AUGUSTA, Maine — If voters approve the Question 4 bond request on the Nov. 6 ballot, the state’s planned road and bridge work will benefit from an injection of money, resulting in more work being completed, according to Department of Transportation spokesman Ted Talbot.
Most of the $51.5 million that would be borrowed if the referendum passes — $41 million — will be applied to the Department of Transportation’s list of projects. That money would become available for work in 2014, Talbot said.
A smaller amount of money in the bond will be used to improve ports at Searsport and Eastport.
Improvements at Searsport in particular, transportation advocates say, have the potential to boost economic activity in central, northern and eastern Maine.
Transportation planners have been asserting in recent years that Searsport’s Mack Point port facility, which has been improved with state bond and private money, should be understood as the port for Bangor and Millinocket, not only for the coastal area.
Though Talbot stressed that DOT does not take a position for or against passage of the bond request, 100 percent of the bond money will be applied to capital projects, he said. In DOT’s operating budget, by comparison, 60 percent of funds are used for construction and improvement work.
In addition, Talbot noted, the slow economy has resulted in a bid climate favorable to the state. Bids for road and bridge work often come in more than 10 percent below DOT estimates, he said.
Even so, DOT’s budget does not allocate enough money for the state’s list of needed and approved road and bridge work, falling about $150 million short in the current two-year plan, Talbot said. With fuel tax revenue diminished as people drive fewer miles and use more fuel-efficient vehicles and a general frugality in state budgeting, most states are falling behind in maintaining their aging road and bridge infrastructure.
As is typically the case, the $41 million that would be borrowed by the state if the bond passes would be used as a match to bring in up to $72 million in federal transportation funds.
Safer, more productive ports
Though the funds in the bond proposal for port work are a fraction of that dedicated to roads and bridges, improvements to maritime infrastructure would support existing industry and potentially create more, advocates say.
The bond request would provide $3 million for dredging the channel just off Mack Point, which would make the state eligible for $10 million in federal funds.
Rep. James Gillway, R-Searsport, a member of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee who is also Searsport’s town manager, said the Legislature three years ago funded the dredging, but in final budget deliberations the money was cut.
“I lobbied pretty hard” to restore the funding, he said, because in his view, Searsport’s Mack Point two-dock port facility is critical for the northern two-thirds of the state.
“We are the port of Bangor, we are the port of Millinocket, we are the port of Presque Isle,” Gillway said.
David Gelinas, president of the Penobscot Bay & River Pilots Association, said when the federal channel just off Mack Point was dredged in the early 1960s, a depth of 35 feet at mean low tide was established. Since then, there has been no maintenance dredging to keep it at that depth.
“The edges have kind of sloughed in,” he said, making the channel more narrow. In some places, the channel is just 32 feet deep, which means ships must wait for the tides in order to safely move to the docks.
The plan is to widen the turning basin for ships and bring the depth to 40 feet at mean low water. The docks themselves have 40-foot water at low tides. A 2004 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study supported the need for dredging the federal channel, Gelinas said.
The lack of depth has economic ramifications, he said. Ships of 600 feet to 740 feet have unloaded or loaded at Mack Point, but because of the channel, they often load “short,” meaning they do not carry their full capacity. That makes shipping to or from Maine unattractive, he said.
In January 2010, the 800-foot-long Bahamian ship Baldock, with a cargo of 75,000 tons of gypsum from Spain, arrived at Mack Point, drawing 38 feet of water. Gelinas said safety regulations used to require 2 feet of depth under the ship’s keel, but in recent years, shipping companies, insurers and underwriters are requiring water equal to 10 percent of the ship’s draft or 1 meter below the keel.
“It means a greater degree of safety,” he said.
The port work at Searsport is not related to the town’s current review of a proposal to build a 23 million gallon liquefied natural gas tank in the Mack Point facility, Gelinas said.
The bond would provide another $2 million to be matched by private sources to install material handling equipment, which would enable the port to load wood chips produced at Cate Street Capital’s Millinocket mill onto ships bound for Europe. The mill recently received state approval to build the $48 million facility which will create 25 full-time jobs.
Other components of the bond funding include: $1.5 million for warehouse facilities at the port of Eastport; $1.5 million for industrial rail work; $1 million for transit buses; and $300,000 for weather observation stations to assist LifeFlight Foundation.
