PORTLAND, Maine — Maine has lost 10,000 jobs since 2001 because of U.S. trade with China, according to a study released this week by a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
Since 2001, the year China joined the World Trade Organization, “the extraordinary growth of trade between China and the United States has had a dramatic effect on U.S. workers and the domestic economy, though in neither case has this effect been beneficial,” according to the study, titled “The China Toll.”
The study’s author is the Economic Policy Institute, which describes itself as a “non-profit, non-partisan think tank.” It released the study on Tuesday.
The institute concludes that Maine had 12,400 jobs lost or displaced because of increased consumption of imports from China since 2001. However, the state also gained jobs, about 2,400, because of increased exports to China, which yields the net figure of 10,000 lost jobs. That figure represents 1.52 percent of the state’s total employment of 656,400, ranking it 32nd among all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, according to the study.
The United States has increased its imports for consumption from China from $102.1 billion in 2001 to $398.5 billion in 2011, while at the same time only increasing domestic exports to China from $18 billion in 2001 to $96.9 billion in 2011. That created a trade deficit in 2011 of $301.6 billion. Nationally, that trade deficit with China eliminated or displaced more than 2.7 million U.S. jobs between 2001 and 2011, according to the study.
The majority of lost jobs — more than 2.1 million of them — were in the manufacturing sectors. The hardest-hit sector within manufacturing was the computer and electronic products, which the EPI estimates has lost 1,064,800 jobs between 2001 and 2011, roughly 38.8 percent of the total number of lost jobs.
Maine is no stranger to the electronics manufacturing sector. South Portland is home to semiconductor manufacturing plants owned by National Semiconductor and Fairchild Semiconductor. Fairchild, which was headquartered in South Portland until it moved its headquarters to Silicon Valley last year, still employs 800 people in Maine. National Semiconductor, which was purchased by Texas Instruments last year, still employs about 550 people at its South Portland plant, according to BusinessWeek.
While Maine was among the less hard hit at 32nd, the state’s western neighbor topped the list of the hardest-hit states. New Hampshire experienced 20,400 jobs lost or displaced, equal to 2.94 percent of the state’s total employment, according to the study.
The think tank based its study on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. International Trade Commission and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Oh, so now we all know where the wealthy job creators are investing their tax cuts,
so where all these promised jobs are being created.
Please, GOP’ers, wake up and stop supporting the corrupt corporate system! Big business will steal your job and put it it in another country as soon as it is profitable.
Romney sold out American jobs to get rich.
Get your facts straight, follow the trail on job losses and taxes and it will lead you to Osham-a.
Oh sure. Like he’s been running the country for the past 20 years. Outsourcing manufacturing jobs to countries with more lenient labor and environmental laws has been going on for decades.
Jobs have increased “in America” and taxes have “decreased” for Americans since President Obama took over 40 months ago. At the same time, with the passing of the jobs bill, the highway transportation bill and the expiration of the tax loopholes for the rich this year, the United States is headed for an unprecedented period of economic growth which will rival FDR’s Worker’s Conservation Corp (WCC) of the 1930’s, and the Republicans know it. Yee Hah! As a Republican myself, I am pleased with the results of my having voted for The President last election, over McCain / Palin, and I fully intend to vote for Barack again this election, and urge every sane and insane person to do the same. In my view, the choice is obvious.
“Jobs have increased “in America” and taxes have “decreased” for Americans since President Obama took over 40 months ago”
“Did you miss the part about the Bush 2nd Great Depression?
Exactly. And, despite the economic impact of G.W. looting our treasury for the Federal Reserve Banksters, big insurance and big oil, President Obama has been able to substantially reverse the crash and is set, with the above passage of the legislation I mentioned, to pull us out, swiftly, of Bush II’s thievery and treasonous attack on our people and those unfortunates in Iraq, Afghanistan and too many other places around the world who are opting out of THE BAD DEAL with America, whatever it is or was. Noriega was set to continue, without sharing it any longer with G.H.W. Bush’s CIA, his own drug trafficking into the U.S. and he suffered “regime change”. President Saddam Hussein was also opting out of THE BAD DEAL with America and began trading his oil for anything BUT American dollars. He suffered an illegal, U.S. led attack on his people, land and a subsequent “regime change”. President Mohammar Khadafi, one of the most popular leaders in Africa, who built schools, provided free healthcare and was an advocate for women and children’s rights, suffered the same illegal fate by opting out of THE BAD DEAL with America. Why do we, as Americans, celebrate our 4th of July, 1776, independence from THE BAD DEAL we were suffering under with English and British oppressors, but deny it to others who are, in modern times, attempting to rid themselves of their own BAD DEAL? I believe we have become too addicted to PROFITS AND ANY COST AND BY ANY MEANS, even when our addiction leads us to behaving illegally. When confronted, the best our so-called leaders can say is, well, “might makes right”. But, they’re wrong.
