Maine’s unemployment rate is 3.4 percent. Hence, everything Gov. Paul LePage did to transfer people from welfare to work helped aid against labor shortages. Now LePage is advocating against increasing the state’s minimum wage to $12 per hour by 2020. If LePage was wise to add potential workers into the labor force before Maine’s unemployment rate hit historical lows, do you think he might be correct advocating keeping our minimum wage at $7.50 per hour?

Let’s look at records that were kept back since 1792 to find out that answer. America generally has an economic depression every 30 years. If we don’t, then we experience a great depression every 60 years. The “Great Recession” of 2008 was classified by a number of people as a minor depression. Recessions tend to occur around seven years from each other. Look at the trends to see forecast where the future will lead. There are no new fashion trends because consumer spending is down. Consumer spending is two-thirds of American’s economy.

The conclusion is: we will have another economic downturn between now and 2020. Remember, it could be worse than “Great Recession” of 2008, or it could be a true Great Depression. Like it or not, LePage is correct in stating that voting this November to increase our state’s minimum wage will be devastating due to our economic cycles of downturns.

Douglas Papa

Winthrop

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