Category Economy

Mar 15 2011

THE COLLECTIVE SETS SAIL

A ship once set sail

From the Harbor of Truth

A ship once sleek and proud

/

Sailors stout, lithe and hale

Though some held aloof

Watched the cheering crowd

/

Soon they cast off

A voyage of hope

Who knew what lay ahead?

/

Winds freedom aloft

A song in their throats

And nary a cross word was said

/

Or so it seemed

But beneath the beams

Of the ships bulwarks a meeting was held

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A collective was formed

‘Twas out of the norm

A sailors and officers guild

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A storm soon arose

Though weather was calm

The collective demands must be met

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For the sake of all those

To repair and tempers to balm

Drills they must hastily get

/

Sharp bits they must have

To save on hand salve

To make the repairs on the ship

/

The officers with a laugh

Gave the whole not the half

To ensure the crew would not split

/

So with shiny new drills

And newfound skills

The collective went to work about the ship

/

Then with dismay

Amidst the fray

Came a shout, “The ships about to tip!”

/

The captain now could see

The sailors should not drill

Those holes there in the hull

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How now to plea

Against collective will

The captain these thoughts to mull

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“Perhaps,” the captain sighed,

“Negotiate with me?

The hull is not a place to drill a hole.”

/

“You dare,” the collective cried,

You can’t see

To drill, my right, my soul!”

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“Standing in this swill

Trade a bucket for a drill?”

The captain with them tried to reason

/

“We are not dull!

You are hiding more hull!

To drill, our right, our time, our season!

/

So the ship sank

Every rail, mast and plank

With holes drilled through and through

/

The collective was blind

To reason and rhyme

It wanted what it thought it was due

/

But sadly that day

Some had no say

The passengers died with no voice

/

Their ship went down

Their voices drowned

They silently died with no voice

/

This poem is through

The moral is true

This allegorical device

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If unions negotiate

They must let participate

Those who pay the price

/

A ship once set sail

From the Harbor of Truth

A ship once sleek and proud

Sep 17 2010

HEALTHCARE: Solutions, The Missing Legislation

I recently had a “conversation” with a liberal masquerading as a Republican, who more aptly should be called a Demblican.  When asked about the health care mess, this man seemed almost gleeful about the rat’s nest the Democrats have created here in Maine.  When he asked me what government programs I thought were needed to strengthen the private sector, the light went on.

It took me awhile to catch on, but I soon realized that I had been, momentarily, duped.  This man was no more conservative than I have need of maternity leave.  He was to the point of almost giddy that his beliefs had created such a quagmire that, in his estimation, there were no easy solutions.

You see, that’s the Democrat catch phrase…there are no easy solutions.  It makes great punditry for television.  They all sit around an overly polished set table, stare at each other, and sigh a great “lookatmeI’msobrilliantbecauseI’mliberal” sigh.  After they sigh that sigh, Democrats will always say there are no easy solutions.

Weeeelll, actually there are.  The problem for liberals is that they are categorized under the heading of common sense and that drives the Left absolutely bonkers!!!   The solution that a simple carpenter/mason like myself would present is this:  all those things that are not working, all those policies that are driving us to bankruptcy, and all those tired, archaic socialist European ideas that even Europe is finally discarding….DON’T DO THEM ANYMORE!!!

That is way to simple, I know, for some.  So, I have unearthed, some long lost legislation Republicans tried to pass but Democrats killed and buried.  First of all, for all the talk of Republicans being obstructionist not having any solutions, I went on Maine.gov. and with just a quick digging with my little investigative spade I found so many attempted reform bills by Republicans blocked by Democrats that it would take weeks to cover them all.  I don’t have that much time.  We have to take out the trash November 2nd.

First is a bill proposed by Sarah “Sally” Lewin, ranking minority member on the Health and Human Services Committee, title LD 1003 “Resolve, Directing the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability to Perform a Performance Evaluation and Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Dirigo Health Program”.  Sounds like a good idea to me!  Why wouldn’t the office of evaluation and accounting want to do some evaluating and accounting of their programs to which they are expending lots and lots of money in?  Why not?  Please somebody in Augusta tell me why?  Please?  (cue sound of  cri…what? We are out of crickets?!  Man, the liberals are taking everything!)