If we are going to be dumb enough to borrow more money, we should at least be smart enough to put it into concrete and asphalt. Actually create some decent paying jobs for a change, instead of just talking about it. Most of the time though, they tend to tinkle away half the money “studying” the job before any money gets spent on materials and labor. Then they need more money, because they are suddenly running “over budget”.
ACTUALLY the money which creates the most jobs in the private sector is welare in all its forms.. Jobs at Hannaford and Shaws, Jobs for landlords and the people who repair apartm,ents, jobs at hospitals, EMT’s Social workers, prison guards, drug stores..
The D.H.H.S. is the only Maine State entity which pushes 1 Billion dollaars a year out the door.
What a crock. Spending on welfare produces nothing.
I’m opposed to welfare, but It was enacted to protect food stores and landlords, doctors, and other providers of service not individuals.
It is obvious that your response is from anger, rather than consideration. Many people get their employment from the welfare dollar.
Even if the world is as you think about it and all those “Welare Queens” are driving to their second homes in their Cadillacs, someone had to sell them second homes and Cadillacs/
Welfare money goes to the private sector faster than any other publically administered account.
There you have it. The government has created and continues to support a dependent class because their are economic interests including government itself that exist because of it. Keep people down on the welfare plantation. It’s good for the economy for the rest of us. ***Sarcasm***
Your neighbor has a broken leg. You make sure the community rallies to get him medical care and crutches. Therefore, YOU caused his broken leg and hope to perpetuate it **sarcasm.**
Aaah …But what if you break his leg to maintain the illusion of need?
Before you attack me for that remember it was Obama that said that surgeons prefer amputation to preventive treatment.
Your statement doesn’t make sense in context.
President Obama expressed concern that surgeons may be tempted to amputate, since they get paid well for surgery, and he emphasized the importance of people with diabetes having preventive care that can prevent or postpone an amputation. Some doctors have said he was mistaken about the economics of this, and they deny that they would have this attitude. But he did make a good point. Obama’s point was the opposite of what you seem to imply.
You often rail against any public program that helps people–your reasoning is that if someone is suffering, helping them suddenly turns you into the cause of their suffering.
Yet if a person is disabled and needs SSI to survive, providing SSI does not somehow reach back in time and cause a genetic disorder or serious illness.
If a person gets laid off when a corporation they worked for moves its factories to a 3rd world country, providing unemployment compensation does not retroactively become responsible for the company’s choice.
Encouraging dependence (don’t deny our system is set up that way) breeds the economy the poster above was talking about. The system feeds on itself. It is a linear. You remove the incentive to work… people don’t work. Even Clinton recognized this. The issue is even deeper than that in that the system robs the soul of the individual.
Obama did say that surgeons had an economic interest in amputations over preventive care. The point was that if there is a financial incentive to amputate then there is a financial incentive to keep people dependent.
A genetic disorder or serious Illness that prohibits employment….. I have no problem helping then…. but are there 43 million people on disability… I did not know that so many people were genetically deformed.
I know several social workers. They are hard-working and caring individuals who are not well-paid. You seem to imply that they hope to damage people so they themselves can continue to work. That’s vicious slander.
It would be like me saying that one reason the Republican party is anti-education is that it depends on people being uneducated, even stupid, so they’ll believe Romney’s and Ryans’ lies. That would be cynical and unfair.
Your “logic” that if there is a financial incentive to do “A”, then there’s a financial incentive to do “B” is nonsensical. You could fit anything into that equation. “If there is a financial incentive for surgeons to do surgery rather than preventive care, then there is a financial incentive for the weather forecaster to be wrong sometimes.”
I suppose you could stretch logic enough to come up with some ingenious roundabout “reason” why a weather forecaster your cousin’s friend once knew did have a scheme to keep his job (according to the janitor who talked to your cousin) by being wrong about the weather. It still wouldn’t prove that helping people retroactively creates the economic conditions (such as layoffs, birth defects, and illness) that caused their problems.
For purposes of Social Security disability benefits, a person with a disability must have a severe disability (or combination of disabilities) that has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months or result in death, and which prevents working at a “substantial gainful activity” level. Many people who are disabled, like one of my daughters, do work part-time (their benefits are reduced as a result). Receiving these and other benefits has made a world of diference to our daughter. I see no attempt on the part of any Republican politician to carefully sort out people who might apply for help without being truly disabled, and to protect those who ARE disabled. Their aim is to make sure NO assistance is available to anyone.
They’ll stretch logic until it snaps like a worn-out rubber band, in order to do that.
No I am sure they are good people. People in those occupations generally are, but are blind to the damage they do.