I believe GW Bush was in charge from Jan 2001 to Jan 2009 but Obama is still responsible for those years too?
Wake up and realize it is the Republican Party that is mainly responsible for the off shoring of jobs. It was the Republican’s in the Senate that filibustered a law that would have given tax breaks to companies that brought jobs back to the US and took away tax breaks for companies that off shored or sent jobs overseas.
People are in business to make money, not support charity. Thank your unions for the inflated wages in this country to uneducated people. Everyone is for fair wages, but $30 per hour to turn a bolt that you could train a monkey to do is not profitable.
Inflated wages result in an inflated economy making everything cost more for all. If you could make a 10% profit paying union wages, or double your money outsourcing it, what would you do?
Romney didn’t do anything illegal. He’s hired to make money for companies, that’s what he did, and he’s very good at it. Companies wouldn’t hire him if he wasn’t. Why not let him do that for this country instead of keeping a loser like Obama? What exactly is Obama’s claim to fame, amnesty for illegal immigrants, homosexuals, a healthcare plan that will bankrupt those who have to pay for it?
I’d rather have someone leading this country who supports ambitious working people than someone who supports the whiny people who have no ambition for success. It sure is easy to tell who those people are on here.
Yes, Oven Mitt did nothing illegal. Just like me if I were to sell you a car that I knew had a bad transmission and I put a bottle of additive in it to quiet it down long enough to make the sale. Not illegal, but morally and ethically wrong either way. By the way, private union membership is down to 7% in this country. I think that it is okay for you to stop hiding from the scary union monster hiding under your bed. Did you know that the founding fathers of our country were members of the world’s oldest union, the brotherhood of free Masons? lol.
Actually many democratic countries, like Canada and Germany, have very strong unions but also a thriving economy. So that negates your point that unions are the problem.
In fact, the unions have been decimated in the United States over the past few decades, and it is sad that people still believe unions are the problem when then are far weaker than they used to be.
Perhaps, as you say, Romney didn’t do anything illegal but — taking jobs away from Americans and giving them to China, a godless police state, for your own benefit and to the detriment of your own country, is highly unethical.
I understand that you feel Americans have “no ambition for success.” But would you say the same thing of Canadians, who have strong unions and also a very strong welfare net?
You should be criticizing the corruption at the top, not blaming the US people.
absolutely right! I agree, as a business owner myself, it is all about the money.
However, I think what SD was trying to say (listen up over the party tag words) and you’ll hear:
trickle down was exported to China.
Can we support entrepreneurs also? Can we find a way to do it that doesn’t involve a strategy (trickle down) that is no longer relevant?
I sure hope so.
I haven’t seen a strong union base in Maine. How do you explain so many jobs leaving State? Sending jobs to our Communist Bedfellows is really stupid, greedy business practice! They gave away their customer’s jobs . Where’s the sense in that? As far as the”train a monkey” comment, maybe you would like to match skills with me! I was 1 of those “monkeys” for 45 years. We used to have a saying that The ability to make and use tools was the difference between man and monkeys. Humans that couldn’t use tools were considered Talking Monkeys. I see a lot of them leading businesses now.
Ditto. I agree.
First of all there is a big difference between installing the same bolt day after day in Detroit for inflated union wages. You sound like you may have been a mechanic, and there is a huge difference.
Jobs leave this state because of taxes and the high cost of doing business here.
No…First of all I did work in a UAW-GM plant for a whole lot of years. While I was there, there were 5000 employees in that 1 plant. Now there are about 300. I was a Tool and Die Maker,not a mechanic. I also did time on the assembly line. I have nothing but respect for those I worked with. First level managers were paid 25% more than their top paid man. General Supervisors made another 25% over that. As hourly, we were paid at a rate competitive with other industry in the area. Does that sound like the union wages were the problem to you. I can see why fair wages would be a problem to you because of your attitude. I know you don’t have enough money for me to work for you.
I see your point. In other words, you’re of saying that if I were also a “hit man” and shot up my businesses competition so that my profits would increase, and I was “good” at it, then that would be O.K.? I mean, wouldn’t I be an “ambitious” working person and, certainly, no whiner. … Think again. You can do it. The flip side of profit seeking and success is redistributing (trickle down) profits as fair and reasonable wages to workers (not illegals) and for purchase of goods and services “within” our community, and not from oversees suppliers who exploit cheap or child labor to provide these. Romney wants to do none of these “for his country”. He has offshored all of it. He has sold or transferred businesses to China and other places and deposited his profits from Bain and elsewhere offshore in the Bahamas, Caymans and Switzerland. Go figure.
If you do not pay your employee’s a living wage then eventually they will not be able to buy your imported crap no matter how cheap it is. The idealized American company wants a product that all humans must have to survive, costs nothing to make, and sells for an infinite amount of money.
Think about it, Bain hired him to make money for them, and he made them millions. He did what he was paid for. That doesn’t mean if we hire him that’s the route he has to go. We would hire him to bring this country out of the hole. He would have a much better shot than Obama who has no business experience at all.
