DON’T WAIT FOR IT TO HAPPEN. MAKE IT HAPPEN!
Yep. This is a pep talk for those who want better. My first employment was making septic tanks at the age of 16 making $1.75 an hour. I quit just when I had made enough to pay my first car insurance payment.
I prefer not to use the word jobs. Employment is much more than just jobs. I posted a diploma here because in today’s world, we all need an education if we are to achieve our potential. Many businesses are great ideas but they fail because the business owner has never learned how to run a business. We don’t all need a college education. We do all need an education.
I very strongly support small businesses and entrepreneurship. They are the economic backbone of Maine’s economy. We often hear meaningless political platitudes like “I support more jobs”. These politicians are simply trying to get elected. Of course everybody supports more jobs. These politicians have no plan for creating the jobs. They merely want your vote.
I often speak with young people who would live in Maine if there was more “opportunity”. Maine is dripping with opportunity. Why do so many people from away come to Maine and start a thriving small business? It’s because they know how, when and where to run a business and because Maine has tremendous untapped economic potential.
Maine’s governments get an F when it comes to public education. New report ranks Maine in bottom 10 states for K-12 education Many Maine children live in poverty from which they will never escape. Many Maine children have low or no aspirations because their parents, if they have two parents, never demonstrated any aspirations or never encouraged them. Our legislature and upper echelons of the executive branch of state government live in a bubble-tied to ideology and out of touch with the people. Maine’s socioeconomic problems run deep. They will not be fixed by politicians boasting that they support more jobs. Don’t fall for it.
The only way to boost Maine’s employment and economy is to provide an excellent public education for our children. We need to teach them how to live in society, since many are not learning this at home. We need to teach them not only how to start and run a successful business, but that they CAN start and run a successful business. I work part-time to supplement my pension and Social Security. I hear and see frequently that many young people simply don’t want to work. I also see many young people who work hard and are proud of what they do.
There is no silver bullet. Maine’s economy is tied to the national economy. Manufacturing is all but dead. What Maine does have that much of the nation does not have is an abundance of natural resources and tremendous beauty. We need to develop these resources without destroying them. We must grow our tourism and especially our ecotourism industries. We must grow our agriculture and take advantage of the many thousands of acres of arable land that sit idle. Maine is the most heavily forested state in the nation. We must SUSTAINABLY manage our forests while taking care not to destroy them and the wildlife that they harbor. We must have SUSTAINABLE, environmentally friendly ocean based seafood industries. We must take advantage of our location and quality of life and develop the huge potential for remote internet-based businesses.
We must change our attitude from “Maine has little opportunity” to “Maine’s economic potential is tremendous. We can and must create our own opportunities to reach our fullest potential.”
