Fuel costs are impacting Maine (Clinton: how much, organic, tax rates)

[dmyankee]

Ditto K-Luv!

You have to understand. The economy is shaky, but it is not all gloom and doom everywhere. There are still a lot of well employed people south and west of us, while unemployment and underemployment may be rampant in sectors of the Northeast.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by dmyankee

Ditto K-Luv!

You have to understand. The economy is shaky, but it is not all gloom and doom everywhere. There are still a lot of well employed people south and west of us, while unemployment and underemployment may be rampant in sectors of the Northeast.

I've heard that Boston's economy is strong enough to be immune.

I was living in Minneapolis during the last national recession. I kept hearing people talk about it-about how bad it was-but I never noticed a darn difference. Some people can feel the pea under a stack of mattresses; I can sleep comfortably on top of a rock (well, sort of ).

[MRVphotog]

I guess I basically disagree with all the "sky is falling" people in here.

Unemployment is not rampend in NE. it is well below the national average. While real estate prices in many areas around the country have tanked here in NE it has remained steady. Ski resorts around NE have had a great season and as mentioned reservations for the summer tourists are strong.

Ups and downs in our economy is normal. No need to jump off the cliff. Adapt and overcome.

[AlisonL]

We've been through recessions before and came through fine. I am sure we will do so once again.

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by AlisonL

We've been through recessions before and came through fine. I am sure we will do so once again.

I'm not sure that this is at all true. IF gasoline prices rise to $6.50 per gallon, and residential fuel oil prices rise to $4 per gallon as some predict, the result will be a sea change in life as it is known in this country, with significant dislocations and financial difficulties for those dependent on the automobile or fuel oils.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Acadianlion

I'm not sure that this is at all true. IF gasoline prices rise to $6.50 per gallon, and residential fuel oil prices rise to $4 per gallon as some predict, the result will be a sea change in life as it is known in this country, with significant dislocations and financial difficulties for those dependent on the automobile or fuel oils.

I'm with Acadionlion here. Unless something stops the rising fuel cost in it's tracks immediately a recession will be the least of our troubles. It's easy to tell people to adjust and it will pass, and whistle past the grave yard. A great many people in this State have already adjusted as far as they can and still the prices keep rising.
Wait until the independent truckers strike for a taste of what's to come. If you think grocery prices are high now you're going to be paying Alaska prices in the not so distant future.$4.00 is a conservative estimate for a gallon of #2 oil next winter. If prices continue as they have $4.50 will be closer to the truth. That's $1237.00 to fill your oil tank....if you fill four times in a season that's nearly $5000 for just your heating oil. Think it can't happen? Did you ever think gas at $3.00 a gallon would look like a bargain?
People need to be nailing their Representatives and Senators to the wall. These people will do absolutely nothing until their email box is full, phone rings off the hook or an avalanche of mail arrives at their offices.
It's just not lowering the gas price that needs action. There needs to be a REAL effort to support alternative energy proposals and technologies. There are promising technologies available and no not growing corn for fuel....real alternatives which will return fossil fuel back to being a fossil.

[dmyankee]

Exactly MRV...

All the news I hear of back in MA and RI, is that the real estate correction is not resulting in huge declines of property value as predicted.

It might be difficult to comprehend because we live up here where $10/hr is considered a normal (even good) wage. The crappy part time job I do for bill paying is worth $20/hr to the south. The bulk of my customers cover the entire spectrum from lower middle class to the upper end. All of them seem to be able to afford the basics and then some. They return year after year.

My opinion is let the market work, with minimum government intervention and shake out the riff raff, let the dust settle and prevent the Feds from forming these market bubbles. Sure there will be a recession, but we will be all the better for it.

Everyone is too far removed from the real recessions of the post Vietnam era. The Carter era was a measured Stagflation (add the interest rate to the inflation rate.) Add that to the fact that THERE WAS NO GASOLINE WHATSOEVER TO BE HAD AT THE PUMPS at times, and when there was, you could only get 10 gallons if you were lucky!