The fact is there is a monetary incentive to subsidize the ‘welfare state” in everything from government jobs to housing, agriculture medicine and transportation. Therefore there is an incentive to grow it. Not get people out of it. It is the way that money works. Money flows to success.
Once again, I guess you and I will have to agree to disagree. To my mind, your statement “That is the way money works. Money flows toward success” is empty.
It could be used to justify just about any point of view, including the tendency of corporations to exploit workers (including poor pay, terrible working conditions, lack of health insurance, layoffs without recourse, etc etc) without paying any sort of penalty due to their ability to buy politicians.
We can leave it at that. I would have expected to really. People with little business experience (and some that are) probably aren’t exposed to the concept.
Capitalism is a system where people at the top tell people at the bottom that they can have exactly the same life as the rich if only they would work a little harder,/, Then they pay them just enough to keep them working.
Thanks for all your wisdom. I learned from it!
You believe social workers are blind?
Jeeze you make me laugh. Social workers are like auto mechanics. they can only attempt to “fix” what the customer wants fixed. They can make recomendations, they can threaten, they can take negative action, but most people couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t do what some social workers are called on to do every day.
The problem is that government’s tendency to stick their noses into afairs of others is now so ingrained in our society that “cold turkey” is no longer an option.
Welfare, (handing out of money, goods, and services for zero in cash or effort) is inherently evil. We have three choices on how to end this stupidity.
We can stop payments and services all at once, and allow chips to fall where they may. This probably means some folks will die.
We can continue on our current course moving more and more people on to the welfare rolls, until society can no longer afford this largess, and then go to #1.
We can continue welfare for older folks and wean the younger crowd of it, explaining that they better find something to do until they reach the age of 65.
Your third option is not a bad idea. I still think though that most social workers have no idea the damage they do to people. I know its anecdotal but personal experience is my teacher.
I would opt for number three.
Social workers (most that I have worked with) are like the mill workers I worked with in Lewiston. They know the plant they work for is poluting the air and water, BUT they reason that it is better to live with the plant than try to feed the kids at home without it.
People ALL PEOPLE are self-serving to some degree.
How many of those 43 million on Disability have you invited to work for you?
You claim to be a ( Job Creator) !
Tell me how many have you offered a viable living wage to come off from disbility!
My “quess” is that you are scared to death to hire anyone in that category and that you screen them out well before he Interview process.
Am I right?
I agree with you:
“The government has created and continues to support a dependent class because their(sic) are economic interests including government itself that exist because of it.”
I think that is what I said. I just didn’t use the sarcasm.
In contrast money in the private sector actually produces something that makes the world a better place. When someone is paid for working they produce a good or service that improves someones quality of life. They in turn use what they’ve EARNED to buy goods and services from others to improve their quality of life. Government spending in most cases produces nothing for the economy and is in fct a drain as the government takes a cut while producing nothing.
Spending on welfare goes directly into the local economy. People who would otherwise have had close to zero income are able to buy food and clothing. If they have a car, maybe they can put some gas into it. By contrast, special tax breaks for millionaires tend to be spent outside your average Mainer’s community–indeed they’re often squirreled away abroad (Cayman Islands, if you’re Romney).
Get rid of welfare, get rid of unemployment benefits, kill all public service jobs–and watch your local economy die. The company YOU work for will have even less demand for its goods or services, making it more likely that you’ll lose your job… and need welfare. Which will no longer be available to you and your family, if you vote it away.
You’ve solved all of our problems. If the government just gives ALL of us a bunch of money our economic woes will be over. Brilliant!! /sarcasm
Money given to welfare recipients produce NOTHING. In contrast, when someone is paid to do a job, say for example a lumber mill employee, then something is produced for the outlay of money. There is more lumber in the world as a result. That person also buys food and clothing effectively trading lumber for clothes. The difference is that there is something produced as a result. Welfare dollars produce nothing and in fact are a negative since the government/none profit complex siphons off a large portion of the dollars and also produces nothing in return.
It seem to work out good for Eoxon!
They claim that it helps produce less dependance on foriegn oil!
The government squanders more money every time another tax cut is given to the rich. We have decades of evidence: Trickle down does not work. Government stimulus does.
