Why is Maine a poor state? (Portland, Mexico: live, versus, trailer)

[Northern Maine Land Man]

On this date in 1820, Maine became the 23rd state in U.S. Here's to our 194th year of statehood and self-government.

Find your state legislators and remind them about the Tenth Amendment. Get them to support Gov. LePage and help defeat common core.

https://www.facebook.com/NoCommonCoreMaine

If we don't defeat this our kids will be condemned to low paying jobs forever and they won't be able to compete in STEM. That's a new buzz word. It stands for science, technology, engineering and math.

The new subsistence farmers are here for many reasons, cheap land, a safe place to raise a family and a low hassle environment (if you know where to look). Why did many of our larger farmers leave a century ago? They heard there was land available where you could plow a furrow a mile long and never hit a rock. That's the real story.

[mainegrl2011]

Happy Statehood birthday, Great State of Maine--My Happy Place !

Been reading some of the more recent posts. I think some of the confusion may result from terminology. Many summer homes/cottages are not any kind of camp IMO. Do you think the Rockefellers' seriously referred to their place on MDI as a camp? There are camps for pre-freezing use and camps for year- round use. I have lots of friends who have camps for warmer weather and others who had camps that became camps to live in year round. Due to the long and often winding camp roads, life is easier with a truck with a plow and/or a 4wd vehicle. We mustn't forget huntin' camps or non huntin' camps that may not have any type of indoor potty....electricity or no electricity....generator or no generator....Some camps on lakes/ponds have lake/pond water pumped out of the lake/pond for an inside shower or an outside shower, but the water isn't for drinking...dig a well? don't dig a well? There are lots of details to consider when considering the correct term for the structure. It's the higher dollar, million(s) dollar "camps" that raise property taxes for the other "camps."

Some of the rocks may be an inconvenience, but rock walls and field stone fireplaces are lovely.

It has always seemed to me that many who move to Maine from another state are "escaping" something or trying to escape something....(don't forget how they often want Maine to be more like the place that was left) gigantic corporations and possibly their pollution, overpopulation, over crowdedness, lack of trees, non-muddy/relatively clear lakes and ponds and rivers, rafting, canoeing, and kayaking on a real river, desire for farmland, trails to walk that aren't part of a city park, etc. etc. etc. Is anyone really all that excited about walking a trail around a muddy little pond in a city park even if they took the time to put a fountain/mini geyser in the center? It seems that some would like to benefit from some of the things that larger places have but we prefer to separate ourselves at the same time; desire the benefits (lots of jobs, for example) but not the detriments, the harm, the negatives. Can you really have your cake and eat it too? Are working online and purchasing online two acceptable compromises? (I still remember the cd member who was upset because he couldn't buy cds/dvds locally near his house or maybe it was a camp...lol...in Washington County.) We're such a spoiled society who want everything at our fingertips on a moment's notice--why do you think "fast" food restaurants showed up and thrived? We want what we want and we want it now. Of course, I realize that people need jobs.

As many posts as we have on this thread, obviously this is a hot topic with lots of opinions, lots of people who don't agree but each one thinking he/she is correct....we could post indefinitely.

[beltrams]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

The new subsistence farmers are here for many reasons, cheap land, a safe place to raise a family and a low hassle environment (if you know where to look). Why did many of our larger farmers leave a century ago? They heard there was land available where you could plow a furrow a mile long and never hit a rock. That's the real story.

Yes, but all those areas with the rock-free soil have been taken over by huge agribusiness farms with absentee, and increasingly, overseas owners and it's driving real people out. Hopefully Maine resists that trend.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by beltrams

Yes, but all those areas with the rock-free soil have been taken over by huge agribusiness farms with absentee, and increasingly, overseas owners and it's driving real people out. Hopefully Maine resists that trend.

Back in my home-town, it started as rock-free soil in a barren desert. A small railroad station with little else. WPA built aqueducts brought flood irrigation. "Water is prosperity" is my home-town's motto proudly displayed on the memorial arch near the old rail station.