The big event was on Saturday morning. We would actually bring a case of beer between a few car loads of us to wait in line for gas for the weekend. You kept a locked cap on your gas tank. Wages were a joke, but groceries ran up in price weekly.

Just trying to keep things in perspective. Done ranting! LOL.

[RMoore007]

Concerning the gas discussion here, a real world scenario:
I have been planning on taking off for Maine now for the past two months. I have the opportunity to spend a couple of months in Maine, help with some projects around the old house, play and explore my options for a future retirement. Balancing that with a business, house and community of friends and family out here in Northern California. In the last few days, I have decided to fly back there, not drive. Just bad timing at the pumps. Even at 25 mpg, it will cost over $600. in gas not counting some rooms and other things. Over a grand each way, probably. So I'm going to fly one way at $160. and buy a car. Thankfully, I have a friend that buys at the auction in CT.

Concerning outlooks; even what happens out here, affects me in Maine:
My business of 21 years, corporate relocations, has seen it's ups and downs during that time. I have been affected by each and every national event, as you can imagine. Including the present day economic high jinks. I have lost more on my house in the last 18 months than I make in a year. My business is a delivery and pickup type where hundreds of miles a day in full size cargo vans getting maybe 13 mpg is common. I have lost my biggest account in the last 2 years and got it back a year later. I just rehired a layed off employee. This kind of stuff happens. It did during the stock market and the dot com bust, 9-11, the war years and the political and economic environments of each presidency. If I could show you a graph of my best and worst years, it would look like I take a giant step backwards every few years followed by several years of climbing the ladder all over again. And when everything is going right with my business, I get a little concerned because I know what is probably coming. So I always kind of prepare for the unexpected, think of the worst case scenario, tighten the belt buckle and sweep out the cobwebs every so often. Usually my worst fears never materialize. I'm sure I can adjust to $5.00 gas if I have to. I may bite the bullet a while but will be forced to raise prices on my services at some point. And that is the nub for the rest of you. It just doesn't stop with the delivery guy raising his delivery prices, it of course mushrooms from there. I got rid of a gas guzzling suv that I drive for my business and got a small wagon. I will do what I can. I had to turn a potentially large new account down just last week because it was too far away to service it properly. I would need another employee and van. I've decided to keep my business small and manageable again like I did before when times were tough. In a sense, I'm making less to make more. It works for me. I have found out over the years that sometimes expanding my business is just a lot of "busy work" to keep employees employed. And I don't really reap the benefits of the higher revenues that I perceived I would. Live and learn. My business out here directly affects whether I can start building on my property in Dover and start another small business back there. I have put the building on hold for a while and other things too because of what is happening in the country today. But I will move forward and become like that which I think about.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Mainah observes:
" That's $1237.00 to fill your oil tank....if you fill four times in a season that's nearly $5000 for just your heating oil. Think it can't happen? Did you ever think gas at $3.00 a gallon would look like a bargain?
People need to be nailing their Representatives and Senators to the wall. These people will do absolutely nothing until their email box is full, phone rings off the hook or an avalanche of mail arrives at their offices."

Until our two senators cease their obedience to the environmental extremists we won't move towards energy independence. There are oil fields in Alaska bigger than the reserves in Saudi Arabia. The caribou won't mind a bit if we drill there. There is reportedly a huge natural gas deposit in the Gulf of Maine that could be bigger than Sable Island. The lobsters won't mind if we use some. and it's a proven fact that fish do very well around oil rigs. What could possibly motivate our senators to want to choke off our energy supply?

[dmyankee]

Olympia and Susan are duds!

Last election, teachers were telling their young students that if their parents voted for Bush, the caribou were going to die.

This year, they are enforcing, in their little minds, that if their parents vote for McCain, the polar bears will all drown.