The Maine Wire
  • News
  • Commentary
  • Maine Wire TV
  • About
  • Contact
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending News
  • Maine Wire Podcast: Carroll Conley on Abortion, LGBT, and Religious Liberty in Maine
  • Dems Block Debate on Gov’s Late-Term Abortion Bill, Refuse GOP Questioning of Medical Experts
  • Partisan Vote Ends Brakey’s Bid for Welfare Work Requirements
  • Democrats Block Parental Rights Policies, Including Bill to Let Parents “Opt Out” of Critical Race Theory Programming
  • White House Bracing for Supreme Court to Kill Student Loan Forgiveness Program: WSJ
  • State Legislature Poised to Pass Bill Establishing Home “Energy Scoring System” That Will Be Voluntary — For Now
  • Syrian Asylum Seeker Targets Children in Stabbing Spree at French Playground
  • Study Shows Nearly a Third of Gen Z Supports In-Home Government Surveillance Cameras
Facebook Twitter Instagram
The Maine Wire
Login
Friday, June 9
  • News
  • Commentary
  • Maine Wire TV
  • About
  • Contact
The Maine Wire
Home » News » Honor the Will of the People, But Do No Harm
Commentary

Honor the Will of the People, But Do No Harm

Paul LePageBy Paul LePageDecember 28, 2016No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Reddit
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

As we look forward to the New Year, we think of those who are struggling to get by. Unfortunately, their struggle is about to get worse.

Maine needs to attract more jobs, more families and more opportunity. Raising the minimum wage too high, too fast will make it much harder to do that.

Increasing low wages sounds like a good idea on the face of it. But the economic devil is in the details. A couple of sentences on a ballot do not explain the details of the law that regulates the wage hike.

If the question asked voters to slash the pay of their favorite waitress, they would have said no. If the question asked voters to force the elderly to pay higher prices on everything they buy, they would have said no.

And if the question asked voters if they want their friends laid off because employers could not absorb the increase in the minimum wage, they would have said no.

Most voters didn’t realize the minimum wage would automatically go up every year, even during a downturn in the economy. They didn’t know that with inflation or hyper-inflation, the minimum wage could jump to $20. It would put virtually every Maine company in jeopardy.

The socialists at Maine People’s Alliance basically made up their own indexing to downplay the effect of the automatic increase in the minimum wage. The cost-of-living increases in Social Security are based on the national Consumer Price Index.

But Maine People’s Alliance used the Northeast region’s CPI to increase the minimum wage at a much higher rate than Social Security. This will hurt 325,000 Mainers on fixed incomes who can’t afford to pay higher prices on anything they buy.

Voters didn’t realize most Maine businesses cannot afford these huge increases in labor costs. Black Mountain was forced to raise the price of lift tickets to cover their new labor costs. And the cost of milk is already going up. In response to efforts around the country to raise the minimum wage, McDonald’s will replace workers with self-service kiosks. Even businesses in California, which is a very wealthy state, can’t absorb their higher minimum wage. Businesses in California that closed because of these new labor costs include a bookstore, a pub, restaurants and bakeries, a coffee shop, grocery stores and clothing manufacturers.

Maine is not California. We have a fragile economy, and this new minimum wage could destroy it. I will not purposely harm the economy. I am asking the Legislature to work with me to do no harm.

We must fix the law to make sure it does not harm our elderly, our workers and our small businesses. We can honor the will of the people to raise the minimum wage, but slow it down to give businesses time to absorb it. We can eliminate the annual increase, just as we got rid of the automatic increase in the gas tax. And we can restore the tip credit so restaurant servers can continue to make $20 to $30 an hour.

The people have spoken. Now it’s the Legislature’s duty to make sure the law does not ruin our economy. Again, do no harm.

Commentary Featured
Previous ArticleA Thank You to the ‘Hamilton Electors’
Next Article Hard Facts and Legislation Surrounding Gun Control
Paul LePage

Governor Paul LePage (R) has served as the 74th Governor of Maine since 2011. Prior to his time as governor, LePage served as the general manager of Marden's and as the mayor of Waterville.

Related Posts

Question A Helps Fix the Mess Socialists Made in Portland

June 6, 2023

Flashback: BlackRock CEO Says Investment Firm Forces Companies to Change Behavior on Diversity with Threats of Impacts to Compensation

June 5, 2023

Democrats, Inequity, and Exclusion: Desjardin

June 5, 2023

Leave A Reply

Recent News

Maine Wire Podcast: Carroll Conley on Abortion, LGBT, and Religious Liberty in Maine

June 8, 2023

Dems Block Debate on Gov’s Late-Term Abortion Bill, Refuse GOP Questioning of Medical Experts

June 8, 2023

Partisan Vote Ends Brakey’s Bid for Welfare Work Requirements

June 8, 2023

Democrats Block Parental Rights Policies, Including Bill to Let Parents “Opt Out” of Critical Race Theory Programming

June 8, 2023

White House Bracing for Supreme Court to Kill Student Loan Forgiveness Program: WSJ

June 8, 2023
Newsletter

News

  • News
  • Campaigns & Elections
  • Opinion & Commentary
  • Media Watch
  • Education
  • Media

Maine Wire

  • About the Maine Wire
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Submit Commentary
  • Complaints
  • Maine Policy Institute

Resources

  • Maine Legislature
  • Legislation Finder
  • Get the Newsletter
  • Maine Wire TV

Facebook Twitter Instagram Steam RSS
  • Post Office Box 7829, Portland, Maine 04112

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

Sign In or Register

Welcome Back!

Login below or Register Now.

Lost password?

Register Now!

Already registered? Login.

A password will be e-mailed to you.