I just read about the General Electric light bulb factory closing in Winchester, Va., and workers getting paid an average of $30 an hour (Sept. 10).
It is strange how workers think factories can pay those kinds of wages and stay in business here. I just hauled some car part molds to Mexico. Hopefully, that will help their unemployment situation.
I make around $25 an hour on my job driving a truck. There are people working in government who may send, maybe someday, a million of these jobs to Mexico. People working for our government are doing this.
Not one politician is fighting against these jobs going to Mexicans or any jobs in this country going there. Vote for who, you say? We must have someone to vote for who will first tell Mexico to lift the tariffs — or else. Then, they have to make it clear that American workers will work for a normal wage and that no more jobs are leaving this country.
Our best bet would be to stop hoping for something that is not coming, and save every penny we can because it will be a lot worse when the time comes to repay our huge debt with no way to pay it.
I bet politicians are thinking jobs will come back. Tax dollars will once again flow in and all will be just fine.
I will vote for the one who is oblivious to the facts and who puts together the best fairy tale.
Robert Hemingway, North Anson
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My Third Maine Born Grandchild just arrived
About 5 minutes ago my third Maine born grandchild was delivered at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine, Tron. I have one born in Bangor, lives in Ellsworth, another born at CMMC lives in Bryant Pond and because dad is in the ARMY the fourth was born and lives in Tennessee. I think that means my direct line family is at eight and nine generations born and bred in MAINE, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!!!
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I do. He was legal; immigrated 1881, naturalized 20 Oct, 1888.
And yours??
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Yes, I have papers on several and family books on several of the family names have been published and I have copies along with the supplements that come out regularly. I will be sending out the documentation on the newest memeber of the family as soon as I can get copies of the paperwork. I have the DD214 from my grandfather and uncle both deceased and their medals and awards for service.
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You keep talking about others. Essentially your side of the aisle appears preoccupied with the legality of the first one - so that's why I asked. Otherwise it boils down to what you have done - not others.
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No Mexicans need apply???
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About 5 minutes ago my third Maine born grandchild was delivered at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine, Tron. I have one born in Bangor, lives in Ellsworth, another born at CMMC lives in Bryant Pond and because dad is in the ARMY the fourth was born and lives in Tennessee. I think that means my direct line family is at eight and nine generations born and bred in MAINE, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!!!
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What would happen if, a company could cut the hourly wage it paid workers by 1/3 and the workers had the same amount of disposable income? What would happen if, a company could cut their payroll costs by 1/3 including insurance, taxes, unemployment, workers comp and other? What would happen if a company could cut their income taxes by 1/3 as well? Do you think if it cost a company 1/3 less to stay here they would? We can achieve this!
Right now, this country is providing jobs, welfare, free education, free healthcare and a whole lot more to an estimated 14 million illegals admittedly by liberal democrats. Rational minds would put that number is much higher. If we elliminated all those illegals from our economy we would open up a whole lot of jobs for legal Americans wiping out unemployment in the process slashing unemployment insurance rates on employers. Getting illegals off our welfare rolls, out of our schools, etc would have an amazing effect on the amount of money required for these programs and, especially in the case of schools, have an astounding effect on quality of service and outcomes. Imagine what would happen if suddenly all the children who are here illegal and in our schools who cannot speak English, read, write, or have math skills at grade level or have disabilities were gone! The attention and financial resources that are diverted from American children could be put back where they belong and trillions of dollars would be saved to boot. Imgine if hospitals were not providing "free" health care to 14 million illegals! Free that is to the illegals, we pay for it with our taxes and with very high insurance premiums. Imagine if hospitals and doctors only charged you or your insurance company what it cost to treat you and did not have to divert to cost of treating 14 million illegals to you as well! Every AMERICAN would be able to afford insurance and medical care. Think of how much the could be cut on taxes at every level of government with no illegals "free-riding." It is how China and Mexico can produce products so cheaply when you consider they don't have 14 million people illegally within their borders taking jobs, living on welfare, getting free public education etc, etc, ect.
If this country escorted the 14 million individuals illegally inside our borders out today, every red blooded American who wanted to work would have a job, insurance, and be paying less taxes. Every red blooded American could be getting a lower per hour rate but keeping more to spend as they saw fit. Illegals are not just stealing American jobs inside our borders, they are exporting entire industries back to their homelands. It is time to put a stop to it.
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nice. Please leave this state, we would be far better off with you gone!!
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I happen to have been born in America worked all my life. Candiceanne's comments are not racist or hate filled, they are the truth. Being born and bred in America, being a RED WHITE and BLUE American, I can tell you, we can't take your tired, your poor, your huddled masses any longer, we can't even take care of our own growing tired and poor and huddled masses. Most of our jobs have been shipped out. We are slaves to foreign countries and you have the unmitigated gaul to attack candiceanne for not spreak hate but truth? Where is your patriotism Tron? Where is your allegiance? Certainly not to these great United States. More have to start think like Candiceanne and taking action or India, Pakistan and Haiti are going to look good compared to what we are going to have here. We have to all pull together. America is for Americans if you are an American you have a right to be here, if you aren't you don't.
