By Levelheaded Larry

Our last issue had a couple of articles that looked at the recent State of the Union speech, given to Congress and the nation by President Obama, and the State of the State address, given to our legislative chambers by our very own Governor LePage. The analysis was far off the mark, so here are my thoughts.

First, the writer was pretty adamant that raising the minimum wage was bad, but why? If you believe in the trickle-down economics then I see your point. If you’re at the top, your bank vault may take a hit. I am more for the trickle-up economics. President Obama has not been shy on tackling income inequality. He first did it from the top by continuing tax cuts for everyone but the rich. Now we need to work on the bottom. So let’s look at some facts.

America’s minimum wage has been low for many years. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), we are near the bottom of industrialized nations. Ours is currently roughly 38% of median income, it is close to 60% in the UK. The Economist points out that the last time the minimum wage was raised was back in 2009, and as a percentage of median income, it has now fallen back to 1998 levels due to inflation. This is why Mr. Obama proposed indexing the minimum wage to inflation.

The old adage referenced: work harder and get paid more, is not always true, trust me; you can ask me and nearly every other employee at the last company I worked for. We were all hard workers and when the recession hit, our wages and benefits were reduced. It is easy for a typical college-aged student to assume that outdated adage is correct, but when you’re in the real world, doing a skilled-trade like I did as a welder, it’s not always the case.

Let’s look at another aspect. A higher minimum wage has been proven to reduce turnovers and layoffs. If a company invests more in the worker, they will be less likely to furlough them. According to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) 20 states now have a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage, isn’t it time we set the precedent?

Now let’s look at what Governor LePage has done for Maine. First off I must say that nearly everyone, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and others are in agreement that Maine’s economy has improved; however, you cannot credit LePage for the recovery. When LePage took office it was during the end of a prolonged recession, and the economy has since improved, as it would have without him at the helm.

According to Frobes, Maine’s energy costs are 31% above the national average, one has to wonder why he has been stalling on a $200 million wind-farm project. In fact, Maine has been ranked #50 in Forbes’ Best States for Business survey now three years in a row under LePage. This is unlikely to improve much since he is currently withholding $100 million in bonds that we voted for last November.

As far as the unemployment rate, we started the recession below the US average, thus we should still be below average, as we are. But don’t ask someone in northern Maine about that, as one in five residents is poor and one in three is on welfare.

According to the BLS, Maine has added about 10,500 private-sector jobs since he took office, for a growth rate of 0.91%, nearly half of the 1.98% national average. The PEW Charitable Trust published a report showing that Maine was one of 3 states to actually lose private sector jobs. The Business Journals, a compilation of regional business publications, ranked LePage at #40 out of 45 governors ranked for their job growth capabilities.

One thing he has done efficiently is attacked welfare, and further disadvantaged those already disadvantaged. According to LePage, 47% of Mainers don’t work (false) and need to “get off the couch and get a job.” Most EBT transactions take place at 3am (false), and that 12 year olds should “be able to work 40 hours.” He also backed failed legislation that would have allowed companies to pay students $5.25hr, that’s substantially under Maine’s $7.50hr minimum wage. These are just some of LePage’s welfare reform ideas.

Education, this is another issue the writer of the LePage article got wrong. Noting that LePage wanted to increase spending on education is not so accurate. He is currently withholding bonds that we voted for which would update many of our state’s colleges and universities. I will say he has been pushing the expansion of for-profit charter schools, to the detriment of our public school system.

I won’t even get into how he’s been an embarrassment to the entire state on a near-weekly basis. I am proudly one of the 61% of people that did not vote for him. Just the fact that someone can win that small of a margin and still govern over everyone shows that there are deep flaws with our system. I’m for ranked-choice voting, but that article is for another day.

If possible, every paper should present a balanced view of things, hence the method to the madness behind this article. It is always best to see both sides of an issue so you can better form your own opinion. We will have a big choice to make this fall, make it wisely.