Government stimulus IS trickle down…
According to this piece the decision has apparently been made to ship the Millinocket bio-coal thru Searsport, not Eastport as was originally said by both Cate St and Kevin Raye’s office, not to mention all the work that’s gone into getting Eastport ready for the bio-coal to be shiped, in bulk, to Europe’s power plant’s. If this is still true come Monday then there are gonna start being some VERY SERIOUS questions asked about just who’s making these decision’s when the decision’s have supposedly already been made and both public and commercial money and resources have been committed on the basis of those decision’s.
Maine needs above all else some very long term STABILITY in State planning, commercial business development and running, and above all else, some public commitment from Augusta and the business communities that what they say in public, and when they make public statement’s that people act on, is in fact going to be solid and dependable. This article brings into question the commitment of Cate St.’s supposedly ‘solid’ backing of using the closest port available, that being Eastport, for their bio-coal shipping need’s. Eastport has gone to a lot of trouble, based on Cate St’s supposedly solid public statement’s, as well as Kevin Raye’s backing, that Eastport was going to be the port used for the bio-coal shipment’s, thru the modernization and up-grading of the facillities. If Cate St backs out now just what does that say about there supposedly solid commitments and promises elsewhere down the road ? As Mainer’s on the whole what does this say about Maine Bond money, targeted for these type’s of business development’s, being used as it was originally Bonded for ? In the business and financial sector’s if a business loan is based on a certain collateral and the collateral isin’t there anymore the loan has to be called in since it’s improperly collateralized. What’s going to happen to Maine when these Bond’s are found to be being used for what they weren’t issued for ? Some one gonna call the State in for doing a huge NO-NO ? In this one VERY narrow instance I can agree with the Governor. No Bond Package’s being signed off on for sale unless the Bonded Project is set in stone and is ready to go. Money out and about, and unsupervised, is just too tempting a target for speculator’s and ‘keester’ grabber’s………………….
Shipping the Bio-Coal through Searsport is a smart move. The MMA Railroad services both Millinocket and Searsport. But it’s true in this state when it comes to spending moneyh the right hand doesn;t know what the left hand is doing. As far as spending more money when the state is one billion in debt is ridiculous.
I have never voted in favor of a bond. Running the state on credit is wrong.
How long would it take the state to save up enough money to do the projects ? Do you save up money to pay for your house ? Did you save money to pay for your car in full ? Do you have any credit cards ?
The only thing I have ever purchased on credit are a house and an education. Both are basically unobtainable to a regular lower-class person unless they use credit.
Limited use of credit can be sustainable, but I think the state’s approach of requesting almost $100 million more debt this November when they already owe over $1 billion is not.
You NEVER answered my question how long would it take the state to save up the money to do these things. You do not need a house you can rent an you can save money for an education even if it mean working 2 jobs
“how long would it take the state to save up the money to do these things”
that’s easy…..it depends what you are willing to sacrifice
I know saving up to purchase my first car with cash took a great deal of sacrifice and refusing to succumb to to the allure of credit cards has required just the same.
The cool thing about it though is that after you’ve made the initial sacrifice to save and purchase with cash, you can continue to save at the same rate, and when it comes time for a newer, more expensive car, you can make the investment without a lick of debt to fret about.
Of course, that takes leadership, sacrifice, responsibility, and discipline…..four chracteristics our current slate of politicians are sufficiently lacking
That mean that you had no life at all
Ant & Grasshopper.
We worsen the debt every time we give more money to the rich. It makes them richer, does nothing for the rest of us, and keeps us locked in a sick corrupt economy.
To see that the economy is sick and corrupt, all you have to do is start with health medical costs. For instance, our government already pays over twice per capital as the Canadian government, and still 50 million Americans have no affordable access to a doctor. And Canadians are far healthier.
We live in corrupt corporate-run country.
And at the heart of it is the Federal Reserve….
who has access to the Fed discount window?
how does trickle down economics actually function?
is the common person allowed to borrow money at 0.25% and purchase treasuries to cash out at 2%, making Billions via leverage?
who are the politicians that support trickle down economics via the Federal Reserve?…..every R and D on your Maine ballot this November……it’s the ONLY thing that keeps them in power!
The Bush tax cuts alone are handing trillions of dollars to the rich over the next decade. Trillions. And Romney wants to give them trillions more.
It’s all money down the tubes, lost to the Cayman Islands or capital development in China or other 3rd world countries.
Trickle down does not work. I say this over and over because even Republicans like George H.W. Bush know it is true, he called it “voodoo economics.”
