“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when we first practise to deceive.” -Sir Walter Scott

Lane: I thank Tommy for dropping off a Keenan Auction Company brochure, which lists commercial property up for auction in Maine. He has given these to me for a couple of months and it is shocking to read what businesses have gone under. There are a small number of businesses that have owners retiring but something tells me that they tried to sell their businesses and couldn’t. So this begs the question: How good is Maine doing? Recent articles in papers have stated Maine’s corporate taxes are down. Are we in for improvement or will Maine’s oppressive tax burden force Maine into recession?

Lane/Tommy: We already know that the housing market is in a slump. Some predict it will not last long and others state the opposite. Should we be optimistic or pessimistic? We have no idea how many sub-prime loans were given to Mainers but we can bet it is a significant number that will lead to foreclosures. Is this the tip of the financial iceberg that will sink Maine or will we be saved by broad-basing the sales tax and taxing those rich flatlanders that visit our state because our meals and lodging taxes are not high enough to drive them away. Of course, what you must realize is that Mainers purchase approximately 70 percent of all meals served in restaurants but we do have the option to travel to New Hampshire or Canada to shop and eat.

Tommy: Maine borrowed money from the state retirees health benefit fund. This debt was once around $3.2 billion but our governor extended the date for retiring this debt until 2028. The projected interest will now be $7.9 billion (by reliable sources). This will become one-fifth of the state budget that our children and grandchildren will pay. It is time for caution regarding any borrowing by our state. I have heard that the governor and legislature may propose around $500 million in bonds this year. Can we borrow ourselves into prosperity? Doesn’t it make sense that it will come to a point where the interest will become overwhelming? Please remember once again who will pay for this. Why don’t elected and appointed officials spend money like it is their own?

Lane: Something that makes no sense at all to me are the trains to nowhere. I really laugh at the moronic scheme to have a train from Portland to Fryeburg. Now I happen to be very familiar with the town of Fryeburg. What wonderful tourist attraction lies in that town other than the famous Fryeburg Fair? Are tourists going to travel to Fryeburg to stare at the White Mountains off in the distance? What public transportation infrastructure does that town have at the present time? Didn’t we just spend money to make the Mountain Division Trail a place for people to walk and now someone wants to return trains? It smells of those in the legislature that sponsor bills to increase the length of incarceration of criminals and then complain the jails are getting crowded.

Lane/Tommy: Our state senate president has proposed bonding $40 million for a passenger rail system from Portland to Brunswick. Didn’t we just spend taxpayer dollars to extend the same rail system from Portland to Rockland for the Lobster Festival? How well did that do and why aren’t state officials using that as a prime example? The only reason we would suggest building a passenger rail system to New Hampshire is so the Maine masses can be liberated from the crushing tax burden.

Actually Lane and Tommy, of Windham, hope that passenger trains return to Maine. They have visions of joining either the Jesse James or Dalton gangs provided that our legislators haven’t.