Our View
Hard times have shaken our confidence
A recent study found that American workers are discouraged and disgruntled, and it's no wonder why.
Unemployment remains stubbornly high and those fortunate enough to have jobs find themselves working harder, longer and often for lower pay.
According to a study released last week by Towers Watson, a human resources consulting firm, employees say they are either too fearful or discouraged to seek new jobs.
"We've found that since the recession, people are 'burrowing in,'" Max Caldwell, a managing principal at Towers Watson, told The Wall Street Journal.
More than half of workers felt they had no clear path for advancement at their current employer, and 43 percent felt they could only advance by leaving that employer.
Which is what Americans have done in past recessions: When the going got tough, the tough got going.
This time, however, more Americans are finding themselves unwilling or unable to move.
First, there's simply no good place to go. Previous recessions have been more regional than this one. During the recession of 1981-82, for instance, workers fled the Midwest as large manufacturing industries like steel, rubber and auto collapsed.
But, they had a refuge — the Sun Belt.
Not so this time. The states hardest hit by the home foreclosure crisis are in the South, West and Southwest.
In Michigan, for example, the rate of population loss declined between 2008 and 2009, even as the unemployment rate soared to 15 percent, according to the Economist magazine.
Florida, meanwhile, over the past two years has lost 50,000 people, often people who have lost their homes to foreclosure.
Second, many workers who would like to move cannot because their mortgages are, as they say, "underwater" — they owe more than their houses are worth.
While Maine had been showing very slow but steady population growth, that trend has reversed. The latest Census Bureau numbers show we lost 1,390 residents from 2008 to 2009, mainly due to a steadily falling birth rate and less in-migration.
If this trend continues or worsens, the state will have fewer wage earners to support the increasing expense of its growing elderly population.
Still, there are reasons for optimism. A year and a half ago, our economy was teetering on the brink of disaster. Many were predicting another economic depression or a 10-year recession.
Today, the Dow is up more than 4,000 points from its low point, home prices are slowly rebounding and retail spending is up.
This country has weathered 47 recessions since 1790, 14 of those since the Great Depression.
Each of those has been accompanied by predictions that America had lost its economic might and that we would never be as well off again.
Hard times have a way of shaking our confidence.
Yet, each time, our people and our economy have shown their resilience.
While this recession has been unusually long and deep, we can take comfort that history is on our side.
editorialboard@sunjournal.com
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Displaying comments, from newest to oldest
They're teens and we're
They're teens and we're already telling this story for women with disease herpes but I am sincere and are willing to give me as many.So take care my frends.
Nothing beats up recession.
Nothing beats up recession. It's the worst problem that's constantly unchanging. But despite it, we're still able to find practical solutions to save us from falling our finances. Thanks for the existence of financial services, called Payomatic they are one of the premier check cashing companies in New York, and they're on the rise. Like pay day loans lenders and pre-paid debit or credit card companies, they offer services for people that are underbanked, and still have a need for service. Supply, and demand – it's that easy.
OVER?
The national news seems to think the recession is over.....who believes that the recession is over? Maine has been in a perpetual state of recession for the last 10 years at least.Goverment causes the recession.... rising taxes during the good times doesn't seem to hurt right away..taxes and workmans comp kept me from hiring people...we need to reduce income tax and give breaks to those supplying jobs...now!
I smell a fail
"Goverment causes the recession" The stupidity inherent in that comment is mind boggling. I posting a link to this piece of idiocy to the I haz a fail website, which ironically enough contains messages from idiots like you. Go figure?
verified not according to him
to be fair his wife also works at a nursing home, but she's a nurse.
verified There is a solution
but our government calls it "protectionism" and says we can't manufacture products here in a global market. Well, to hell with the global market. What's wrong with making shoes, for instance, giving many people a job and putting a high tarrif on shoes made in China or East Bungledink? I'll bet, given the option most people here would support businesses with a Made in the U.S.A. stamp especially if the price was the same or even better than foreign made.
Enough of this "we have to be competative in a world market" bullsh*t. It's time to get back to basics.
verified ..."If the trend continues or
..."If the trend continues or worsens, the state will have fewer wage earners to support the increasing expense of its growing elderly population"...
It isn't helping to support the elderly that the wage earners have to worry about. They've paid their dues during their working years and deserve to get any help they need. It's supporting the frauds, slackers, deadbeats, welfare suckers, and healthy nonworkers that are going to break the backs of the wage earners of this state. The freeloaders outnumber the wage earners. As nasty pelosi likes to say, "It's unsustainable".