Okay, meanwhile back in Atkinson, all you guys and gals who are contractors know that, after every job, we do our own cost-benefit analysis.  Yes, after every job!  Why?  Because, if we have problems with our bids, job expenditures, or labor, we don’t want to repeat them, that’s why.  This bill was gaveled dead by the Democrats before it could even be debated.  The Democrats don’t seem to care to know if there is a problem.  Maybe, they don’t want to know about it.  Perhaps it is not an issue to them because it’s not their money.  The shortfalls don’t effect them.  It is our money.  So, from a businessman’s standpoint, from a common sense standpoint, it is always a good idea to check the cost-benefit ratio and eliminate problems as you go.

There is another Representative that the Democrats just love down in Augusta.  His name is Jonathan McKane.  His bill title LD209, “An Act to Allow Maine Residents to Purchase Health Insurance from Out-Of-State Insurers” would have probably solved a lot of problems, but the Democrats, the majority, said this bill “ought not to pass” and voted it down; Roll Call no. 71, yeas 82 nays 63 absent 6.  The yeas are in agreement that it “ought not to pass” in case you are wondering.

Every time I have looked at Republican bills attempting to reform HealthCare, they have been met with the same disdain and arrogance from the left.  There is, in my estimation, not one glimmer of hope the there is a willing spirit to work towards a better Maine from the Democrats; instead, Libby Mitchell proposed a bill trying to capitalize on the H1N1 swine flu virus scare that would have required all small businesses to give paid sick leave to their employees.  There is not one small business that could sustain that kind of regulatory pressure.  Even the Democrats voted that one down….but then…they picked her to be their representation to run for Governor.  Remember, she concocted this slurry of a mess that we are in.  Do you want four more years of it??

Aug 8 2010

… And There’s More!

It must be pure coincidence.  In the face of collaborative evidence and impeccable timing, one simply has to toss out the obvious common sense conclusions and cling doggedly to figment of someone’s imagination.  The Age of Stupification has come.  The Obvious must fade into the shadows.

First, this columnist must retract a statement from last week’s column.  No, not that one, although, my wife wishes I would.  What?!!  It is their symbol.  It is the Biblical name of a donkey.  A spade…is…a spade…correct?

Actually, this columnist has learned after further research, a term abhorrent to the New York Times, that the audit is not a Statewide audit but simply the Areas north of Bangor.  No, no, please don’t think those negative thoughts.  Sue Mackey Andrews and the Party she endorses would be the first to tell you that the fact that the Democratic Party is auditing businesses in Republican districts right before an election is pure happenstance. So, now with common sense completely cast aside, we can completely embrace the idea put forward by the party of Sue Mackey Andrews, Eliot Cutler, and Libby Mitchell that the best way to encourage business growth in these rural areas, Republican controlled, by the way, is to audit the books of these businesses in hopes of finding some miscue or misdemeanor that can be penalized. It will be heartwarming; I’m sure, to see business owners, formally Republican donors, running in to the arms of Sue Mackey Andrews gleefully thanking her Democratic Party for one more fine levied against their business…because…nothing screams growth and stability like an audit.  This whole scenario has more drama and emotion than a chick flick… moving on.

As my readers can attest, this columnists struggles to overcome his timid nature.  So, after spending the allotted time given to all Republicans by Democrats to cower in a shadowy corner (if you believe that I’ve got a whole pile of stuff I can sell you), I decided to do some research on this audit.  One business man tells me that his auditor explained that one of the reasons for targeting the North, Republican leaning, by the way, was to “clean out” some businesses up here.  Apparently, we are overrun with too many businesses here in the very Conservative Republican North-Central regions of Maine.    Who knew?!  The last thing we want is businesses cluttering the landscape.  Who knows what vile deeds they may perform?  They may even employ somebody?  My goodness, they might even prosper if we left them alone.  On the small chance these businesses might not see the job-killing policies of Sue Mackey Andrews’ Party in a positive light and donate funds to a Republican Candidate, let’s fine them.

