Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series.
Poverty levels not seen in Maine and the rest of the United States in nearly 50 years illuminate a deep-seated economic problem that extends far beyond the scope of social welfare programs. Jobs, not government benefits and tax breaks, will do the most to keep middle-class Americans from plunging into poverty.
In Maine, where median incomes vary dramatically from region to region — from $57,424 in Cumberland County to $32,847 in Washington County — establishing a numeric definition of the middle class is difficult, but poverty is easier to quantify, at least statistically.
The U.S. Census does not include food stamps and other noncash aid, such as tax credits, in setting the 2012 poverty level at $11,170 for individuals or $23,050 for a family of four.
More than a dozen experts surveyed recently by The Associated Press predict that 2011 U.S. Census figures to be released in September will show that a higher percentage of Americans live in poverty now than at any time since 1965, a year after President Lyndon B. Johnson launched his Great Society initiative.
According to the latest U.S. Census data, Maine’s two-year average poverty rate stands at 12.9 percent for 2009-10. The two-year average of Mainers living below the federal poverty limit increased from 12.6 percent for 2008-09, but that increase reflected a much smaller spike than the national two-year average, which rose from 13.8 percent in 2008-09 to 14.8 percent in 2009-10.
Preliminary analysis attributes much of the national increase to record-setting poverty rates among suburban families and individuals classified as “underemployed.” Suburbanites who have been without jobs so long that they’ve exhausted unemployment benefits and “housing bubble” casualties constitute growing new categories of Americans living in poverty.
America’s new poor aren’t the aged and infirm, as was the case when Johnson took on the root causes of poverty in the mid-20th century. They are unemployed workers largely left behind by an economy increasingly based on automation, cost containment and globalization.
For Maine, a state that saw a net loss of gross domestic product in 2011, the rising poverty rates should provide state government and the business community with even more incentive to promote entrepreneurship and technological development, especially in rural areas where jobs offer the best hope to reverse entrenched poverty.
Cutting energy costs, a goal identified by Gov. Paul LePage, and extending more high-speed Internet service into the most rural parts of Maine would help lay the groundwork for the kind of economic diversification that would reduce dependence on paper mills and other job sources that are vulnerable to the vagaries of a volatile global economy.
Reducing reliance on government benefits remains a core element in the ongoing war on the type of institutional poverty Johnson addressed. Reducing dependence on single employers whose vitality determines the overall health of a region or community could serve as a central strategy in a new war to build a stronger middle class in Maine.
Otherwise, state cuts to safety net programs, made by tightening eligibility standards, will become moot as more people lose their grasp on middle class livelihoods and dip below the poverty threshold.
We have a new middle class-It’s called welfare family of 4- 60,000$ a year
I do know 60,000, sounds like a lot of money, but, if they have a house payment, and have to run two cars for two working, it is not a lot of money, and they may needs some help.
then you pay for them, so they can continue to be lazy without having to make a dime.
I notice the country is paying for tax cuts that largely benefit the wealthy so we can bribe them to create the jobs. How about you pay for them so they can continue to line their pockets and send their money overseas?
What is the definition of wealthy? To me, it is a person who has amassed enough $$ to live comfortably for the rest of their life. And I have yet to come up with a way to tax that wealth again, have you?
Does it matter the exact definition? You know a tall person when you see them. There has to be cut off points and often there are arbitrary. Like why is the speed limit on main street 25 and not 24?
I think people like you ask these kinds of questions in order to derail the conversation and get away from the real issue.
Investment money isn’t flowing overseas anymore. That is old school… The money that was created overseas is staying there… mostly because of punitive tax policies if it comes back.
What? So for example, Romney made his money in the Cayman Islands and that’s why he had/has accounts there? Quit being dishonest.
I doubt Romney has over 2 trillion dollars sitting in the Caymans… Donald Sussman might…. The money that counts, (2 trillion dollars) that exists in business accounts worldwide stays overseas because of the tax policies of the US. If it comes onshore it will be taxed a second time…. That’s why it sits overseas. There is little outflow of cash these days…. that’s so 2000.
So which is it? Was the money made there or not? If it wasn’t made there then your like it’s soooo 2000 comment is obviously false.
The outflows of cash in business investment has cooled. (Do you really think business is going to invest in that socialist-europe basket case?) The money that was earned there is staying there for the reason I mentioned.