Thank you Veritas...given
Thank you Veritas...given your normally highly intelligent answers, if the best comeback or counterargument is to simply queston my math I'm feeling pretty good right now. The intent was similar to that portrayed in the mainstream media, as you know Congress will go out of session soon and all reporters are talking about is a 2 year session with little or nothing accomplished"...we see nothing in the pipeline to fix our true problems, and instead create a bigger boondoggle...but hey if you're already getting a government handout and not paying taxes, you're happy as a pig in you-know-what, so nothing will change your view, until you start having to pay income taxes each year. tron, lil, ssdd and a couple others who don't kick in but instead want to take, take take...bottom line is many of us are fed up with it and contrary to the hate from the dems who post here, we do have a right to our opinion.
verified Yep - Everyone has one....
Thinkingman wrote: "bottom line is many of us are fed up with it and contrary to the hate from the dems who post here, we do have a right to our opinion."
Opinions are like A-holes - everyone has one.
And regarding your other gem: "Congress will go out of session soon and all reporters are talking about is a 2 year session with little or nothing accomplished"..."
How about a quote or two from these reporters, along with the link?
Of course you wouldn't concede this being caused by the Republicans mimicking 'Obstructed Bowl Syndrome" in the Democratically controlled Congresss; while during the Bush years the Dems disgustingly had massive bouts of diarrhea for every vote the Administration wanted.
Ron, you are a huge opinion!
Ron, you are a huge opinion!
Why did we get here??? the
Why did we get here??? the same reason we are still stuggling it is called EXCESSIVE OIL AND GAS PRICES AND THE CRIMINALS WHO SUPPORT THEM IN OUR GOVERMENT and until they are removed them we are doomed.
How did we get here?
Is really what you should be asking but won't because the answer is obvious and painful for you to admit - failed Republican market ideology.
verified slow day?
you told us what we already know , with no solution. someone's asleep at the switch.
tron does it bother you that
tron does it bother you that they would repeat something you already know, or that the editorial is a clear reminder that OBAMA's plans are a complete failure? 2 years in office and all he can show is the house passing the health care bill...what else does he have credit for? A stimulus bill that sold our souls to China and created no long term jobs? In Maine the governor simply used it to balance a bloated budget and cover his backside.
verified Stinkingman says Obama's been
Stinkingman says Obama's been in Office two years??
And it's been 14 months since his Inaugeration?
So a year for Stinkingman is seven months. Wow...... He thought he was 21 and old enough to vote when he was barely twelve years old in Human Years.
verified Veritas, forgive him
Bob's an accountant with a degree from Husson. He works for a nursing home where they charge the state 12 months for every 7 months of care they provide. He thinks that's the way it works in the real world.
verified Nursing home
So, an accountant at a nursing home? Wonder how much Medicare they rake in to pay his salary. Isn't that living off the government?
A little different than
A little different than cashing a welfare check like you and tron.
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verified on "Endangered Atlantic salmon eggs planted in Sandy River in Strong"
freshwater
This is an important start to resurrecting the fishery in the Gulf of Maine. The article does not mention how corrupted the natural flows of the Kennebec River watershed are. Timing and amounts of flow volume has been greatly changed over the last 40 years. Storage lakes at the headwaters and ponds feeding the Kennebec are now keep full all spring, summer, and into late fall. Many ponds are not drawn down at all like they historically were. China Lake is a good example. This change in flows upsets migrational cues among other impacts. It is very easy to screen off turbines so the young salmon do not become minced by the blades and build working fishways. We need leadership in Augusta who want to restore a once great industry.
verified on "G. Decoteau: They deserve each other"
The Democrat sacrament is envy, or class warfare.
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verified on "P. Nachman: Confidence probably misplaced"
Ronald, If you have not
Ronald,
If you have not noticed, everything I’ve listed is a growth in the size of government, a growth in government spending or a program in crisis.
A tax cut does not belong in that list. While a tax cut may grow the size of the national debt, a tax cut does not necessarily grow the size of government nor does it increase spending.
Moreover, you selectively forgot to add your favorites, Bill Clinton and Obama, to your list of tax cutting presidents. Any reason why? Maybe your Cuban pharmacist is giving you placeboes!
- Agree Agree (2)
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