There is a phenomenon sweeping these North-Central areas.  Confused by the rules of Augusta and Washington, businesses in our area are letting their employees go in the face of stiff fines that will shut their doors.  So, now these Republican strongholds are seeing a sharp spike in the unemployment rate.  Don’t, don’t’ think those negative thoughts about the Democrats.  Sue Mackey Andrews will be the first to tell you that a Mainers living on a private sector paycheck would be much better served waiting for a government unemployment check.

Now for the rules, yes, the rules.  If you are an Independent Contractor you must fit the criteria.  That is the main thrust of this audit; in fact, an auditor stated that the State of Maine wants all of “Its businesses” to be on “the same page.”  ( Don’t you love that, we belong to the State now, don’t you feel all “wuuvvy” all over.)  Interestingly enough, the agencies all have a different set of rules to “enforce” on Maine businesses.  Even if a businessman or woman complies with the Federal and State revenue service for Independent Contractor status, the Maine unemployment agency has different criteria and can unilaterally fine a business on its own whim.  These rules are subject to interpretation by the State.  What a surprise!  Maybe Sue Mackey Andrews would like to explain to the people in this area, who are underneath the auditors gun from her Democratic Party, why Maine businesses all have to be on the same page, yet, her party, which has been in power for 35 years, can’t get on the same page with itself.

Jun 14 2010

WHERE HAVE ALL THE CHILDREN GONE?

“Where have all my children gone?”

I heard a mother pray.

“Who came and piped the siren song

That whisked them all away?”

“I had my hopes. I had my dreams

That I would see one day

My children’s futures, hopes, and means

Would blossom here to stay.”

Alas, so many Mothers call

And wish for this to be

They gaze out through the mist and pall

They look, but cannot see

Their children are not coming back

They’ve gone away from here

To find a place that does not lack

Where work is free from fear

The fear is that the wealth you’ve earned

Is taken from your hand

And given to the ones who’ve spurned

Your home, your work, your land

They watched their parents hard at work

Sweat beaded on the brow

While leaders sneak with smile and smirk

To blunt the sharpened plow

The children know this land is rich

Yes, wealth is here to find

But who will clean the cluttered ditch

From drivers who are blind

They love this land.  Tho’ this is true!

The child must make a choice

To build a dream and see it through

They must have a voice

And so they leave with youth and strength

They say, “Goodbye” to Maine

With hopes in tow and fears at length

We smile through tears of pain

We know with dread we cannot keep

Our little ones close by

Be herded ‘round like mindless sheep

Be fed a mindless lie

The exodus of children west

It’s happened for some time

Thirty-five long years, at best

It should be called a crime

For all these years through leadership

Bold promises were made

We would be the best equipped

If more taxes just were paid

We bowed our backs.  The burdens grew

We bent beneath the lash

They could make our hopes renew

Just give them some more cash

Our children watched us toil away

Their face and thoughts were grave

They should not stay and wait to pay

To be Augusta’s slave

So they filed towards the West

Where they could earn their keep

Keep what you earn; it’s for the best

Now hear the tramping feet

The feet of children leaving us

For they refuse to pay

For addled wits that tax us plus

And multiply each day

We oft have asked with no reply

For thirty-five years or more

If the state of Maine will die

With wealth flying out the door

The politicians agree, the answer, you see

We’ve found were we are lax

The kids will come back, like honey to bee

Nothing says home like a tax

So mom and dad, decisions made

They’re moving out of here

To the place they know their children paid

With work, sweat and cheer

Mom can see her children grow

The way that she had planned

They will blossom from the seeds they sow

In a freedom land

“Where have all my children gone?”

I heard a mother pray

“I think I hear that hopeful song

And I’ll follow them today”