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When all of the hard working taxpayers of this state are gone, Tron, who's going to carry all the nonworkers who are relying on the State to feed them, house them, clothe them, provide free health insurance, etc?
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Leave!! Have no fear that your job will be filled.
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Why would I leave Veritas? I asked a question and have yet to get an answer to my question from anyone. You reply to my question was to leave? I have no anchor tied to my butt, but my job isn't tied to the State of Maine, either. If I leave, my job goes with me. I can keep my job, my employer and my annual salary and benefits and live anywhere in these beautiful United States. So...sorry to disappoint, but my job wouldn't be filled by someone else. I would simply pay taxes in another State.
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leave the state of Maine. So I asked what was keeping you here.
Obviously Maine taxes aren't high enough to drive you away.
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Maine has been my home for all 40 plus years of my life. I sure as heck ain't ready to give up yet!
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Your question of all taxpayers leaving then merely a moot hypothetical.
And you wondered why no one saw fit to answer? It was completely illogical.
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it's full of inaccuracies and false assumptions. Second, I was speaking to candianne, who, from what I can tell, is here just to spread her hatred and bad attitude upon the people of this state. Her leaving would be a blessing to this state.
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My premise? What premise would that be Tron? Please, fill me in since you seem to be able to delve deeper into my thoughts that what I provided in print.
I disagree with you. I think Candiceann, who I don't always agree with, is a thoughtful, articulate addition to these blogs. Is your goal for everyone who disagrees with you to just leave? No dissenting opinions are allowed? What a boring, boring world we would live in if we were not allowed to have different opinions. Sad, really, that there are people who actually believe that.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.you're assuming that there exists a huge
number of people totally dependent on the state for all their basic needs. That is totally false, in fact very few people are wholly dependent on the state. Some people rely on the state for some assistance, and in this economy that is more than is preferred. But by no stretch of the imagination are the working people totally supporting people. Disagree all you want, you can even support candiceann, a foreigner who thinks she knows better than native Mainers, but don't be dismissive and condescending.
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Tron you are such a card. I was born in Bangor, MAINE, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in 1961 too parents who were both born and raised in the RUMFORD/MEXICO, MAINE, AREA OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA. All four of my grandparents were born and raised in the RUMFORD/MEXICO, MAINE AREA OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, as where their parents. My children where all born at Central Maine Medical Center between 1985 and 1990. They are seventh and eighth generation Mainers which makes me sixth and seventh generation Mainer. I lived in Maine the first 36 years of my life leaving to grow my business and provide a quality education and opportunities for my children. I am not a "foreigner" by any definition as I am a United States Citizen by birth born in the United States with both parents United States Citizens by birth also born in the United States. I am also not a "foreigner" by any definition to the State of Maine as I was born in the State of Maine to parents also born in the State of Maine. Every generation of my family has been in this country and in this state legally. My uncle served in the United States Navy and my Grandfather was at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed in a dingy pulling his fellow countrymen out of the harbor, having been on his way to Mass on shore when the attack began. I currently have two sons in the United States Army who have spent the last six years going back and forth deployed in either Afghanistan or Iraq. My brother was in the United States Marines in Viet Nam. Once a Marine always a Marine he would do anything to be with my boys fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and he is 62. Tron, you haven't a clue what it means to be an American.
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I didn't say that there were a huge number of people wholly dependent on the State for their basic needs, but when the number of people receiving State aid outnumber the people paying in, where is the help going to come from? And speaking of condescending...did you even read your last sentence??
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I would be Cranky too if I only grossed $18.70 hr with my masters. I don't know what profession you are in but comparing pay in Maine for any position to pay for a comparable position and you find that the pay outside the state is frequently twice what is paid in Maine. I think a lot of it is because there is a serious job shortage. With so much competition for so few jobs, employers can get away with paying a lot less. So long as Maine keeps rejecting economic development opportunities that wont change.
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There are several factors at play here. One factor is that American workers expect a living wage. Anyone who thinks that minimum wage is a living wage, I would suggest that you get off your thinker and take a minimum wage job and see exactly what quality of living you have. I wonder how long you would last. Also for those who suggest that it is the responsibility of all of us to take care of our families (with which I wholeheartedly agree) see just how well you can take care of your family on one or two full-time minimum wage jobs (the vast majority of which come with no benefits whatsoever). While you're suggesting that people should work multiple jobs, then don't at the same time suggest that they need to stay home and parent their kids. It doesn't work that way. If both parents (if they're lucky enough to have two parents) are working two jobs just to pay the bills )and I'm not talking buying wide screen tvs, video games, fancy cars, etc.-think about how much two, full-time minimum wage earners are going to bring home (in Maine, the gross would be $600/week). When you subtract rent, transportation, food, etc. there's not going to be much left.
