PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A price-watching website says average retail gasoline prices in Maine have fallen 0.9 cent per gallon in the past week to a $2.68 per gallon. MaineGasPrices.com says Sunday’s price compares with the national average, which has fallen 2.3 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.70 per gallon. The website […]
economy
Posted inLetters
We can get American jobs back
In a recent editorial (“Lights out for workers at last U.S. bulb plant,” Sept. 10), the Sun Journal rightfully pointed out that too many green jobs are being shipped overseas. But it doesn’t have to be this way. A growing number of U.S. employers are taking a different approach, and it’s paying off — for […]
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Posted inBusiness, Nation / World, sj-web
Census: 1 in 7 Americans live in poverty
WASHINGTON (AP) — The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty. The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its […]
Posted inLetters
Cutler is no ‘spoiler’
On Sept. 10, you published an article saying, among other things, that Eliot Cutler was acting as a “spoiler” for Libby Mitchell. If that is true, it is only because most Mainers have not researched Cutler. It is true that he is much like Libby Mitchell in his commitment to the environment and clean energy, […]
Posted inBusiness, Nation / World, sj-web
House Dems deeply divided over Obama tax plan
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Democrats are confronting deep divisions within their nervous ranks over whether to support President Barack Obama’s plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans — or just punt the entire matter until after voters go to the polls Nov. 2. Democratic leaders committed to Obama’s proposal were hearing Wednesday from endangered […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Maine gasoline prices up 1.7 cent
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A gasoline price-watching website says average retail prices in Maine have risen 1.7 cent per gallon in the past week to $2.68 per gallon. Sunday’s average price compares with the national average, which has increased 3.9 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.72 per gallon. MaineGasPrices.com says Sunday’s average […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Data shows the economy is looking up: Jobless claims drop, retail sales rise
WASHINGTON (AP) — A weak economy got a little lift Thursday with new data suggesting companies aren’t pursuing mass layoffs and stores are a little busier. New applications for unemployment benefits declined for a second straight week after rising in the previous three. Retailers reported surprisingly strong sales in August. And more people signed contracts […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Obama: GOP should let small business bill through
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama exhorted Congress on Monday to make passing a long-languishing small business aid package its first order of business when it returns next month from its summer break. “I ask Senate Republicans to drop the blockade,” Obama said in the Rose Garden after meeting with his economic advisers. Acknowledging that […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Recovery in danger as firms, homebuyers cut back
WASHINGTON (AP) — The economic recovery appears to be stalling as companies cut back last month on their investments in equipment and machines and Americans bought new homes at the weakest pace in decades. Overall orders for big-ticket manufactured goods increased 0.3 percent in July, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. But that was only because […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Credit card debt drops to lowest level in 8 years
NEW YORK (AP) — The amount consumers owed on their credit cards dropped to its lowest level in eight years, as cardholders continued to pay off balances in the uncertain economy. The average combined debt for bank-issued credit cards — those with a MasterCard or Visa logo — fell to $4,951 in the second quarter, […]