Prosperous farms drew huge crowds of people, and tract housing began to cover the fertile soil.

Cannery factories were built, today they have: Hunts, Libbys, Nestle, Hershey, Con-Agra, Blue Diamond, Del Monte, Frito, and more.

The city sprawled and sprawled, they are over 200,000 people now, tract housing is everywhere for all of the factory workers.

Not much of that bare soil is left.

Without petroleum fertilizers, synthetic herbicides / pesticides, and the aqueduct, no food would be produced there at all.

'Prosperity' took its toll over the course of 50 years.

[RiverBird]

Originally Posted by slyfox2

Maine is not a poor state. All the other states are just rich greedy states. Maine is normalcy.

This gives pause for thought. Seems to me, as an outsider who knows some of Maine, that the state has the wealthier folks buying in at $250K + for a home, and on the other end, lots and lots of people not so well off who may not even be able to afford a home. The members of the less economically fortunate population are concentrated in towns easily identified, but out in rural areas it's probably a mixed bag economically.

To me, living in Mass., Maine is more "normal." It seems to have a broader range economically. I think I could buy a home in Maine in an area I would not consider "crime-ridden" for under $200K, even less. I wouldn't be looking for upscale, or large square footage on the house, or acres. As a retirement home we'd want 1200 or 1300 sf tops, on an in-town (small town) property. When I read on here that one has to spend $250–$350K and on up for a "decent house in a decent area," it makes me think that perhaps Maine is wealthier than I thought.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

mainegrl2011 asks:
"Do you think the Rockefellers' seriously referred to their place on MDI as a camp?"

No, but their camp on Foster Island is and should be called a camp. Lovely place.

[Revi]

Maine is a "poor state", but I think it's because a lot of people do a lot of things for themselves that they have to pay for elsewhere. A lot cut their own wood, bake pies and do things that would cost elsewhere. We might not be driving BMW's, but a lot of people manage to live here and have a pretty nice life. It's just a little more of a "do it yourself" kind of place.

[Maineac]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

On this date in 1820, Maine became the 23rd state in U.S. Here's to our 194th year of statehood and self-government.

Find your state legislators and remind them about the Tenth Amendment. Get them to support Gov. LePage and help defeat common core.

https://www.facebook.com/NoCommonCoreMaine

If we don't defeat this our kids will be condemned to low paying jobs forever and they won't be able to compete in STEM. That's a new buzz word. It stands for science, technology, engineering and math.

The new subsistence farmers are here for many reasons, cheap land, a safe place to raise a family and a low hassle environment (if you know where to look). Why did many of our larger farmers leave a century ago? They heard there was land available where you could plow a furrow a mile long and never hit a rock. That's the real story.

The sole reason Lepage would want to defeat it would be political and to save the expense of providing an improved education to Maine students, so the savings could be returned to the taxpayers he helped out by raising the Estate Tax to $2MM. Poor, poor millionaires need all the help they can get. And I am a registered Republican that won't stand for tea party hogwash. Lepage needs to go, but the alternatives provide little improvement.

[lewimaech235]

I'm not saying Maine is a poor state, and I don't really know the entire dynamic of Maine, but from what I know, upstate Maine can be extremely rural, and essentially very far from any major cities, in which decent paying jobs would be available. From other things I've read from Maine, some places are extremely rural up there, and many of them are living off of the government. I don't know, but that could be a participating factor.

[mainebrokerman]

Originally Posted by lewimaech235

I'm not saying Maine is a poor state, and I don't really know the entire dynamic of Maine, but from what I know, upstate Maine can be extremely rural, and essentially very far from any major cities, in which decent paying jobs would be available. From other things I've read from Maine, some places are extremely rural up there, and many of them are living off of the government. I don't know, but that could be a participating factor.

yep, maine is rural