As far as hit men go, if you’re going to do something, be the best. It’s really not that difficult from about 800 yds.
You’re got a point there, Celer … Mortalis, but Romney has already stated his plan and shored that up with the extremist, Ryan. In this case, doing it better or best, is worse.
What do YOU call ambitious people?
Those in China who lock people up in factories and string suicide nets to keep them from jumping to their death?
There is a big difference between Greed and Apathy / Versus a work ethic!
Unions Balance that equation!
Ambitious people strive for success, not sit back and think it’s going to knock on their door. They probably didn’t spend their education years stoned or knocked up. Those are the people we are paying for now. Unions were useful many years ago when working conditions and safety was poor. With OSHA there is no need for unions these days.
Greed? Greed is wanting to take care of your family “first” instead of with what the government leaves you after they take care of others first?
“Unions were useful many years ago when working conditions and safety was poor. With OSHA there is no need for unions these days. ”
Thats like saying we won WWll we dont’t need an army anymore after all we have the United Nations!
As Theordore Roosevelt put it!
” Capital is allowed to oragnize , so should labor!”
Pack your bags and Move to China!
We really don’t want Communist Sympathizers in America!
Or haven’t you heard of Allen West?
Liberals fit the communist agenda. Redistribution of wealth is the liberal way. Do you even know what communism is?
” Redistribution of Wealth” is a Fascist Capitalist Agenda,”
Stack the deck with Politicians / Ideological Propagandist so corporations can write their own laws to exploit the masses and Rob them Blind!
And it is working as planned, the proof is in the pudding , just look at the change in the income disparity in the last two decades!
Jesus H Christ are you Romney’s speech writer? $30 an hour is $1,200 a 40 hour week. 52 X 1,200 $62,400 which in today’s society is lower middle class.
I would like to have you tell me where the job of “turning a nut (or as you said bolt)for these wages exists. Been working (with my hands like a “monkey’) all my life and never came across the job you describe.
Now the real useless job is buying companies, laying people off, selling the property, and turning a profit that way. Those people (of course) would not answer the phone for $60 K a year.
If he is Romney’s speech writer then he needs to go back to school for a remedial course in grammar and spelling. Good grief!
You’re in the wrong state for those union jobs. Hit Detroit. But it still affects everyone.
Unions are good and needed. Why should I work for free? I want just as big a profit from my work? Why should I go with out and shame myself with handouts so people can kick me and call me lazy; Why would some one go to work if they get more on welfare that would be dum just plain dum. Fork up the bucks and people will be knocking the door down for jobs.
Anonymous bad-mouthing, wasn’t that your complaint on another article?
Bill Clinton, Democrat, gave China favored nation status. That was the opening for US jobs moving to China. If you do some research I think you will find that the Democrats and the Republicans are fairly equally responsible for the exodus of US jobs.
Romney didn’t sell out American jobs to get rich. He was already rich. Romney did his job which was to make his company profitable. As far as anyone knows at this point, Romney has broken no laws. It would be nice if the anti-Romney contingent would focus on something other than his wealth and the rate of income tax he paid. Neither of those should be campaign issues or reasons to vote against him. If you want to vote against a candidate, vote against his platform on an issue related to government, not on a personal issue you have with the candidate. Your issue with Romney is really no different than the anti-Obama contingent’s issue with Obama’s birth certificate and education credentials.
The problem with your thesis is that, unlike Obama, Mr. Romney has an addiction to wealth and power that taints all that he has done and everything that he will ever do. He is a sociopath, a wolf in sheep’s clothing (or whatever the Mormons wear) who’s father was born in Mexico, but thought it proper to also run for President of the United States at the time. You’d remember him as George Romney. The same George Romney who released 20 years, more or less, of his tax returns in his run for the Presidency. As compared to his son Willard “Mitt” Romney’s 2 years. One thing I have come to learn the past half century is that whether the person is richer or poorer, when they’re wrong, they’re wrong. And, the Romneys are not only really rich, but they’re also really wrong. Unfortunately, the Romneys have allowed themselves to become too rich. So rich that it is, despite their delusional Mormon smokescreen they all want us to buy into, a distracting addiction they want every other American to enable or become co-dependant. What a bunch of maroons! These mexican mormon’s think Americans are really stupid. Don’t they? I say go to where you’ve secreted your profits and live there in the Bahamas, Caymans or, even, join George Bush at his 100,000 acre hideaway in Paraguay.
Romney sold out American jobs to get RICHER.
He puts more worth on his gaining wealth then on making American stronger.
clinton, a democrat, signed nafta. thereby eneabling companies to send jobs to canada and mexico.
it’s both parties that have done this.
