I took this survey. The Bangor Daily News has done more than most other media to promote a more indepth discussion about Maines economic future. its a conversation we all should be a part of. It would be great if there were 5 significant economic growth ideas we could pursue together on a bipartisan basis because right now to be frank the atmosphere of overly partisan attacks has only produced a war of attrition and no one is winning. The 5 things our state ought to pursue are fairly basic and have been vetted repeatedly in the past : 1. raise the minimum wage- today the min wage is less than it was in the 70 s and 80s after inflation Maine needs a raise and Maine families need a raise and we should be rewarding work if we want people off welfare 2. Build a Medical school north of Augusta- an idea for many years championed by former Speaker John Martin of Eagle Lake -- this idea will cost money but being able to not have to ship our prospective docs to vermont or somewhere else as well being able to participate in improving rural health care would pay long term dividends 3. Expand Medicaid - 1 billion a year- 5500 new jobs. That should be enough to create a bipartisan consensus- other republican Governors around the country have been able to do this- our inability to do so only marks our state as backwards not forward looking---- 4. Protect middle class homeowners- fully fund revenue sharing to towns, raise aid to education and give service center communities the right to have a locally voted on option sales tax to fund specified things such as schools, roads, police and fire- as part of this place limits on local property taxes on homeowners in order to control the use of the money 5. Invest in universal preschool statewide and for good measure a 6th idea: have a vision to grow the University of Maine not shrink it and make it a real leader in the area of research and development- more Rand D not less will also pay dividends in the future. This agenda will cost money but our current course costs not only money but peoples lives, livelihoods and the future of their families. Lets keep this is as a positive conversation going for the years to come :)
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 22:04:24 +0000