As an Advocate reporter, everywhere I go I hear about things about a recession, low pay, high prices. In my opinion, it is a snowballing problem in the United States. Everyday I go by a gas station the price is higher than the time before. Our economy is in desperate need of improvement. People are even turning to age old tactics of haggling. School budgets are being cut, the expansion of businesses are being cut. The fuel producers are the ones making money. People are cutting back in every way possible. Should life be such a struggle?

What are people doing to change their personal economic statistics? For one thing many people are taking on a second job just to make ends meet. Some businesses have stopped supplying the popular expensive brands for the “no-name” cheaper brands. One local restaurant in Lisbon Falls has switched to a no-name potato chip because the national brand is too expensive for them and their customers. Schools are cutting back, too. According to eighth grade teacher, Mrs. Karin Dionne, the staff at Philip W. Sugg Middle School has been asked to be more conservative. Refrigerators or microwaves are no longer allowed in individual classrooms. The only place they are allowed is in the teachers’ room and for obvious reasons the nurses’ station. During some classes, lights are off to conserve energy. Teachers are trying to save paper, too. A lot of assignments are now being grouped together double sided.

Once I decided on this topic as an assignment for the Advocate, I went straight to a couple of news sources. One source was www.nbcnews.com. I viewed videos of previous reports on hard times and found extensive information about the economy. According to the segment “Are Americans Shopped Out?” consumers are very nervous for the future. When people go shopping they are holding back. And did you know that American consumers represent 70% of the U.S economy? The scary thing is, it is the fourth straight month where consumer sales are down. In the Saturday, March 29 edition of the Sun Journal, an article “Lewiston Wal-Mart a No-Go” reported why Wal-Mart will not be expanding to Lewiston due to a change in “investment strategy.”

I thought it was absolutely crucial to do this article and shine a light on the situation of the economy comparing the issues in the state of Maine with those around the country. Let’s put the pieces of the puzzle together and make a change for the better.