H.Ross Perot is the person who talked about NAFTA. He said the “Swishing sound being heard was USA jobs leaving the country if NAFTA was signed.” Clinton won that election. He signed the treaty and USA jobs have flown overseas. Party affiliates do not matter in this, we are all in this mess together. If this country could put political views behind, then we could concentrate on creating jobs here. Remember, the foreign countries do not have unions. Unions were once a great benefit but time has come to dismantle them. The unions are part of this problem.
“remember, the foreign countries do not have unions”
Are you serious? Really?
European countries not only have unions, but strong, thriving unions.
You need to stop just making stuff up, it’s really quite easy to get the facts.
Though I know from your posts that you never let the facts get in the way of your rants.
http://www.epi.org/publication/webfeatures_snapshots_20070620/
The last I knew was China and Viet Nam had no unions. Your website is factual but out dated.
Nice try at deflection, because that is NOT what you said and NOT what I was responding to.
Your quote, not just in the above post, but in other of your posts, states very clearly that “foreign countries do not have unions”.
That statement is TOTALLY untrue.
Indeed almost ALL western industrialized countries have STRONG, THRIVING, UNIONS.
Again these facts are easily accessed if you have any interest in accuracy.
But I see that accuracy is not a high priority with you.
But again, nice try at deflection.
Yeah, Ross Perot had what it took … credibility. I blew it by not voting for him, too.
Actually Perot was the reason Clinton became President. Perot took many Republican votes.
He may have signed it but it was voted in veto proof during the Bush years with a Republican Majority.
It was all but done and Clinton at least Injected safegaurds before he signed the inevitable into law.
There was a lot of smoke and mirrors in those days about the effects of this treaty, some Democrats bought into it !
I distinctively recall Republican Michigan Senators throwing statistics around about the amount of exports out numbering imports.
As it turned out the exports where raw material and the imports where finished goods. Thus the unprecedented job losses!
Don’t forget the fact that the foreign mfrs. do not have unions. Unions in USA are a large part of this problem. Unions were a great benefit many years ago but now aid in hindering the jobless problem here. In China I believe it is called “Cheap Labor”.
So move your business to China and work there! So-called business whine about the unions and labor..until the next war and those same unions come through and tool this country up to win. Maybe they can ask China to do that for them the next time we fight a war-for profit.
I have retired friends who were in NJ electrical unions their entire working careers and they are not too happy at being told they had to start paying $500. each per month towards their health ins. How do you explain that?
Stop and think for a moment about Communism!
We fought it tooth and nail from the 60’s through the Nineties!
Now it is embraced by those who want “CHEAP” labor!
It never was about FREEDOM, it was all about fearing the effects of a government that would take their money making racket away from them to protect the masses!
American Corporate Fascism won the war against Communism, they just offered the Communist leaders a slice of the Racketeering Scheme!!
Your buddy Baldy and a bunch of other Maine Democrats went to China on a Taxpayer funded junket around this time. Didn’t hear you crying then?
This is great we keep giving big business all the tax breaks and they keep creating more jobs over seas and laughing at the people paying the taxes that support them and the lawmakers keep getting donations and super pac money from them to stay elected so they can give even more tax breaks and donations to them.
and you have a business at all, or do you just collect food stamps and complain
I would think that you would be glad that someone collecting “:foodstamps” is Ticked Off at the giveaway of jobs and Tax Revenue!
You know, alot of foodstamp recipiants “Want to Work” !
They just won’t let them!
They would rather make an extra buck then to support this country!
“You know, alot of foodstamp recipiants “Want to Work” !
__________________________________________
No doubt, but remember a lot of them do not want to work (nor will they ever).
Having worked in the business world involving foreign trade and having seen the destruction on this state’s economy by Nafta, I say raise the tariffs to protect American industry. That and making sure corporations can compete IN the US is how you get jobs back. When the television can be made in Mexico and brought across the border with no or virtually no duty/mpf, what else would have happened? The Magnavox will now be made in Mexico….or now China or wherever else.
It irritated me to no end to see the canadian fishermen outraged at the US lobster going to Canada. They send millions of dollars worth of lobster through Maine borders (and used to come in on the Blue Nose in Bar Harbor), and they didn’t seem to have a problem with that. It was one of the most hypocritical acts I have ever seen.
And to you, those are the only choices! Soon it will be if bosses who arn’t smart enough to make their companies profitable keep giving jobs away.
And you have a business or do you collect food stamps?
Here is a question for you: How many small businesses in maine rely on inexpensive imported products? What if everything was 2x-10x more expensive? How would that impact small business?
Their customers would be making a living wage and thus could pay more for the product your small business manufactures. It is a symbiotic economic ideal which unfortunately doesn’t jive with the “greed at all costs” mentality that is wreaking the world economy and put so many Americans out of work.
there would probably be less small business then there is now.but how many big business would still be selling 2x or 10x more expensive products that is made by the cheap labor they hired in the first place by outsourceing our jobs that they got the tax breaks for in the first place
moosehead mfg one of those…
Many American companies are actually multi-national corporations. This is not news to me, nor that they find other ways to expand their profits even while the rest of us struggle. The problem is not even profit, but greed. Executives of multi-nationals laugh at the American people all the way to the foreign bank.
