I found the May 25 Sun Journal editorial, “Businesspeople, not politicians, create new jobs,” to be fascinating. I know engineers with imagination and expertise who were also bold business leaders. They employed a number of Mainers in good-paying jobs. They told me that when it got to the point where they had to spend a day or a day-and-a-half each week just doing paperwork for the state, they decided to close their businesses and work for themselves.
As for the editorial’s second point, creating good jobs is not as important as keeping those jobs. Not just Maine’s executive corps, but executives all over America have refocused their personal plans on getting as much money as possible out of their companies. Even such stalwart Mainers as Harold Alfond moved much business off shore where the wages were less than in Maine (Puerto Rico comes to mind).
I recall reading in the Sun Journal the words of the lady in charge of the shirt finishing room for Hathaway. She said that those $35 dress shirts were produced in Waterville for a cost of less than $60 a dozen. Company officials decided they could move production off shore and maybe cut that cost another $10.
I would like to see a survey of what today’s “bold business leaders” think about morals, ethics, why the average effective wage for workers has gone steadily down, the paperwork requirements of the state of Maine, and the appropriate amount that should be paid for executive salaries.
John S. H. Carter, Lovell
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