Here we go again. On July 29, this newspaper ran a story on how our politicians want to spend $8 million for a north woods economic plan (“Economic plan details announced for Maine forest products assistance”). They have also said in the past that taxpayers should create a national park, or spend billions to build an east-west highway.

What they actually are doing is using our tax dollars to buy our votes. They tell us it’s the only way we can create a healthy economy in northern Maine. All the while they are sucking the life blood out of the economy with ever higher federal and state taxes.

I have a different idea. Without spending any tax dollars, the state and federal government could give industry and commerce a huge financial boost by allowing triple trailer sets and turnpike doubles (two 53-foot trailers in tandem) to run the highways in and out of northern Maine. Many states already do this, with Massachusetts and Oklahoma being good examples.

This move would reduce shipping cost almost by half for employers and also remove equal amounts of exhaust fumes. The savings in shipping will be passed on to the consumers in farthest reaches of Maine by helping lower their prices on imports. More importantly, it would cut the cost of sending exports down to Kittery.

It’s time to be smarter and tell politicians to stop wasting tax dollars. We need to produce an economy that will work for the people of Maine.

John Hopkins

Manchester