“Executives of multi-nationals laugh at the American people all the way to the foreign bank.”
With Mitt Romney leading the Parade waving the Baton to the drumbeat!
do you really think obama is better. REALLY. are you better off now than you where 4 yrs ago?
I for one are tired of the dead beats, get a life, get a job, start contributing, instead of take take take. I have NO MORE TO GIVE.
Yes. Clearly after the worst ecoonomic collapse since 1929, the most productive policy would be to label the poor as parasites. There are more of them now so they make an easier target.
Yes! I am MUCH better off than I was four years ago!
I couldn’t Buy a job in 2008!
I have NO MORE TO GIVE
Work overtime!
Thats what I did!
The banks play dirty. Everyone knows it. Banks get their orders from the feds. Feds get their orders from the top. Top gets his orders from big money puppeteers. And unions are out dated. Very serious when you stop and think about all of this. And we the People, get screwed.
The list of Obama’s sorry investment losses goes into the billions and has resulted in a meager few jobs.
And Mitt Romney’s inevitable turn around profits will just go into billions in foriegn bank tax havens!
And there will “still” be no good paying jobs!
If it costs 100 dollars to make a shoe in Maine, and the shoe can be made for 10 dollars in china, we save 90 dollars buying it from china. What are we going to do with that 90 dollars? Spend it! So not only do we get the inexpensive shoe, we also get that 90 saved dollars going back into the economy. Outsourcing boosts productivity and makes us wealthier and creates jobs.
Manufacturing also produces a lot of pollution. We outsource that as well. Maine has some nice air and water compared to china. This certainty helps tourism I bet.
That is the false economy of the international elite.
You pay $100 dollars because the people who make the shoes in Maine expect to be paid enough to buy the shoes they make and live in same healthy environment as their bosses.
But can the rural Chinese workers, from their version of place like Maine, their economic backwaters, buy what they make ?
No, and shoemakers and their unskilled children in Maine, on welfare, have you whining elsewhere, because not paying them a living wage costs you in lots of other ways.
But, it is free country and while I do not respect it, I support your right to support the international elite exploiting the Chinese, who are building your Walmart economy, not their own, nor mine.
Get real.
I’m tired of faith based . but wrong conservative points of view going unquestioned.
But hey, I just saying questioning the the fool’s and tool’s logic in the ballot box,
as you think fine, Willard Romney only pays 13 % in income tax, but what do I pay
and get for it ?
I ‘m saying if |I make more since to your personal economy than the international elitist apoligist does, vote King and otherwise blue, unless any RINOs , like Sen. Snowe, might have gotten on the red side, this year.
Obviously you aren’t a business owner. If you’re going to be successful in 2012 you have to look at it as a world economy not a US economy. The US economy has changed it’s focus on supporting those that contribute nothing, instead of ambitious people striving for success.
Romney paid closer to 14% which comes out to be about 3 million dollars in taxes. How much should one person have to pay when almost 1/2 the population pays nothing anyway? How much did you pay?
An average working person with a house and a couple brats, after deductions, probably pays $2K to $3K or less. That’s a long way from 3 million dollars.
What condition do people expect the economy to be in when such a large portion of the population pays nothing, and another portion pays nothing, yet still get a tax refund through earned income credit? There is no way that it can work, and eventually will catch up with us. I’d that day is now, and we certainly don’t need someone like Obama who has no clue or experience running a business, leading us around in circles with no direction other than redistribution of wealth.
I Paid 20% of my wages in taxes and made a lot less then he did. Half of the country do pay taxes, Not federal income tax, because they do not have enough income. But they pay other taxes.
So how do you feel about the people who paid no taxes, plus got a tax refund of more than was even withheld (if any) in the first place? They got part of what could have come back to you.
“…An average working person with a house and a couple brats, after deductions, probably pays $2K to $3K or less. That’s a long way from 3 million dollars…”
That statement shows just how wrong you are.
Romney made $40 million dollars last year while proclaiming that he was “unemployed” like a lot of Americans. Even after Romney paid $3 million in taxes he still had $37 million that he did nothing to earn but sit next to the pool sipping cool drinks. Meanwhile hardworking “average” American’s went to work everyday to scrape by even though they “only” paid a measly $2000 or $3000 intaxes. That is a lot harder to live by then Romney lounging by the pool letting the money pour in faster then the help can keep his drink full.
Not to mention that he has taken a lot of cash out of the American Economy and stashed it in foreign banks to pay even less in taxes.
He made 20 million, not 40.
So why wouldn’t we want to hire someone to lead this country who knows how to make that kind of money?
Also did he break the law?
Now I feel sorry for Mitt because he only made $20 million sitting by the pool sipping cold drinks.