Come again? How’s that exactly?
Corporate money earned overseas is taxed by the corporate authority there. France China, Germany whatever at their corporate tax rate. If it comes to the US it is considered income by the IRS and will be taxed again here.
Generally speaking a $100 profit is taxed in France @ 33.33%. ($33.33)It comes to the US and is taxed at our corporate tax rate of 38%… ($38.00) That means if the money is returned, out of that $100 profit the Corporation keeps $28.67 Of course there are variations on this but you get the idea.
Those are the statutory rates you’re quoting, not the actual effective rates companies pay. I just googled “effective corporate tax rates by country” and although the results were all over the place if I discounted the obviously biased sites (both liberal and conservative) the effective rate in the US is either just above or just below most other major industrialized nations … in other words, the US is in line with other countries.
My post was intended to convey to WVOM the process that corporate money has to go through in order to return to the US from overseas.
What you say is entirely true. That is if we applied the published rates to income prior to any allowable deductions. But even using your numbers you are incorrect. Let us take your $100 and tax it at France’s 33 percent. It leaves $66. That money comes to the US and is taxed at 38 % which equals $25.08.(rounded down to $25) Subtract that from the $66 that came from France as income and you have $41.
Not the way it always works. You assume that all taxes from one country are deductible in another.
Lazy, maybe, you’d better look inward.
Maybe can’t afford two cars and house payment live within your means
or an immigrant family of 9 at 100,000+ a year
(including rent, food, heat, clothing, education, vehicle repairs, health care, etc)
that is mom and dad Grossing 30 grand a year each, raising kids paying for daycare probably trying to save for a house school cars insurance yada yada yada. that is lower middle class today
And your evidence that a family of 4 on welfare gets 60K a year is – what exactly? You’re making this nonsense up because it’s so easy to hate on imaginary welfare cheats, and a lot harder to face the truth.
About once a month we pester our town office to PLEASE contact the cable company so we can get high-speed internet in our town. Their answer is, “Well, we have DSL at the town hall and residents who don’t have access to DSL line (only about 1/4 town is able to get DSL access, which is just as bad as dial-up really) can use it here if they need it during our hours of operation. ” Gee, that helps tons. All it takes is a single phone call and they just refuse to do it because a certain group of people in charge don’t want or need high-speed at home, so poop on the rest of the residents out there who might want or need it for employment, continued education, or simple recreation. I find that most of this area of Maine is closed-minded like this. Very frustrating.
Well, count me in on the new middle class going poor. I grew up poor when my father died and left my mother (the housewife) with seven children at home. It is a different poor now. We did not go hungry or have to worry about being cold in the winters up north. Now children go to bed hungry and the elderly find it difficult to stay warm in the wintertime. I saw a way out by going to college and getting a good profession which provided me well. Now I hesitate to buy a nice steak to grill when going to the grocery store. Rarely do I. We are all going backwards and it is worse than in the 60″s.
Tea Partiers are all absolutely certain that poverty only happens to lazy people who want to lie around and collect welfare.
They’ve obstructed Obama’s efforts to help the US recover from the economic disaster caused by 1) miring us in 2 wars while cutting revenue via tax breaks for millionaires plus 2) failing to regulate Wall Street, which melted down and carried away many people’s retirement savings.
Tea Partiers hope to elect Romney, whose aim is to turn government into rule by corporations, while destroying the social safety net. If he is elected, many Tea Partiers will be getting laid off, or have to work at 3rd world wages, and there will be no safety net left to help them –or the rest of us–survive.
You cannot blame just one or two administrations and the Tea Party for this situation. It has been growing for many years. The Tea Party has only been in exsistance for a short period of time.
1. How does tax breaks for millionaires result in the middle class going in the dumper? Even if everyone was taxed at the same percentage, it wouldn’t be a drop in the bucket. 70 percent of the total tax revenue is supplied by the top 20 percent earners. Just because the top earners may not pay the same percentage, they pay out a significant amount in dollar amount. Yes there are some tax dodgers. Only 48 percent of all earners even have a tax liability. That makes a lot of people on the low end of the income scale without any tax liability at all.
2. How do you suggest we regulate Wall Street? I lost over a third of my retirement in 2008/09, but have more than made it back by not moving my money and letting it grow back. My interest earnings have come back for the most part, so if anyone lost there butts, its because they didn’t manage there assets.
