We have never engineered out economic downturns. In fact, we are repeating the mistake of allowing bankers to continue what they did that lead up to the 2008 economic downturn. That means we can have a repeat of the 2008 “Great Recession.”

Before that starts, we need to consider focusing on reducing the unemployment rate. We all need to consider obtaining secondary jobs, so, when the jobs start disappearing, the unemployment rate won’t go up immediately.

Since we now need to create two jobs for every person who can spare the time to work them, we need to make it easy. In order to do that, we need to keep the minimum wage at $7.50 per hour. Two minimum-wage jobs can lead to an annual income in the low to mid $20,000 range. This will help push back the threat of overproduction of goods and services, which can spark economic downturns.

We know that another economic downturn is going to happen. To prepare for this, we need to have a strategy for when the jobs start to disappear, as they do during every economic downturn. The strategy should not include raising the minimum wage in Maine. If every person who wanted two jobs, including those currently on welfare, had them, then we would be more prepared than we are today. It’s not the quality of minimum wage that is the problem. It’s the quantity of jobs available for those who want more than one to prepare for the economic worst.

Douglas Papa

Hallowell

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