Economic Policy

Latest Articles

Spookin' the horses

Scary trumps stupid every time
Move over, Freddy Krueger. Here come the real scary monsters: Libby Mitchell and Paul LePage.
By AL DIAMON | June 16, 2010

Bragdon vs. Trevorrow, Greens, District 120

Primary 2010
Charles Bragdon and Anna Trevorrow vie in the East End legislative race
By DEIRDRE FULTON | May 19, 2010

IM (2010)
Consider Patience a penance for Seattle-based producer Jake One, who recently laced the soundscape for Philly coke-rapper Freeway’s remarkable Stimulus Package.
By CHRIS FARAONE | April 21, 2010

Fed up and low down

For once, the beleaguered taxpayers of Maine can’t lose
Just kidding. Of course they’ll lose.
By AL DIAMON | April 21, 2010

Financial Reform Proposals

Big Fat Whale
"You broke asshole"
By BRIAN MCFADDEN | April 22, 2010

Baldacci, Dems raise broad-based taxes

What Promise? Dept.
Despite numerous repeated claims that he and his party will not raise "broad-based taxes" while attempting to solve Maine's decade-old budget disaster, Democratic governor John Baldacci and legislative Democrats have done exactly that, and are now expanding those efforts by increasing an additional tax that hits many Mainers.
By JEFF INGLIS | February 17, 2010

Two great flavors

Freeway and Jake One team up to lay it down
"When I said that I wanted to use 'What We Do' as a single," Freeway explains, "people said it couldn't happen because it didn't have a hook. You know how the rest of that one goes."
By CHRIS FARAONE | February 16, 2010

Romney's new character: Macho man

In his new book, Mitt makes himself over as a muscular defender of America
Few things are more predictable than a GOP presidential candidate posturing as a he-man protector of America, and depicting his Democratic counterpart as an effete, appeasing girlie-man on the dangerous world stage.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | February 10, 2010

Trying times for Obama

Tough times for the nation
It was only a matter of time before President Barack Obama turned into a deficit hawk. But it is a measure of the desperation sparked by Scott Brown's election to Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat that Obama hatched before the conclusion of the 2010 congressional elections and unveiled a spending freeze.
By EDITORIAL | January 27, 2010

Mean everything to nothing

True tax stories
My favorite movie-advertising phrase is "based on a true story." Translated into English, it means: "more or less, a big fat lie."
By AL DIAMON | January 13, 2010

Alternatives abound

Other states have found options
The 2009 tax increases around the country.
By LANCE TAPLEY | January 06, 2010

Chafee and the hazards of a bold politics

Tax Dept.
By the time a candidate for major office steps up to the microphone to officially declare for the seat, everyone already knows his intentions.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | January 06, 2010

Instead of cuts: guts

Raise taxes on the rich? Only one candidate says ‘yes’?
Let’s assume, reader, that you’re concerned about economic and social justice. For those in real need — people who are poor, sick, old, mentally ill, addicted, disabled — you want decent care. You’re concerned, too, about proper funding of schools, community colleges, and university campuses.
By LANCE TAPLEY | January 06, 2010

Road hog

Bulldozing the Maine Better Transportation Association
You probably live on a lousy road.
By AL DIAMON | October 21, 2009

Orthodox caveman

Maine’s GOP is suffering from a muddle in the middle
Wanted: a right-wing wacko to run for governor of Maine.
By AL DIAMON | October 14, 2009

Review: Capitalism: A Love Story

Moore of the same: Capitalism fails to make a prophet
In his new film about the Wall Street meltdown, Michael Moore — surprise! — denounces capitalism and its exploitation of the working class. Not that he's above doing a little exploiting himself.
By PETER KEOUGH | September 29, 2009

Death and taxes

We’re all going to die
Here's the simple truth about Maine's automobile excise tax: If you don't support the initiative on the November ballot to cut it sharply, we're all going to die.
By AL DIAMON | September 23, 2009

Building on green energy

Going green
This month, my landlord will install new energy-efficient windows in my apartment. This is great news: Better insulation will reduce both my energy use and my heating bills. I'm happy to be experiencing first-hand what many agree is the single most-important step in the fight against global warming: eco-friendly building upgrades and weatherization.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | September 02, 2009

Your Money

Here comes the FairPoint bailout
We thought the bailouts were over. They're not. FairPoint Communications, the nightmare that has become northern New England's landline provider, is seeking tax dollars that could help it fulfill the promises made to regulators in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont when the company spent $2.3 billion to buy Verizon's systems here.
By JEFF INGLIS | September 02, 2009

Hey, hey, we're the Monkees

Politics and other mistakes
The law of averages says if you put 100 monkeys in a room with 100 computers, they'll eventually write a workable national health-care bill. Apparently, that rule doesn't apply to 100 US senators.
By AL DIAMON | September 02, 2009

Review: The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard

Idiotic, but not a total lemon
Cash for clunkers? Not completely.
By SHAULA CLARK | August 19, 2009

The Mighty Wind

New England is answering Obama's clarion call and beginning to harvest its most viable renewable energy source. In Rhode Island, can Deepwater also blow life into our ailing economy?
The Rhode Island recession, among the worst in the country, has become something of a national curiosity: how could such a little state be in such big trouble?
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | August 19, 2009

A mighty wind

New England plays catch-up in the green-energy race
This past Earth Day, President Barack Obama, speaking at an Iowa wind-turbine factory, delivered a gusty peroration. "The nation that leads the world in creating new energy sources will be the nation that leads the 21st-century global economy," he said. "America can be that nation. America must be that nation."
By MIKE MILIARD | August 24, 2009

More fun in Nawt Prov

Tales of Ebay Cholly. Plus, our sorry state, kissing cops, and the GOP.
Sal Mancini would be proud.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | July 29, 2009

Happy together

Politics and other mistakes
There's an easy way to make everyone happy.
By AL DIAMON | July 29, 2009

My aim is true

Talking Politics
I believe in having clear and achievable goals.
By AL DIAMON | June 24, 2009

Free and easy

10 cash-free ways to make summer not suck
With a beach season approaching in which most people will be squeezing quarters till the eagles fart, it's fair enough to ask aloud, "Is this going to be the worst summer ever ?"
By CHRIS FARAONE | June 11, 2009

A kick-start for conservation

But Maine's new energy plan may not go far enough
To make the most of huge chunks of incoming federal economic-stimulus cash (and to get their hands on more of it in the first place), the Maine Legislature has to ramp up its energy-efficiency planning — on the double.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | May 20, 2009

Men plus money equals mess

The financial crisis is a man-made problem. And it might not have occurred if we had listened to women.
Since Iceland is something of the epicenter of the global financial crisis — its government being the first to essentially go belly up — it's probably not surprising that the Icelanders have come up with the most novel and interesting theory as to what caused the meltdown. And they may be right.
By STEVEN STARK | May 14, 2009

Do state officials know best?

Word From The Top
Like when the country goes to war, most news reports of how state government is handling the H1N1 “swine flu” crisis have just repeated what officials have said.
By LANCE TAPLEY | May 07, 2009