Actually Sprucie the Canadians support their corporations more than the US supports theirs. The Canadian government has been full bore behind the tar sands oil extraction project. They were behind the Keystone pipeline project until the ran up against Obama now they are dealing with the Chinese instead. Canada has been supporting their lumber and wood products industry far more than we have ours. When you say “We live in corrupt corporate-run country.” You really have no idea what you are talking about.
As I’ve said to you many times, your use of insults makes Republicans look bad and invalidates you as a legitimate debater.
But you cannot answer my posts on merit. Tells a lot about you.
And you completely miss his point. When he refers to “corporate-run country”, he refer’s to corporate influences affecting every governmental decision, when you compare Canada to the US (which in it self is somewhat stretching it, since the two are completely different forms of government) you are saying that the Canadian government is supporting it’s corporations……it’s also controlling them. Canada regulates it’s business, partially through these means. Is that what you want? I also recall you saying that if you want free healthcare, move to Canada; if a corporation wants government assistance, ….they should move to Canada.
I generally don’t advocate someone move. (perhaps in frustration over some stupid comment) Too authoritarian for me.
Canada is indeed supporting their corporations through a system of subsidy and lax regulations. That does not happen in the US. Just the opposite is true. When was the last time a US oil company was granted a lease on Federal land? The last licenses were granted under Bush nearly 4 years ago for example. Perhaps Canadian companies are getting some trade off for that but profits are good their economy is booming and people are employed.
Our country instead erects roadblocks particularly in the energy sector.
So, I take it the Bush corporate tax breaks, which by the way made Romney a very rich man, all of the bailouts and having these huge corporations prepare a tax return showing that they owe nothing isn’t enough? I ask you……if we don’t help the middle class soon, where are all of these rich corporations going to sell their goods? American corporations are given plenty of breaks, and they end up not paying health care benefits by not allowing a 40 hour week (Walmart). Now we have to give them a place to pocket billions more?.. Roadblocks, laughable……you want to see roadblocks, go to Canada, where regulation is the rule
Umm Which tax breaks were those? Could you be specific please. Also tell me how they have changed since Obama became President? What regulations are there in Canada specifically that business finds so onerous? I recall Canada left the Kyoto Accord specifically so they could enlarge their energy sector.
Why can people in Canada buy drugs much cheaper there then we can here for the same drug from the same company ?
That has a lot with the do with the cost of research and marketing and lab costs.
Research costs for some drugs cannot be priced into the cost in some countries. In other words the US consumer, for some drugs, must bear the cost of research for its development.
The US consumer also must bear the cost of marketing. You have more choices for some drugs as a result than some other countries. Some countries do not allow advertising.
If we do not allow advertising then the variety of drugs would be reduced.
The high cost of drugs also can also be attributed in part because of the way the FDA regulates manufacturing. One production line cannot manufacture more than one drug even though the same equipment could make a different drug during its “down time”.
I am not an expert on which drug is which and what the costs are for each but this explains at least some of the cost difference for some drugs. I also don’t have any idea what drug may be manufactured in what country under what regulations.
I read this stuff in an article 3-4 years ago. Probably when sitting in some doctors office.
Your Right about the Advertising, and Marketing!
The USA allows drug companies to pedal their drugs on TV with relative impunity compared to the Pusher at the Street Corner!!!!!!!!!!
” If you experiance a prolonged erection of more than four hr’s , —(Call A Doctor)!!!
LOL
“The last licenses were granted under Bush nearly 4 years ago for example.”
As if that made a difference!
And Oil Prices Doubled in a two year period from 2006 -2008 under W. Bush, sparking the onset of the second worst depression in the United States!!!
Thanks for your insightful comment. This poster is often abusive but BDN doesn’t do anything about it. His/her goal seems to be to get attention by annoying/luring people.
Sprucie sometimes gets beaten up by the facts so bad he thinks they are abusive.
SpruceDweller doesn’t even base his own posts on merit.
“They were behind the Keystone pipeline project until the ran up against Obama now they are dealing with the Chinese instead”
This whole deal was about “China” from the very beginning where do you think the oil is planned on going??!
Why run a Pipeline thru the USA for China?
Oh! Yeah!
So the “Koch” Addicts can make more money!!
Despite what you think most oil processes in the US is done so in Texas. It is then redistributed to the US with some for export. No oil is shipped from Texas to China. The tankers are too big for the Panama Canal.
Don’t give me that,
You can’t get there from here baloney!
Texas Exports 20% of its refined oil on the world market!
China Included!
Sorry True. The Chinese are currently widening the Panama Canal but as far as I know it isn’t completed. Super Tankers do not fit in the old Canal.
