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More in Opinion
Letter: Payne column misses the point
Feb 02, 2010 12:00 pm
Tony Payne receives high marks for projecting misconceptions about business here in Maine.
He is stuck on the idea that taxes and worker benefits stunt job creation. Surely low taxes are helpful to entice employers to locate to this state. However, there are other more compelling reasons why companies are avoiding Maine or failing in Maine. Businesses do not fail here in Maine because of taxes. They fail because of low-quality managers and an untrained workforce.
Statistics tells us that Maine has one of the lowest percentages of highly educated professionals in the nation. I think that tells the story about our predicament with job creation and industry staying power. The quality and competency of the workforce is our No.1 problem to solve.
Finally, Payne’s opinion that sick leave is not good for business contradicts the national reality.
All major companies, including companies here in Maine, have benefit policies as part of the total compensation packages with competitive benefits including paid sick leave and paid family leave for full-time employees. Without such benefits you cannot attract and retain good qualified people in today’s business environment.
“Lead, follow, or get out of the way” can be applied to all the participants in industry, including management, workers, and teary-eyed business owners. Where have you been, Tony?
Svend Strandbygaard
Falmouth
Comments
tpayne says:
Mr. Strandbygaard's argument about paid sick leave as a component of business attraction applies less to this proposed unfunded mandate and more to the need to support higher education. He is correct that we have a low percentage of residents with higher degrees compared to the region and that it is an impediment to business expansion. However, when two-thirds of those Maine copllege graduates labeled "the best and brightest" leave the state for lack of career opportunities, it is not because Maine lacks a mandate for paid sick leave. It most certainly is because Maine's regulatory and tax policies discourage entrepreneurs. I recently talked with a businessman who sold his enterprise to a national company because he was afraid to keep all his eggs in Maine's uncertain business environment. Instead of being the acquiring company, he chose to be acquired.
As a former small business owner and insurance executive for two of the state's largest insurance companies, I have been from one end of the state to the other. It is easy to tell that Maine's economy is based on over-burdened family businesses. Our state policies have resulted in apallingly low rankings in five national indexes on business environment. Of the five rankings, we do no better than tenth worst. Add another unfunded mandate on the backs of small employers and that ranking will average in the low single digits.
"The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars but in ourselves...."