How do you equate Romney to more jobs going away? Jobs have been going away since the adoption of NAFTA which was conceived by Reagan, passed by congress during Bush 1 presidency, and signed into law by Clinton. It was a shared responsibility, and I don’t see Obama doing much about it. It’s hard to keep jobs in this country when we make it so compelling for companies to go abroad. We want our goods to be cheap, and we want our labor to get paid high wages with great benefits and job protection regardless of job performance. We want to stymy companies with countless EPA and safety requirements, and the list goes on.
This problem goes much further than just the Tea Party of present, and the current politicians.
Bush slashed federal revenue while committing us to multi-billion dollar wars. Pushing the US economy close to disaster was and remains a core Tea Party desire, since they use it to “justify” austerity programs. Austerity destroys national economies (as in Europe) by demolishing local economies.
There are plenty of proposals for regulating Wall Street. Wall Street is giving vast sums to Mitt Romney, who has promised to repeal recent financial reforms. Why repeal reforms? So investment bankers can do as they please. Just this past May, JP Morgan admitted that it somehow managed to lose $2 billion in a failed bit of financial wheeling-dealing. Oops! If JP Morgan fails–well, they wouldn’t be allowed to fail. Taxpayers would bail them out. Private profit, but public risk.
It’s pleasant to hear that you have recovered financially from the Wall Street meltdown. Many people have not. I disagree that these suffering people simply lack your great skill. After all, if you were so skillful, you wouldn’t have had any losses to begin with, would you?
What gets “stymied” by regulations that protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat? Corporations whine that they can’t make extra money by endangering us. How cruel of the mean old EPA! If you enjoy pollution you might visit China, where rules are lax and babies drink tainted milk.
What do you have against safety requirements that protect workers? Are you eager to return to the days of workers dying from exposure lead, asbestos, and mercury?
Close to 100 of the big-money bundlers for Obama’s reelection team have ties to investment banks and other financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of America–each of which received tens of millions of dollars in bailout money at the start of the recession.
Thank you…Well put..
obama’s record, not his diametrically opposed rhetoric (lies), reveals more damage has been done to this country than any other administration.
21 million households reliant on food stamps. A direct consequence is the obesity epidemic.
47% in the country receive welfare, the highest percentage in this country’s history.
68 billion was spent on food stamps in ’10, double what it was in ’07. He says food stamps are the best way for a boost but he has caused economic stagnation. Profoundly ignorant to say the least.
Unemployment rate has been >9% for 25 of the last 27 consecutive months.
More than 2 million jobs have been lost since obama took office.
Debt per taxpayer is now a staggering $139,743.
The country is more polarized now than it was 4 years ago courtesy of the master architect of class warfare.
Since knowledge is power, some recommended reading for you is http://www.amazon.com/The-Amateur-Edward-Klein/dp/1596987855/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344200057&sr=8-1&keywords=the+amateur
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absolutely certain that poverty only happens to lazy people who want to lie around and collect welfare.”
I’m pretty sure that we’re right on that one.
Think of it this way, if you have a population that are on welfare, let’s say it’s 50% of the possible workforce are collecting social programs paid by the other 50%.
so it continues, and the welfare rats have more kids, and suddenly it’s 60% collecting, and 40% paying, and those 40% have to pay higher taxes because there’s not as many people working.
What incentive is there to work when you can just sit back, have babies, be lazy, and collect for the rest of your life?
change or abolish half these social programs, limit welfare benefits, and watch the lazy leeches flee the state in droves.
bring balance back to the system. because if we stay on this course, no one will be able to pay taxes and our social-economic system will collapse on itself.
When you lose your own job, if you are unable to fnd another job and become impoverished, you will be one of the people you have enjoyed labelling a “welfare rat.”
Bad things can and do happen to good people.
It should be called the Lack of Empathy Party.
The perpetual victimhood and me-me-me party.
Maybe you should support business investment and ideas.
I dont think one person that is in the middle or low class DOESNT support Business investment, but what we dont support is the large corporations taking all of that money as profit and not passing it on to the ones making it for them. Its simply a matter of greed. They have the wealth, and have us over a barrell as we need to survive so they give us crumbs…Not much different than the Kings did long long ago. It didnt work then and it wont work now. Eventually people get tired of going hungry.