Okay, so that brings us to the second factor-it we pay American workers a living wage (with a Master's degree. 35 years experience, and working in a professional field, I gross $18.70/hr)-how many products do you think we'll actually be able to afford. As an example, because I work in a professional field, I need to dress professionally. I would love to buy American made dress shirts. First, there are very few people making them, and secondly with the few that do, they cost about $80-120 each. Other than a well paid American seamstress or tailor made them, there's not a whole lot of difference between those $80-120 shirts and the one's I buy for $17-20, but which are made in places like UAE and Sri Lanka. The American people DEMAND affordable (read-inexpensive) goods. That means companies have had to move off shore to produce them inexpensively so their costs can be kept down. I could no more afford one $80 shirt than I could a closet of them. Even though I work in the professional world, I end up, as a result of my work, getting dirty quite often.
Somewhere, in my land of dreams, I believe that there's a happy medium. I decry the loss of manufacturing in this country. I worry that the time may come where we are so dependent upon other countries for our goods that we will be held politically or economically hostage. I don't have the answer. I do understand the problem, but sitting here and wringing our hands about it isn't the answer. Someone's got to start working on it. NONE, not one, of the current crop of politicians, Democrats, Republicans, Tea Party, Libertaria (especially not the TP and Libertarians) has any kind of talking point, let any plan of substance, on this issue.
This constant name calling and finger pointing, something more at home on the kindergarten playground than in a rational discussion, accomplishes NOTHING! There has to be open dialogue with the political ideologies and dogma set aside. The social programs are not the problem. The illegal immigrants are not the problem (they're only doing the jobs nobody else wants to do). Obamacare is not the problem (there are other countries with universal health care where manufacturing and technological r & d are humming right along). It's the inertia created by the CONSTANT bickering between the ideologs of both political parties, but more and more the conservatives than anyone else. Remember, it was George Herbert Walker Bush who signed NAFTA. If you don't believe it-look it up.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.CEO's and Corporate Boards are sending the jobs to Mexico.
Government doesn't have the power to do this.
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You said.
"I will vote for the one who is oblivious to the facts and who puts together the best fairy tale."
And when you said.
"It is strange how workers think factories can pay those kinds of wages and stay in business here."
General Electric is a profitable company, so yes I think these companies can pay those kind of wages and still keep jobs here.
You sound like you have job envy.
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believe the solution to our 'illegals' is to set up machine guns at the border and mow them all down. Interesting solution, n'est-ce pas? The thing to do is enforce the current laws on hiring and to deport undocumented residents. What some 'sectarian zealots ' don't realize is the Obama administration is doing so at a greater rate than any of his predecessors. He's actually doing something instead of talking about it.
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I now comprehend why Tron only responded to one article before 9:30 instead of innundating us all with his expoundments of enlightenment, I have achieved success beyond my intention and contemplation, he has no comprehension of my compose. I have achieved the ultimate success of SJ! Those with a grasp of the english language beyong bigot, racist, and Tron's other favorite name calling words etc will understand what I mean. Sweet, sweet success. Tron so nice to see you finally call a spade a spade or in this case an illegal and illegal. I have yet to meet or see here printed a comment from a sectarian zealot suggesting the United States "set up machine guns at the border and mow them down." In fact I believe you were crying in your wheaties mass murder, mass murder because the country of Mexico by LAW protects it's borders by shooting on sight those who attempt to enter Mexico illegally. I know Tron, we had to disapppoint you and explain that Mexico was only shooting one or a few at a time; there was no mass killing involved and it was all legal in the enforcement of law by Mexican law enforcement protecting Mexico's sovereignty.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.A previous blogger, who shall remain nameless
prasied the Mexican government's effort of stemming immigration into its country by killing people entering from its southern border and praising such efforts as 'a real immigration policy.' So get snarky all you want, you've achieved nothing except showing your ignorance. Congratulations.
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It still doesn't change what you are Tron. Oh what joy, what joy. I shall be walking on air all day.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.We have a number of sectarian
We have a number of sectarian zealots who will tell you as well, Ron, that it is also most important that along with exporting as many jobs as possible to Mexico, we must welcome every undocumented work who wishes to enter our land and take a job for whatever wage however much be low that permitted by our laws and under whatever conditions no matter how outside our laws. They will tell you that we must provide education for these undocumented workers and their families. We must not ask them to pay taxes. We must educate their children free of charge. We must give them all welfare benefits. We must provide them with free health care. We must provide them with a car and the very best housing all for free.
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what they really are - illegals.
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