Most US pipelines begin in Texas for domestic consumption though much refining capacity is sold to South America with some departing for Europe.
According to this article environmentalists believe someday it might head to China… but is not currently. Sounds like fear mongering on your part to me.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/08/110819-keystone-xl-canadian-oil-and-chinese-market/
Even your environmentalist friends admit that saying… “Although it’s a long, tortuous route to ship oil through the Gulf of
Mexico and around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope or South America’s Cape
Horn, economics will favor this journey to the Far East, he contends.”
When do you ever give money to the rich?
The only way you could save up the money for a car an other thing to ay in full was to have a job that pays real good money
Or lower your expectations.
My wife and I bought our car used, six years old, for about $9000 cash. That’s only $4500 for each of us to save.
We certainly could have two cars if we took out a loan, but we only need one.
Rmoney’s et.al.’s trillions hidden in tax shelters off-shore would and will pay for all of it …. no worries. It’ll happen.
But, while the republicans control the money and taxing powers, they’re hot going to have their friends pay it until after we replace them this election.
Then, viola! Jobs, jobs and more jobs all paid for by the bankster, Wall Streeters and those that have been on corporate welfare (i.e. tax loopholes for the rich)…
Yee hahhhh.
But, you’re right, we can’t and don’t have to save up anything for these infrastructure / port projects … we just need to collect it, finally, from those that have had a free ride since the Ronald cut corporate taxes … 30 years ago.
A windfall profits tax on big oil would just be a bonus, but that’ll happen, too.
Ok so if people buy only what they really need how long would it be for business start to close up an put 6,000 or more people out of work plus don’t for get the trickle down effect to
Than you answer my question how long would it take the to save up enough money to fix our roads an what shape would they be in by the time they had enough money to fix our roads . How many bridges would half to be closed or had weight restrictions till the state had enough money to fix them ? how many people would lose there job because of our bad roads an bridges that are closed ?
paid for the last two cars in full…no credit cards….only debt is the mortgage at 4.6% on a 20 year term….the price I pay to borrow the money is lower than the rate it inflates each year!
if you are not in this position, you are a SLAVE to others, as you are working for your money to pay your creditors instead of making the money you’ve worked for do some work for YOU!
Republicans have become so anti-government that they will block job creation over and over–unless it is coming from some well-connected rich person. This person will make a huge profit, create low-paying jobs, often temporary, and stash the dough in the Cayman islands, where it can’t be used to help Americans.
Greed has pretty much won. We’ll see in November.
November changes nothing….
If you’re talking about stashing money on offshore islnds than e Rochelle Pingree is the queen, and she’s a Dem.
Sprucie Government cannot create private sector jobs…. all they can do is facilitate their creation by those corrupt corporations you complain about.
Government creates jobs when they pass laws that allow the Middle Class to make more money such as labor laws that enable the working class to seek fair wages!
Demand is the only Job Creator
The ONLY time that jobs are created is when people have spending money to buy goods and services!
When the Supposed “Job Creators” have “ALL ” the Money all that you have is alot of empty stores!
Actually that is a job killer.
Lets face it Cheesey,You are in Denial!
An econmony involves ALL those in the cycle. What goes around, comes around, and when you think that because you are special because your in the loop as a “Job Creator” and stop it from going around,by way of hoarding all you can because you are in your OWN mind somehow special.
“It ain’t comin around”!
You live in fantasy world where the government is the answer to all Ills. How have the last four years been for you living under that philosophy?
The government cannot by law create a strong middle class.
I’M With ya Man!
I have never Voted in Favor of a Republican That Signed the Norquist Tax Pledge!
Running the State on an Empty Tank , and Drivig in the “Red Light Danger Zone”, hopeing that somehow you can make it to your destination, is just plain Ignorant!
it is perfectly reasonable to borrow money to pay for infrastructure projects that will be used over several decades. It is also important to retire old debt as fast as you take on new debt (after factoring in inflation and growth). I do not agree with borrowing money to pay operating costs.
The state is already over $1 billion in debt. That’s $1000 for every Mainer over age 18.
Shouldn’t we pay off what we already owe before we borrow more?
http://www.maine.gov/treasurer/debts_bonds/debt_summary.html
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/23000.html
The debt problem started after Clinton. Clinton left office with a balanced budget and no deficit. Then came George W. Bush, who Romney won’t even mention, and tax cuts for the wealthy. Ouch!