There are any number of projects that have been considered over the last decade in Maine that could have brought new jobs. But every time that happens there is some NIMBY group of leftists trying to stop it for one reason or another. Environmental, political or some other reason. (I once witnessed an objection to a housing project because a tree would get cut down… and where would the wood nymphs live?)
If you want business and jobs, advocate for them. If you don’t, go hungry.
You didn’t address Jeffcol’s point. There is a problem with greed and entitlement in this country. You talk about creating jobs, but they’re often poor paying or part time simply for the purpose of increasing the profit for the few at the top. Look at the guy who the Republicans have running for President. Sure, made companies more profitable for a few individuals, but certainly didn’t create jobs.
And nice job pointing one irrelevant example and trying to act like it’s somehow illuminating.
Did you ever stop to think that the problem with your narrative is your narrative?
Of course people want to make money. Of course people want to maximize their profit. There never has been a system on the planet, that lasted very long, that has not been profit motivated in one way or another. You want to make a living get in the game. Otherwise as Jeffcol sees it. Go Hungry.
As for my “wood Nymph” story… Objections to cheap energy, the East-West highway, the Searsport and Eastport projects are all in the “Wood Nymph” category to me.
As far as I know Staples is a large employer…. That was a Bain Capital project.
It’s not a narrative, it’s a trend. Greed is good. It’s not a narrative when you can literally point to the one who wants to be leading his party and his country, Romney, and see that he is and has engaged in that behavior.
There is nothing wrong with creating a profit for yourself and working hard. There is however a problem when your efforts to maximize profits harms many in the process.
I am in the game. Don’t act like because I’m not some money-grubbing Republican only out for myself that I’m not in the game. I love what I do for a living. I feel it’s very productive and that I contribute quite a bit to my community. I pay those that help me fairly and when I see success, I help those that work for and with me.
Something like Staples on the other hand? Sell cheap stuff made overseas, mainly hire part time employees and pay them low wages, funnel money out of communities — all in an effort to create huge profits for a few. THAT is the real system that isn’t sustainable. That can’t last long. A couple of rich guys and then the rest that can hardly afford anything? Then you want them to be made to feel guilty when the lose in a game where the rules are stacked against them? Ridiculous.
I thought our topic was business and job creation but instead its an anti-Romney polemic. My mistake.
And great, you found you way out of actually addressing the issues. My point was that you’re trying to dismiss legitimate claims as a fictional narrative when the truth is that it’s a common behavior and even prominent people are guilty of it.
Of course finding ways to maximize profits is common behavior!! Join in or join Jeffco on the food line.
No, those aren’t the only options. You can maximize profits while still maintaining a concern for those around you. I think greed has blinded you.
I think that vitamin deficiencies have blinded you.
Since when are NIMBYs only leftists? I see plenty of conservatives doing the same thing. Its about backyard, not politics.
Perhaps you are correct… but when I attend a public meeting or read a news story of some group attacking or attempting to stop business development it generally appears from the left. Heck. these groups even use those meetings as recruiting tools. Conservatives generally don’t end up in groups like OCCUPY or RESTORE or NRDC.
AMEN…
Back in the 80’s our family lost our only income, we were homeless with 3 children. We never collected food stamps, medical or housing assistance. Yes, Liz bad things do happen to people, however it should never become a way of life.
BS…There are jobs out there but it is easier to sit back and collect 99 weeks of unemployment and SNAP , ect..I lost my job (60,000 a year) and now work 2-3 jobs to get by..At ALL 3 of them they are hiring but can’t get applicants and the ones that do fail the drug test..It is beneath them to work at Walmart or other retail/service places…There should be a drug test and looking for work requirements for the welfare bums too…That would solve alot of problems…
You were able to piece together a living out of 3 low-paying jobs. That’s commendable.
However, your managing to do that does not mean that every unemployed person could do that. And it does not prove that all unemployed people who receive unemployment benefits are “welfare bums.”
That sort of vicious characterization is part of the conservative divide-and-conquer technique that aims to set subgroups of non-wealthy Americans at one another’s throats.
I’m Not really sure what you are trying to argue here. If 2% of the population has 98% of the world’s wealth, than what are the 98% of the population that doesnt have wealth supposed to do? Just curl up in a corner and Die??