Mitt made his money buying up companies, some in financial trouble some not, and chopped the majority of them up and sold off the their assets for cash and then shipped the remaining jobs overseas. No. it wasn’t illegal but I’ll bet the vast majority of American’s would call it immoral to destroy lives and communities just to make money.
Why would someone making $20 million a year doing nothing want to be President?
Don’t say it is because he feels a need to serve this country, either. It is to make sure he pays even less in taxes that he already does. He has endorsed Ryan’s budget plan which would , miracuously cut his taxes to less than 1% (no taxes on deferred income, dividends and interest) while increasing the tax rate on people making less than $30,000 a year.
Is that the kind of man we want running this country?
That statement shows just how wrong you are.
The referance to—-
“…An average working person with a house and a couple brats,
Made me think —-Sociopath!
Your Logic is Blinded by Greed!
Those “Bush Tax Cuts” are why those people pay “NO” Taxes!
Millionaires pay nothing on that same initial amount as those who pay nothing!
It’s a progressive tax code because the millionaires income is exponential of that base.
If you had a hardware store in a town where that shoe manufacturer was, you would have a big drop in customers when the plant closed. The tax base of that town and the State would also go down. Unemployed workers don’t spend a lot of money. Especially since Chris Rector and the Repubs changed the unemployment rules. You have to realize that we are all in this together. We all are intertwined and when one falls, we all fall.
Yeah definately, Chris Rector is out to screw over the working man for sure!
Every time I hear of of Chris Rector I think of the Story of the kid in the bicycle accident!
Chris Rectum?
Heck,– nearly Killedum!
They save about 60% not 900% nice try. You put a shoe factory worker out of work and you expect them to buy your shoes he used to make to feed his family of 4. Now he is on welfare and the taxbase takes up the expense of this person and his family…. Pluse there are mental issues that happen to people who cannot find work for years… Bill Clintone sign nafta full knowing that the factories his friends own would move overseas . The taxpayers(employees) we lost along with the jobs has damaged this country beyond repair.. I hope you don’t have to feed your grandchild formula made in china. )-:
Communist thinking.
” What are we going to do with that 90 dollars? “”
Thats where your theory falls apart!
We don’t get the 90 dollars , we save 20 and the Corporation gets to stuff 70 in a foriegn banks!
lets see, who was Gov. when this started. Oh could it be angus king. good to know where the jobs went.
Lets vote him in again, china didn’t get all of our jobs the first time, but king sure did rake in the dough.
You know nothing, This is national trade policy, not State. This was Congress and the President.
you can’t blame the GOP. remember, the demercrats have ruled this state for the last 25 yrs at least, till lepage,. Place blame where it belongs, Baldacci, King, brennen, need i say more.
You seem to believe that State governments had some control over national trade policies that helped move these jobs overseas. Short of adopting China’s labor and environmental laws and racing them to the bottom of the food chain, there was scant little any state policy makers could do to stop the bleeding.
McKernan, King ( independent) plus Lepage equals 18 years without a democrat governor.
Jock is a D with an R beside his name. King is a D with an I beside his name. Lepage is the only truly conservative governor in the past 40 years, at least.
In todays standard the only true Republican would have been Adolf!
LOL
Mainers will always do well relative to most other states, regardless of whether or not it is represented by democrats, republicans or independents, or whatever, because Mainers can, as long as we have reasonable access to water, food, shelter and energy (which Maine has plenty of), will get by and, even, prosper in our many communities. On the whole, the people mentioned have had very little, if any, impact on anyone except those who “hung around” with them in Augusta, and there is nothing these people have ever done that someone else can’t undo, if it was or is harmful today. That’s the beauty of our system of laws and government, where THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE (including the weak), at any given time and subject to a sober review by the courts, IS THE LAW. Get any 40 people together in any community and they will make the law for everyone else, which can be both good or bad for everyone else. So, you always need to be paying close attention to such gatherings and to not simply walk or drive by. Stop, listen and, if its important to you, stay and participate. Or, if its not important to you and NOT a dangerous threat, then continue on your way. But, do pay attention, because it is that easy to make or change the law. Baldacci, King, Brennan and Lepage got elected by organizing similar groups to change or make laws accordingly and they were also subsequently retired or replaced through the law and similar organizations. It is always just that easy. No guns. No violence. Just talk by enough interested citizens guided by the rule of law.
What where all these republicans representatives doing all this 25 years of Time?
It sounds to me that they where quite ineffectively sleeping at the wheel and just taking your tax money!
Why would anyone vote for such ineffective representation after all they where there too!
Remember where “free trade” came from. Oh yeah wasn’t that Jimmy carters way of “hope and change” seems like iv’e heard this before.
Man you are Really in a Dark Cave!
Try looking stuff up before you fire from the hip!
It started from Reagan and the Republicans!