If we stop the free giveaways to the wealthy, and stop letting corrupt banks and corporations mistreat America, we can get out of this mess.
Government stimulus! It’s what finally got us out of the Great Depression.
hate to tell you but Clinton did increase the national debt. went from 4.188 trillion to 5.728 trillion during his term, 1.54 trillion in 8 years. Bush went from 5.728 trillion to 10.626 trillion. 4.89 trillion in 8 years. Obama has gone from 10.626 trillion to 15.566 trillion. thats 4.94 trillion in 4 years. UNSUSTAINABLE no matter what your political affliation.
Economist Mike Kimel notes that the five former Democratic Presidents (Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and Harry S. Truman) all reduced public debt as a share of GDP, while the last four Republican Presidents (George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford) all oversaw an increase in the country’s indebtedness.
Reagan went whole-hog into debt. Cheney later said, while advocating for ever-increasing government debt–“Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.” http://zfacts.com/p/318.html
Only when President Obama started trying to rebuild the American economy after GW Bush’s disastrous years did Republican leaders suddenly pretend to believe that all public debt is evil and must be stopped. This fit neatly into their search for a justification for slashing the social safety net. “Sorry, we’re all out of money unless you happen to be a war profiteer, corporation, or millionaire.”
Thanks for this great information!
They played that game on the Post office as well!
They put it in Financial Melt down with the Postal Reform Act of 2006!
Now they claim that we have to downsize or Privatize it!
Same as -Disaster Relief- they allowed the Government to faulter by ineptness during Katina and now Jeb Bush has created a Private -Disater Relief Company-! Look it up!
Jeb Bush/ Disater Relief Company
It is being done daily by Republican Governors across America by reduceing Taxes and then claiming ( insolvencency)!
“In NO Uncertain Terms”
America is Under Attack from Within!
i am not referring to national debt as a share of GDP, just straight, simple increase in national debt over time which has happened over time no matter what party held the White House. the economist you quoted is very misleading because the actual dollar amount of debt did not get reduced
http://www.factcheck.org/2008/02/the-budget-and-deficit-under-clinton/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/sep/23/bill-clinton/bill-clinton-says-his-administration-paid-down-deb/
You’re just wrong. Above are two sources. Who is your source? What is the link?
The poster was referring to the national debt not the annual deficit. Are you aware there is a difference?
Are you going to disagree with the US Treasury now?
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo5.htm
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo4.htm
This may help you understand what you are trying to talk about.
Spend some time here.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/financial-terms-glossary-of-financial-terms-and-definitions.html
are you in denial that Obama has incurred more debt than any other sitting president? google it, wikipedia it, it is there for you to see.
Government stimulus is handed to the rich FIRST via the corrupt banks and corporations (both prof and non-prof) there genius…
nothing but operation twist on the trickle down perpetual central planners’ problems…
Government “stimulus” is nothing but a giveaway to connect cronies. Splyndra sure created a lot of jobs.
What about Cash For Clunkers!
GM Is Alive!
They used to say as GM goes, So Goes the Nation!
Remember?
You are only Seeing what they want you to see!
Isn’t it Romney who said “Not all Business Attempts Make it” ?
GM is goin to china,think i’ll stay here……
cash for clunkers increased the prices of used cars and used auto parts.
it was “As Maine goes,so goes the nation”.
solyndra was not a business attempt,it was graft.
who is seeing what?
If that is the case, why would our Governor start moving to eliminate Corporate income tax?
“Shouldn’t we pay off what we already owe before we borrow more?”
How do you do that when your Governor puts a choke hold on revenue?
Your Governor!
(NOT MINE)
Wants to slash all the Revenue thus Stagnateing “ANY” growth in Maine!
Republicans are the Number One Cause of the Deficit!
Brought to you by an Unelected Lobbyist, Grover Norquist!
This article’s headline is inaccurate. Even if the bond passes, nothing will change since the Gov. will refuse to release the funds like he’s been doing with bonds that past prior to his election.
A vote for a bond is a vote for higher taxes
A No Vote is a Vote for Economic Stagnation!
Oh please. They say that every four years, and I’ve never seen the economy improve because we decided to raise the gas tax.
…and exactly how many average Mainer’s profit from upgraded ports?
Let the businesses that use these acilities pay for them. Gas is high enough without voting it higher through taxes.