Yes! That is exactly the solution. Well, that or sign up for indentured servitude, which actually would be preferable for them, I’m sure.
Without question, there are many individuals receiving aid that could be working, and that frustrates all of us. However, there is more than one face to poverty. Not everyone getting assistance is a “rat”. When staying home and receiving assistance is better for you financially than working at Marden’s or Burger King, something is wrong.
“absolutely certain that poverty only happens to lazy people who want to lie around and collect welfare.”I’m pretty sure that we’re right on that one.
You are dead wrong on that, and if you, your family, or someone you know hasn’t gotten lost a job for a siginficant amount of time – or god forbid, gotten sick – then you should count your blessings and stop looking down your nose at the rest of us.
Follow the money, neighbor. The drain of wealth from working families in the middle class has not gone to the lazy or sick, it has gone to corporations and warfare. America spends less on social programs than most of the OECD. WE are still the wealthiest nation in the world. The problem lies in that the gains of our society have been enjoyed by a fraction of a percent of us. They have gamed the system so they don’t have to pay higher wages, ever. This is finally catching up with us. More of the same will not produce different results.
We once had no safety nets. At that time we also had high levels of inequality. The result was mass destitution, hardly rampant prosperity.
You have been sold on a false choice and as such you have chosen to believe the carefully crafted messages of the elites instead of believing in your neighbors. Let me assure you that the ones at the top have no interest in sharing their success with you. At the end of the day, your neighbors are still your neighbors and you won’t go wrong believing in them instead.
All of the greatest achievements in the American experience came from believing in each other. We cleared the land, built railroads, built universities and built the most prosperous nation in the worlds history not by casting our neighbors as lazy and weak but by believing that we share a common desire to make the world better for our children.
There is no data to support that deregulation and lower taxes for the wealthy will bring about any positive outcomes. If there were we would see it happening. It is a very attractive myth, but it is still a myth.
For the love of god, your country and your children, start by believing in your neighbors and you will be amazed at the possibilities that come of it.
Liz, stop. You’ve sucked off the public teet for far too long (And don’t even tell me you don’t get government assistance because you’ve said so). Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame you for not biting the hand that feeds you, but enought is enough. We’ve all heard your story. This president. is no better than the one before him . Why don’t you stand with me and make things better? No, I don’t think Romney is the answer either?
If you heard my “story,” you’d be aware that:
1) I’m a professional who works 45-50 hour weeks;
2) I have a disabled adult daughter (born with a genetic disorder) who has qualified for MaineCare, SSI, SSDI, and Medicare, has been hospitalized multiple times, had to live in a group home for a while, but thanks to these services (including section 8 housing for seeral years, an Intensive Case manager, and a regular case manager) gradually transitioned to independent living AND for more than 10 years has worked changing diapers and doing other personal care in an Alzheimer’s unit-where she is beloved by all; and
3) I like to remind people who slander social services recipients that THERE, BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD, GO YOU AND YOUR KIDS OR GRANDKIDS.
I agree with you Liz, but it should be, “There, but for the grace of the economy and the 1%…” The Invisible Sky Wizard could care less about money.
Liz I really find in hard to believe you work 45-50 hours a week when you seem to be commenting continually. I sure hope you work for yourself and not taking advantage of your employer.
How have Tea Partiers obstructed anything? Obama and the Democrats got everything they wanted.
Back in 2007, former Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott explained the successful Republican strategy for derailing the new Democratic majorities in the House and Senate:
“The strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail. So far it’s working for us.”
“Congressional historians said Mr. Boehner’s move was unprecedented” –A month before Senate Republicans blocked Barack Obama’s popular jobs bill, that’s how the New York Times described Speaker John Boehner’s refusal to grant the President’s request for a September 7 address to joint session of Congress to present the American Jobs Act.
“As it turns out, “unprecedented” is apt description for almost every boulder in the stone wall of Republican obstructionism Barack Obama has faced from the moment he took the oath of office. From the GOP’s record-setting use of the filibuster and its united front against Obama’s legislative agenda to blocking judicial nominees and its admitted hostage-taking of the U.S. debt ceiling, the Republican Party has broken new ground in its perpetual quest to ensure that Barack Obama will be a one-term president. Even before Barack Obama took the oath office, Republicans leaders, conservative think-tanks and right-wing pundits were calling for total obstruction of the new president’s agenda….