Just a small reminder of who has been around all during and voting for this, for the last million years it seems, GOP’ers Snowe and Collins. Just part of the pack that has sold Maine down the river, while looking so concern for Maine. This hit Mainers hard. Then the Great Gov comes along and showers us with insults and harrasment because some of us need a little help. GO OUT AND GET A JOB, the Great Gov hollars, of course I must remind fellow Mainers, our harbors were emptied of processing plants so our summer yachters would not get there boats dirty. It seems Maine leaders would like a whole population in Maine of retirees sitting around checking their portfolios.
We got what we deserve when we let the yuppies lead us towards tourism instead of manufacturing. How is that tourism working out? Other than a handful of the business “owners” it brings part time minimum wage jobs and bumper to bumper traffic in areas that anyone who lives here wouldn’t dream of visiting anymore because of the tourists.
Absolutely No Clue!
Papermaking has been the major Staple of Maines economy for decades.
Plants may have closed and people laid off but look at the gross tonnage of product produced and you will find that those plants and jobs have been mostly replaced by,
Bigger Wider Faster Machinery!
Hard working Mainers always manufactured well made shoes, paper products, lumber and many other products. Now jobs and the Maine economy continues to evaporate.
Maine is the poorest state in the country.
IF a truthful survey could be done one would find that members of CONGRESS are wearing shoes, shirts, ties, suits and dresses NOT manufactured in Maine. Expensive shoes, shirts, ties, suits and dresses manufactured somewhere else, but not from CHINA.
Orthopedic Dr.’s are migrating to Maine as foot problems will be never ending with the poor quality cheap junk from China.
Oh and any plane leaving Europe or the Mid East determined to be a TERRORIST situation is directed to, DO NOT PASS GO, Bangor International Airport.
NOT NYC or DC but Bangor, Maine.
BNAS is closed so Maine, BIW or Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in KITTERY are last on the DC defense priority list.
Bill Clinton signed NAFTA.
That large sucking sound as good jobs go overseas — Ross Perot
Thank you for shopping wal-mart..
The truth about how wal-mart forced companies to move their fatories is avaible on DVD.. I bought a copy. That is why I only went into wal-mart once in 8 years now and didn’t buy a thing. They didn’t have what I NEEDED anyway
Vote for Osham-a again and lose another 10,000. Then he will go apologize to the Chinese that he could not give them more jobs.
That would be Bush in 2001 with a Republican Congress
So do not vote for them
I look forward to voting for the Republican ticket.
In 2009 Obama was in the Middle East when he made the comment apologizing for the “sins of America’. His heritage explains multitudes and anyone who could vote for him has lost their mind.
Last I heard, the count was around 107000 dead. Mostly innocents. I think Mr. Bush and Mr. Chenney have a lot to answer for on their day. How many WMDs were found.
The fact remains that Obama’s heritage is what it is. The fact that Obama actually apologized to the Middle East for the sins of America explains his heritage. Only a fool can not see that.
Is that your connection to China and lost American jobs? Where is the connection? Did you feel hurt reading the Truth about Obama and his apology? Blame everything you want to on former President Bush but the truth is Obama has nearly destroyed the fabric of our country.
The fabric of this country has been permanently damaged by the greedy who sold out American jobs. They did not have the moral right to do that. They have no honor at all1 also by the do-nothing congress who would see this country sink into the mud to get Obama. Good ole boys don’t want a minority in their private club.
The greedy you mention includes GE. Do you recall when Obama got cozy with the head of GE at the start of his presidency? Next we hear GE is opening a plant overseas. I would like to know the reason Jeffrey Immelt made that move as if to avoid paying taxes here and benefits to his employees. So that is classic that the Democrats can play very dirty.
Your implication is that Obama is siding with the Middle East because of his family being non-Christian. Well, he has said several times that he is a Christian. How about the righteous Christian Right pushing a non-Christian for President? A little hypocritical?
One of the most pro-abortion politicians in American history says he is a Christian. Key word is SAYS. Real Christians must do their best to walk the talk.
There you go again.
You can search forever, but you will NEVER find a speech that Obama gave in which he even came close to using the word “apologize” or any other word that would have conveyed an apology.
And your desperate assertion that he “apologized for the “sins of America”, is ludicrous.
Again please search whatever database you want and post the speech in which your President uses the word “apology” or offers an “apology” for anything America has done.
It’s obvious you spend a lot of your time watching Fox News, and drinking in all those lies they spew. Then you go around repeating these lies in order to support your already skewed and unbalanced views.
Again, the facts are out there.
Are you interested in truth?
The original report was on the BBC about Obama and his apology. Assuming is a bad thing to do. I do NOT watch FOX nor NBC. And I prefer not to get into a pissin contest with the likes of you.
A pissin contest?
I don’t think so.
All I am asking is for you to provide proof to your statements.
I think that that’s a reasonable request – you know, just looking for the truth.
So it was on the BBC?
Please provide the link so we can all see that what you claim are facts are actually facts.
You claim that Obama has “apologized for the sins of our country.”
I mean, that’s quite newsworthy and should be EASY to find.
So come on, Hammockbear, support what you say with proof!