The transportation bond is critically important if the state is to keep up with the required infrastructure to support industrial development projects already in the works and the jobs that come with them. Bonding is no different then a worker borrowing money for the car he/she needs to secure a well-paying job. It’s an investment that is paid off over time. In the case of the ports, it is paid off through new production orders and jobs and the increased corporate and income taxes they generate. Both Eastport and Searsport will gain, as will communities across the state that have locally produced goods to sell. Half of all the new jobs produced in the US in the past three years are tied to exports. Maine’s exports have increased dramatically of late (over 20% in 2011), a trend that must be maintained and boosted to offset the state’s significant imports, much of which in the form of energy.
The interest on a car is a lot different than the interest on a billion dollars,even at a low interest rate.
So should we title your post, ‘Musings from Debt Slavery’?
How is Maine going to pay for this? How many years until its paid off? How much interest will be paid? They are not telling the whole story.
They never do….yet the bonds pass every time
and the bankers dance a jig with a cup of coffee in hand on Nov. 7th!
Some people can not stand that the debt clock for Maine is going backwards.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-clocks/state-of-maine-debt-clock.html
Nice
Debt clocks are an illusion, they are based on projections, nothing more than a crystal ball, carnival act.
When the real numbers come in then we can see the results although those on the Right will be put in a pine box, spun like crazy and ” ABRA -CA-DABRA” be turned into a success!
Maybe even Cut in Two only to emerge as a whole again in another cabinette!
LOL!
You must have failed basic math, addition and subtraction. LOL!!
So is our Economy!!!
LOL!!!
The gov.promised no new taxes it said so on his coffee cup and in his top secret pub meeting with high placed officals over drinks.
NO
I would like to know what they mean by “road work”. I can see a bond issue for bridges but if “road work” is normal road maintenance I am not in favor of taking out a bond issue for something that should be in the budget. Until I know what it is. I’m a solid no.
The current rate of road work is not keeping up with needs.
We need to work within normal budget I think. I don’t like to borrow money for maintenance.
bunk bonds all they do is provide short term influx to economy and line peoples pockets. Our debt in this state needs to be reduced before we borrow more.
Might make the roads better. Do you drive?
Bond money is money we don’t have vote no on all bonds I did
If we defeat all bonds, we’ll be able to afford more tax breaks for millionaires. The state’s infrastructure will continue to decline, making it even less likely that businesses will relocate here. Meanwhile, Mainers will find it ever more difficult to get to work safely. What’s not to like? Go, Tea Party (far, far away, please).
Isn’t it great how open and transparent DOT is when they want to extract our taxpayer money?
But when they when want to support the building of a new 220 MILE-LONG interstate highway, “heavens, we cannot say exactly where it will go, it might jeapordize the acquistion of land for the project” !!
This proposed east-west highway thing is so F-ing big that if DOT is going to allow and cooperate with the developers to plan it in secrecy–if that’s how DOT and the Governor’s office are going to do business–than I’m going to vote against DOT bond issues. If they want help from taxpayers than they need to be responsible to them.
The same goes for politicians. If a politician in my Distict is not standing up and insisting on open approach to this massive project I am not going to vote for them. I will work against their election. Like the proposed highway or dislike it, it’s a decision for we the people of Maine to make regarding the sacrifice and altering of 22o mile-long strip of land.
Think about it! An interstate highway. Interstate 95 Mile 1 is in Kittery. Mile 220 is 3 miles north of Enfield. Oh sure we can trust DOT on this one! Vote NO on the bond! Send DOT and State government a LOUD message!!
Dave Gelinas wants to see Sears Island developed – he said that over 10 years ago. He wants to see the dredging done and he wants to see the Tank – its more business for the Pilots.
The dredging must be done – IF the tank is built – because the tankers require a 40′ draft – and we only have that at extreme high tides . Coast Guard report. IF dredging is done – then the industrialization of the Searsport area will go into high gear and Sears Island will be industrialized also.
Coast Guard is concerned as they do not want to see LPG tankers in the channel when other tankers are coming and going. The LPG tankers will definitely impede the normal Mack Point traffic and it will impede island ferry boat service; lobster/fishing/clamming; sailing both leisure and business; and most likely the Boat Building business and new shipyard in Belfast. Yachters do not like to wait 3 – 6 hours because of an LPG tanker. They’ll just go elsewhere and stay out of Penobscot Bay.
Vote NO on all the bond proposals – the far reaching effects of the issues and the debt are more than anyone can fathom. Tiger 41
This will do more for job creation than LePage’s whoopie pies, fireworks and tax cuts for the rich.
Yessah
Cut welfare to pay for it! Yessah!