taxes go to education. $8million of the $11Million town budget goes to education. The balance of funds obviously come from state revenue which everyone contributes to one way or another. The state does not own us …we own it…they work for us …but they seem to forget that. 

  • Anonymous

    I remember the Republican party swearing a few years ago that President Obama’s health plan would lead to rationing of health care. Why is it acceptable for our Republican governor to ration health care, ranking childless adults as the least deserving among us? 

  • Tyke

    It is willfully ignorant to cherry pick one tax and act as if it is all that is collected by the government.

    Taxes paid all count and all take away from a person’s available funds.

    When we talk about who is paying for government programs the entire tax burden from all sources must be included. It is no more honest to only use income tax then it would be to only use sales tax and claim the poor and middle class pay almost all of it.

  • Anonymous

    50 years ago Maine had fishing nets not safety nets!

  • Anonymous

    I don’t have a problem with people getting assistance that genuinely need it!  Heck, we all might need it some time or another.  My problem is with the people on GA that are abusing the system… those able-bodied men and women that could work that choose to hold their palms to the sky and wait for the state to rain down with food stamps, section 8 housing, disability for no diagnosis other than, “I have a bad back”…who the hell doesn’t after a hard days’ work?    There is so much fraud, abuse and misuse of the entitlement programs.  The state should hire a team to investigate and prosecute those that are abusing these programs –  my wish is for more accountability and for those who truly are in need to be able to access the programs when they need to.

  • Anonymous

    my rules are different…
    No cell phones
    no motor vehicles
    get a job
    …or stay at a friends house

  • Guest

    Social Security and Social Security Disability are a Government Insurance Program. SSI is based on poverty and is what The Social Security Administration calls the welfare of social security.

  • Anonymous

    We are on the same page.

  • Anonymous

    Doesn’t LePages daughter get welfare?  I understand she lives in the blaine house free of charge.

  • Anonymous

    We were on AFDC in the 60s, and it is still automatically AFDC, but yes it has changed name. Whatever you call it, it was a lifeline when the old man was in jail. We all grew up and none ended up on welfare, probably because being on welfare is no joy. Ma still worked, like a lot of food stamp recipients do now, and back then it was called donated commodities, because the aid was mostly boxes of food. By whatever name it meant we ate a better diet than we otherwise could have afforded.

    Food stamps are somewhat more based on income, and the max is about  $100/month. Many of the recipients in Maine are poor people over 60, and lots of old people cobble together an income on social security and food stamps. So when you think of it, a 10% cut, or even 5%, hits those people hard. Have we become a nation that lets old people cut a can of corn so that we can balance a budget, but are adamant that millionaires can’t afford another dime in taxes? Is this the direction we are going? At the same time, fundamentalist Christians demand that a reflection of their beliefs is enshrined in laws that proclaim us a “Christian” nation.

    Are these 2 things related? How can this be reconciled by people who proclaim that the Bible is the basis for law, but everywhere in the Bible we are instructed to take care of the poor. The Bible is where it says that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven, and that if you want to follow Christ you have to leave your possessions behind.

    Medical insurance subsidies are only a band-aid on a bigger problem. The problem is that if you have a car accident or a catastrophic illness and have no insurance, you will still get some level of care. Most time you aren’t left to die along the road or in  the ER because you have no insurance. Although in time anybody with a little bit of assets will lose them to medical costs, some people have nothing to take. Somebody still has to pay for the Xrays, the tests, etc. This often is the taxpayer, who funds ambulances, medical centers, etc. So unless the public is ready to have sick poor people dumped on the sidewalks in front of the hospitals, MaineCare and Medicaid will continue. As a matter of fact, because of the aging population, be ready for those costs to go up. (Does Grandma lose another can of corn?)

  • Anonymous

    No, he is paying his whole bill.  He has a job, and for the most part is healthy.  It’s cheaper in the long run to not have insurance.   ( that’s what driven up the cost of medical)  It took  me once 5 years to pay a bill to the hospital, but I paid every penny I owed.

  • Anonymous

    For the most part people don’t .