Can you or can’t you?
Actually we all know the answer.
Assume what you want. It merely shows your liberal ways.
NYT. June 3 and 4, 2009/ That should help you The speech was made in Egypt.
Gee look a all the childish liberal uninformed responses. Boo hoo hoo blame the GOP whaa Romney did it
Gee look a childish conservative comeback when they have no adult argument.
If it is made in China I do not buy it. This is especially true of dog food, cat
food, baby formula, drywall, and vaccines.
DITTO !! Add the small cans of fruit. Start reading the labels to see where the product is made. It is alarming to see CHINA on what we take for granted. My dog died from that poison from China, that is when I stopped buying anything made in China and I can find what I need that is from the USA easily.
It’s almost sad to hear you people bickering back and forth about which party sent more jobs overseas.
here’s a little heads up though, it was both parties.
take nafta for instance,
NAFTA facilitated companies to send jobs to mexico and canada.
It was drafted by bush sr. (republican)
and signed by clinton (democrat)
neither party has done anything to benefit the people in a very long time.
so go ahead and keep arguing, you’re not going to get anywhere as long as you continue to elect political trash that will continue to destroy this country until we all wake up homeless and jobless on the continent our forefathers conquered.
Good point, lets see who “intends” to fix the problem with real Trade reform rather than more of the same smoke and mirrors tax incentives!
Thank you baldacci and Clinton
The finest attribute of the Republican Party is in it’s ability in convincing the public that all the damage that they have done was all caused by the Democrats!
Kind of like the big brother who stole candy at the grocery store and blamed it on his little brother when it was found by his mother in the shopping bag
Google free trade Reagan and the Bushes!!
your ‘D’ friends don’t have clean hands either…more than enough to go around.
I had to laugh at the first post I saw after reading this article. It said, “Thank you baldacci and Clinton.”
— Because my comment was going to be “Thank you Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger for going to China in 1972 and opening up a wonderful new market for American products.”
You might not remember, but forty years ago when Nixon went to China the American people were led to understand that we were the ones who were going to be the sellers and the Chinese the buyers.
I forget now which political party to which Nixon belonged, but because he tried to get Americans the kind of healthcare that is enjoyed by most of the industrialized world he was probably a Socialist.
The humble Farmer
“I forget now which political party to which Nixon belonged,”
Here is a hint!” I am NOT a CROOK “!
I’ll bet you can tell now!
Hey ho! Time for Mainers to stop shopping at Walmart and either: go back to school or start a business.
“Lack” of Unions in the Foriegn Countries is the Problem!
They allow for the offshoring of jobs and the funneling of outrageous profits to just a few.
Has everyone figured it out? Our government (Democrats AND Republicans) are selling out the country and its working class citizens. They sell us to China, Mexico, and any other Nation with either cheap labor, or the ability to buy our bonds.
Those who argue that small businesses RELY on cheap foreigin goods, my question is who (exactly) are those businesses “Relying on” for customers? If one has no job, usually they have no money. without money, it is hard to be anyone’s customer.
I favor a stiff tarriff on off-shore merchandise, a tightly controled border and a policy of expelling illegal aliens. The U.S. worker is my concern, all others go to the rear of the bus.
the truth is told in your very first paragraph.
Don’t blame anyone but ourselves, our insatiable hunger for cheap crap is to blame.
a lot of truth in that statement.
both major parties share significant blame in our path to “free” but not fair trade policies. not only has it cost countless americans their jobs, but it has caused a very dangerous situation in terms of compromising our national defense capabilites through lessened ability to build defense systems with components manufactured in our country. most of our politicians continue to play the blame game and point fingers at the opposing party. the sadest thing is that too many americans let them get away with it and support their party blindly and loyally in the process. seems like having someone to blame trumps solving problems. we lack real leadership – and until we have it – we will continue to rearrange deck chairs on a sinking ship.
This surprises some of you? Why? China owns a huge portion of the U.S companies. Of course they send the work overseas and get it done for a bowl of rice. Not to mention they work it out with the Federal Government to bring them over here, send them to school for FREE, give them FREE housing, and then send em back to work over there for that same bowl of rice…Quite a racket if you ask me…We are nothing more than sheep waiting for the slaughter.
My wife just lost her job after over 15 years of faithfurl service. The reason that she was “laid off?” cost sutting measures was the excuse. foregin competition. Now she’s on unemployement with a killer resume, and nothing but part time job offers.
Observe that although significant, Maine’s percentage is relatively low at 32nd. Check out NH (and we’re supposed to emulate their politics, taxation, and economy? More like Live Free and Die) and Texas. See what Bush economics does for his home state?
And it is 1%ers like Romney, Bain, Dexter Shoe, etc. that took their profits earned on the backs of Maine & American workers and moved those jobs. How do you think Alfond got all his money?! Sold out to HH Brown (Warren Buffet) for $400 million who then moved the jobs. Alfond got HIS!