Another Progressive Success, Maine- Welfare recipients outnumber taxpayers

Well yes - as it's being pilfered as we speak. Had SS payments been held in escrow like other pension and insurance plans, we wouldn't be in this mess IMHO.

The same "Ponzi principal" has nearly bankrupted the NJ state pension system. And many other states as well.
 
We do have a lot of poor people here in the state....the focus should be on "better Jobs" in the State, that actually have more companies offering health care as a benefit.....

that's kind of hard when you have a state filled with Lobstermen, Loggers, Potato and Blueberry Farmers, Dairy Farms, and Shops and Hotel Owners that have to make their year's earnings in just 3 months of the year....

then you have heating Oil...sheesh,....when I moved here 5 years ago, it was $2.00 a gallon, it hit $4.25 a gallon a couple of years ago and i paid $3.60 a gallon on my last fill....it's killing us up here.....and in my region, there is no alternative to oil....there is no Natural Gas option...solar for the winter is out of the question....wind?...i am in a valley with mountains surrounding so, not an option either.... Electric is even more expensive to use as Heat up here.... we have plenty of wood, but even that is $235 a cord, (and it makes the house smell like smoke!)

We just need more jobs, more businesses that can be year round....Mainers are hustlers....they get more done in those 3-5 summer months than most people get done in a year or a lifetime!!!! they do know how to work hard and bust their butts!

they do pretty good, considering the money they have made, comes from just a few months of back breaking work..... if the weather were better and the people I mentioned above, could work year round....we'd be considered a great, wealthy State! :D
 
Maine's generous welfare benefits attracted thousands of Somalie immigrants that are skewing the numbers. They are unemployed and unemployable. They have traded standing in line at a UN feeding station in Somalia to standing in line at the welfare office in Maine.
 
Maine's generous welfare benefits attracted thousands of Somalie immigrants that are skewing the numbers. They are unemployed and unemployable. They have traded standing in line at a UN feeding station in Somalia to standing in line at the welfare office in Maine.


FYI!

A dying Maine mill town gets a fresh burst of energy.


Barely a decade ago, Lewiston, Maine, was dying. The once bustling mill town's population had been shrinking since the 1970s; most jobs had vanished long before, and residents (those who hadn't already fled) called the decaying center of town "the combat zone." That was before a family of Somali refugees discovered Lewiston in 2001 and began spreading the word to immigrant friends and relatives that housing was cheap and it looked like a good place to build new lives and raise children in peace. Since then, the place has been transformed. Per capita income has soared, and crime rates have dropped. In 2004, Inc. magazine named Lewiston one of the best places to do business in America, and in 2007, it was named an "All-America City" by the National Civic League, the first time any town in Maine had received that honor in roughly 40 years. "No one could have dreamed this," says Chip Morrison, the local Chamber of Commerce president. "Not even me, and I'm an optimist."

much more to read: Lewiston, Maine, Revived by Somali Immigrants - The Daily Beast
 
I consider welfare as any government assistance (ex. student loans) for able bodied persons between 18-65. We have a responsibility to care for the most vulnerable citizens (children, seniors, and the disabled). Any entitlement in the form of check, rent, heating, health ins., food stamps, free cell phones, "refundable tax credit", is welfare IMO.

Unemployment and Social Security are insurance programs that have been paid for by the claimants.

But whether or not these people in Maine "deserve" welfare (or UI or SS) is irrelevant. The fact is that the tipping point has been reached. States cannot "print money" and run trillion dollar deficits like D.C.


Unemployment insurance is paid for by the employer.
:eusa_shhh:
 

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