  • Anonymous

    Key word there is “can”. Also, the patient can refuse to work with the collection agency and continue to send his $10 a month payment to the hospital. What are you going to do, refuse it?

    Don’t get me wrong, I don’t condone making ten dollar payments if you can afford more. You should make every effort to pay them off as soon as possible. On the other hand, ten dollars is better than nothing. Too many people would make no effort at all.

  • Anonymous

    How many of the people do you figure are getting counted twice? Probably most of them. Numbers from the right wing are always suspect.

    Yes, the economy has continued to stagnate. That is a heck of a lot better then the free fall it was in when he took over in 2009. With the Bush bank bailouts and the unfunded war in Iraq, the economy had shed 8 million jobs during the Bush years. Guess you thought one man in the White House would change everything. Silly you.

  • chris reid

    Ask LePage … he found it to be a very welcoming place during the Viet Nam War. Oui/Non?

  • Anonymous

    Whatever the actual numbers — it is hard to believe any figures
    produced by a hostile administration with a predetermined agenda. It seems that
    every initiative launched by LePage et al focuses on cutting government services
    to the public and tax-breaks for corporations and their owners, instead of
    focusing on the bigger picture of creating jobs and long term solutions that
    will produce positive effects that ripple through all markets. We hear lots of
    talk about creating a business friendly environment with little specifics as to what
    businesses will actually support this “future utopia.”

    I wonder why a successful business like Backyard Farms in
    Madison isn’t replicated across the state. Growing all kinds of local fresh produce could
    feed the entire state and would go far in creating jobs, lowering the cost of
    shipping goods to market and keep fresh food affordable for all. Backyard Farms’
    business model uses one of Maine’s plentiful natural resources — hydro power.
    The facility employs 200 people, produces 2 million pounds of tomatoes annually
    and ships no farther than a day’s travel to ensure the tomatoes are fresh to
    market. This is an industry that will always have demand, be local and keep revenue
    in the state.  

    With all the “big thinkers” out there I can only wonder why we
    aren’t doing something that actually benefits the state and its people. Where
    there’s a will there’s a way; one can only conclude that there is no will, (or,
    no clue).   People before politics my foot.

  • Briney

    “LePage’s numbers are purposely deceptive to support Republicans’ political agenda,” she ( Jodi Quintero) said.
    Good to see a Democrat catching the latest lie from this man and belting it back at him.

    Everything he’s done since he became autocratic governor is for the benefit of the tea party’s national agenda.   They want a Plutocracy.

    Why is this man, a rich man, like his sponsors the Koch brothers and Rupert Murdoch, being allowed to get away with these daily assaults on the less fortunate of our state?

    Michigan working people are charging ahead to recall another Koch brothers plant – Scott Walker.  Ohio voters are also fighting their tea party governor.

    In Maine thus far we’ve overturned the tea party effort to suppress voting with an attempt to cut off registering on voting day.    The next one is their prohibitively priced ID card designed to exclude older voters and the poor.  It’s called republican-tea party voter suppression.  Yes, here in Maine in the United States of America.  

    This man is the worst governor the state has ever had.  He should be recalled like Walker.  He stands to take away the liberties of what was once a free society.  

    Please, Bangor Daily News – no more pictures of him until after Christmas.

ADVERTISEMENT | Grow your business
  1. Glenburn art teacher killed in Friday morning collision in BangorGlenburn art teacher killed in Friday morning collision in Bangor
  2. Accidents involving 7 vehicles tie up Bangor traffic on Interstate 95
  3. Oregon police say mystery woman may have ties to Fort KentOregon police say mystery woman may have ties to Fort Kent
  4. Police say co-sleeping likely a factor in 6-week-old infant’s death in Bath
  5. Harvard student asked to leave bar for ‘bad behavior,’ not drunkennessHarvard student asked to leave bar for ‘bad behavior,’ not drunkenness

Marketplace Coupons

BDN Blogs

Be a BDN blogger
Browse BDN blogs

Capitol Incite

Items of interest, perspective & analysis on Maine politics, people and policy Rick Bennett says he's not a career politician

Pine Tree Politics

Political intrigue from the state of Maine The untold story of the DADT repeal
ADVERTISEMENT | Grow your business