“Time after time, President Obama could count the votes he received from Congressional Republicans on the fingers (usually the middle one) of one hand. The expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) to four million more American kids earned the backing of a whopping eight GOP Senators. (One of them, Arlen Specter, later became a Democrat.) Badly needed Wall Street reform eventually overcame GOP filibusters to pass with the support of just three Republicans in the House and Senate, respectively. Last summer, it took 50 days for President Obama to get past Republican filibusters of extended unemployment benefits and the Small Business Jobs Act. As for the DISCLOSE Act, legislation designed to limit the torrent of secret campaign cash unleashed by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, in September Republican Senators prevented it from ever coming to a vote…
The Senate confirmed fewer of [Obama’s] district and circuit nominees than every president back to Jimmy Carter, and the lowest percentage of nominees – 58% – than any president in American history at this point in a President’s first term. By comparison, Presidents George W. Bush, Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Reagan and Carter had 77%, 90%, 96%, 98%, and 97% of their nominees confirmed after two years, respectively.
“Senate Republicans’ mass obstruction of Obama’s judges stands in stark contrast to the treatment afforded to past presidents. Indeed, the Senate confirmed fewer judges during Obama’s first two years in office than it did during the same period in the Carter Administration, even though the judiciary was 40 percent smaller while Carter was in office.”Just a sampling. [http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/republicans-unprecedented-obstructionism-by-numbers]
Boehner is not a Tea Partier. He was in Congress long before “Tea Partiers” came into existence. Tea Party people are NOT Democrats or Republicans…
They’re Republicans. If they’re not, then why has every single Tea Party member of the Tea Party Caucus been a Republican? And it’s irrelevant whether Boehner is TP or not, or whether other Republicans are TP or not. They are all threatened and held hostage by this fringe group. How many have lost primaries by someone much further to the right? How many have been targeted for compromising with the Democratcs? You’re being dishonest here.
I have a hard explaining what they are.
Such as?
We’d have medicare for all, tax cuts for the middle class, tax increases for the 1%, and a bailout for Main Street if that were true.
Medicare for all was never proposed by Democrats in Congress. If you haven’t looked at the numbers, understand that Medicare for the present recipients is financially unsustainable. The Democrats maintained the Bush tax cuts when they were in control of the Congress. What would a bailout for “Mainstreet” mean?
Liz you need a reality check many of us are already working 2-3 jobs, getting paid crappy, plus paying very high insurance premiums with high deductibles. President Obama had control of the House and Senate his first two years and things have gone from bad to worse. Thank goodness for the tea party for stopping some of the madness.
You hate paying sky-high premiums with high deductibles to a for-profit insurance company, yet you cheerlead for the Tea Party, which hopes to kill Obamacare…
Tea-partiers and other members of Congress who are in the back pockets of mega-corporations.
” Tea partiers” hope to elect Paul. Modern day republicans want Romney,
Pointing the finger and placing blame isn’t going to get you anywhere except feeling justified.
Good editorial.
Almost all the administrations of past Presidents
at least talked about people becoming self-sufficient
and to not be dependant on handouts. Not so with this
group. They do their best to get more people to be dependant
on govt handouts. They even advertise how wonderful food stamps
will be and one dept gives awards for signing up the most people.
Darn it, no one would be what they are today if it wasn’t for the
govt making us what we are.
Maine’s Middle Class has been dying for over 30 years. Once the textile, shoe and paper factories started to close and move out of Maine. Maine is finished. Now the college educated young have been leaving the state in droves for over 20 years. Really nothing left in Maine except the Old, the Uneducated, the Poor and Disabled on the Government Dole. No company will ever relocate here, unless oil is discovered in the Gulf of Maine.
Taxes have not been lower in 50 years for the so-called job creators and yet unemployment has not been higher for so long in 50 years. The Republican trickle down plan is not working.
And capital gains hasn’t been lower in almost 80 years.
Taxes have not been lower for any class. A family of four making $40,000 paid federal income taxed of $1924 in 2001. In 2010 they paid no income tax and received check forf $2523 for a cut of $4447. It is not trickle down. The answer is to raise taxes?
hamburger is 4.29 a lbs, it’s pretty bad when you can’t afford that.
You mean your not on food stamps? What’s wrong with you; all you got to do is apply; besides, it stimulates the economy of the state which is what Obama expects of you (but you’re expected to vote for him).
Food Stamps are not Obama’s invention, neither is EIC, I have lived, in 1 of the poorest, most Republican parts of the state, we have just move to 1 of the more liberal parts of the state. Care to guess which area is using more food stamps?
Remember when lobster was considered a luxury?
“is maine’s middle class dying” ….
ya don’t say?
decades of democratic social programs that pay the lazy to leech off the working, decades of higher and higher taxes, more regulations, and less industry, and an influx of people that come here just for the welfare benefits. That is what has destroyed this once great state and once great nation.
we produce next to nothing here anymore, our leaders tear down existing renewable energy in favor of failing wind projects. they increase taxes and drive the next generation out of the state.
the “brain drain” that we’ve heard about for so long, our educated youngsters seeking a better more profitable life elsewhere.
so yeah, the middle class is shrinking, in fact, there’s not much left of it at all.
now all we have in this state is the retail or service sector, selling cheap junk made in china or mass produced.
thank our leaders for bringing us here, and thank yourself for electing corrupt morons.
If the only part of the conversation is about blaming the receivers of public assistance then we will never progress. There is a new world economy, and we have to adapt. The manufacturing jobs we lost overseas aren’t coming back because the owners/stockholders line their pockets more with cheaper overseas labor. Technology is a genie that is not going back in its bottle. If ranting about people on public assistance makes you feel better, go ahead. But it accomplishes nothing.
The middle class of the 50’s and 60’s was totally different than today’s so-called middle class. Then the middle class was very indepentent, both in mind and occupation. In the those days work was everywhere, and changing jobs was common, and for the most part upward. The middle class was also very proud, and the people were not afraid to speak their minds, they were much more educated in many ways than college people of today. But, this is important, they were not hampered by regulations of any kind. The towns had no real power over anybody’s land or life. It would take 150,000. 00 a year now, to be able to be anything like the middle class of the 60’s.
The 60’s was the year my family moved out of Maine for the very same reasons that are mentioned here in the comments today. Low paying jobs and living hand to mouth year after year. We were not on food stamps or any other assistance, worked hard at our jobs and still could not get ahead or even just stay even. Work may have been everywhere but the jobs paid peanuts, no benefits, slave wages. Higher wages, and lower costs of living out of state, are what gets a family ahead in the rat race. Many families are finding that out.
This is nothing compared to what is to come.
I fear you are right. Learn to grow your own food. Be prepared for a life of constant siege.
Hopefully we can afford to pay our ever-increasing property taxes so we can keep our land to grow the food on. The deck is stacking against us.
to the girl in the picture, laura, i would most likely want you to be my future girlfriend
“It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.”
Stop! First off, get married unwed Mom. Second of all, marry a man that you feel will be a provider for your offspring. Stop laying down and fight!
We have a lady in our neighborhood with 6 kids, 4 different dads, receives section 8 housing (she needed a large house). I’m sure she receives food and fuel assistance. The adorable children run from neighbors house to neighbors house never looking before they cross the street. Yes these types of families have always been around, but they are now becoming the norm.
As long as people stop any market based attempt to create wealth of course it is an attack on the middle class. You lefties are the problem.
You are way off on this. Creating wealth is one thing- but the wealth is being stored off-shore and part of it not circulating back into the economy. It ain’t tricklin’ down.
Perhaps the question you should ask is “Why is that so?”
Because those advocating for those tax cuts/breaks/etc are dishonest when they say they’ll create jobs and invest in the country if we lower taxes/offer tax holidays.
That may answer some other question but it is not an answer to the question I posed.
Your question was why trickle down doesn’t work and my answer fits.
No The question was why is wealth being stored offshore. ..
Because those advocating for those tax cuts/breaks/etc are dishonest when they say they’ll create jobs and invest in the country if we lower taxes/offer tax holidays. There is always some place that will have lower taxes than us. It’s about putting profit above all else. It’s the me-me-me attitude.
Yep, there is always somewhere where taxes are lower… that’s true… but ….Does it have to be everywhere?
You’re right. It is a good question. My fear is the answer.
And please don’t tell me about it would hurt the mega-corporations to employ here.
We don’t need to cry if the CEO has one less house in the Cayman Islands.
Like what? failed Bush tax cuts? Freedom to send money and jobs overseas? That’s the attack on the middle class. Concentrating wealth into the hands of a few is the attack on the middle class. I know it makes you feel good to launch a stupid and sweeping attacks on people you disagree with, but it’s not reality.
Great picture, ever notice that most that cant pay their bills and need assistance and cant find work somehow have no problem finding the tattoo parlor and seem to have the funds to pay for them very strange dont you think
Yes. Maine’s middle class is vanishing. We’ve created a system throughout the country of dependence on the government. The government is broke. All of the wealth of the 1% could simply taken by the government(s) and nothing would change. Our national government has created a country where it’s cheaper to produce products overseas than domestically. Our national government has left us dependent on foreign countries for energy.
How did we get here?
The middle class is not just dying, it is being killed off intentionally by State and Federal Governments! When the middle class is gone, so is America and all it once stood for!
The middle class is dying and it is not by accident. The middle class only existed as a direct result of the application of controls over the financial industry and through the existence of organized labor. As these have been systematically weakened, inequality has risen and the middle class is where this is most visible.
For four decades the wealthiest people in the world have organized to apply pressure to our system of government so they might realize their ideal future state: weak labor, low taxes, control of the legislature, an absence of regulation and complete control over the popular media. In this effort they have succeeded. Promised as a path to prosperity, it is in truth a devils bargain. Only the few prosper while the masses are abandoned as weak and lazy. Do not trust anyone who speaks of your countrymen this way. Americans are the most productive workers in the world, bar none.
There is no conspiracy theory underlying all of this. We can plainly see there are dozens of think tanks that develop policy and messaging. This is the heart of the destructive effort. These groups all work from different angles to affect policy and public opinion. They are skilled above all at manipulating the emotions of people.
We are now seeing the end game. When the efforts to reduce access to the polls started, it was clear to anyone who understands US history and the gilded age, that this is a critical piece of the plan for corporate and aristocratic dominance. Similarly, the attack on public education plays a comparable role in assuring that the future electorate will be skilled enough for labor but unable to think critically and thereby will be easier to control.
The attack on what made this nation the greatest success story in modern history is not uniquely an American experience. Simultaneously, technocrats have been seated in major European countries in place of democratically elected leaders. Democracy is inconvenient for these elites. They are certain that unimpeded, they can bring about the best possible world, for themselves. The rest of us are unruly mobs to them and as such, we need the control they will impose upon us. They feel allegiance only to whomever aids and abets their tax avoidance.
In the name of “free-market capitalism” the American people are being sold non-competitive markets in disguise as capitalism. AS the deregulation continues, notice the number of start up businesses dropping. Opportunity for the masses represents competition and lower profits for the elite. This is why nobody is really working hard for the small businesses. They want to close the door and ensure their station, at the top of the ladder, without risk of loss or new entrants.
In the coming months and years, we will see the other hallmarks of rule by the elites. These will include: reduced social safety nets, reduced infrastructure, lower quality education, increased surveillance, elimination of liberties such as freedom of assembly and speech, and ultimately, reduced efficacy of elected government. This has all been done before. We were all taught about lassez faire in school and nobody recognized it when it reared it head in our politics.
Unless we get very active we are going to join the ranks of fallen empires before us and the decay we witness will make the America we grew up in unrecognizable in just a few years time. We are not facing a choice between punishing success and rewarding laziness. That is coded messaging from the elite to your brain. Our choice is between re-arming ourselves with the tools of civic life and creating the change that serves us best OR letting the elites take the last of what our forefathers struggled and toiled for decades and centuries to bestow upon us. Don’t buy the poisonous false choices. They are designed to make you destroy your own future. The stakes have never been higher and our children are counting on us to do the right thing. It is time to get very focused and take our country back. It hasn’t been stolen by the poor, it has been stolen by the rich and their hunger is not yet sated. As long as there are any remaining tranches of wealth, be they public or private, they are not done.
If we do not take our government back through diligent civic engagement, we will have to fight for independence once again. Tyranny cannot stand; not on this land, not against the progeny of the patriots who freed us from the crown. The loss of the American middle class is the loss of all that made us great and proud and the envy of the world.