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[deleted] t1_isa825e wrote

Maine's younger generation is getting out of the state. There's no high paying jobs here, except in government, and they all handshake.

No careers here, and they don't care to build the infrastructure to support it.

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Elouiseotter t1_isaczc0 wrote

When I was up visiting family last year they were complaining about people wanting to build more housing in town. Then then asked when I think I’ll move back to Maine. These people just don’t get it.

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LumpyBumpyToad t1_isajgqx wrote

When they came around Auburn with their little clipboards because they hated the rezoning I asked three different people for solutions.

WHAT SOLUTIONS DO YOU HAVE?

Fucking nothing. The same generation that cries about the death of community in America are the ones who killed it by only caring about themselves.

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[deleted] t1_isal5zw wrote

The same people saying "No handouts" are the same people having their businesses subsidized by tax payer money.

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_freeheeler_ t1_isavz97 wrote

I have a buddy who works at a Marina, and he was ringing off names of people's parents we know who came in and bought boats, one guy bought two boats. Hit the PPP loan site and he had 250k given to him. These are same people complaining about the 10k given to people with college debt.

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[deleted] t1_isc4l74 wrote

YES!!

Tax debt is being forgiven everywhere and the town is only putting up receipts for a dollar. It's crazy to watch once you're apart of it.

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portlandmainedad t1_isceafi wrote

And also say "no one wants to work anymore!" Meanwhile... record employment numbers.

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YolksOnU t1_isambvd wrote

That generation voted to have low taxes for themselves, low wages for their employees, no new neighbors, and a 30-40 year vacation at the end of their life on taxpayer funds with heavily subsidized health care to boot. There's your fucking problem with America, right there.

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[deleted] t1_isafmqv wrote

Presque Isle is a slush funding town for businesses, because they're hoping they alleviate the workforce problem. Unfortunately when the town government itself takes advantage of this, it's borderline corrupt. Friends and family get employed by trusts created by a corporation that was created by a council, subsidized by the town, run by "big business".

The audacity of it is amusing.

They are enjoying their manufactured housing crisis every time they transport outside residents up here. Then they get more federal funding, and claim those are the budget issues.

It's quite criminal the way they are spending tax payer money.

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Fireonpoopdick t1_isdoq4w wrote

Almost like the rich are trying to buy out the locals because there is water here and everywhere else will be desert in 30 years.

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[deleted] t1_isejz9o wrote

This is the truth, they want landowners out and selling. If they just can hold on, we might see progress, but they're manufacturing the situation as is to push them out.

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YolksOnU t1_isa99yh wrote

That's just the thing too, particularly when you get outside of Portland.

The people that live here chose not to build a place where their children could grow up, have careers, own homes, and raise families.

And this is the end result.

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[deleted] t1_isac7zx wrote

The greatest generation treated Maine very well and left plenty for the younger generation. However they are all egoists clearly, it's all "pull up your boot straps", and as out of touch as you can get.

They will not build more housing, they will only build rentals. The price of houses can't drop, they need as much tax money as possible and just keep spending it on frivolous things.

Immigrant labor will continue to be bused up, and housed by ACAP, bleeding money.

Presque Isle is building an "aerospace park", subsidizing an Air BnB through the library, and are building a recreation center. I just don't get it, it's a clown show.

​

The Millennials barely received any wealth from the Boomers, what they did get they were lucky to have because they just happened to be born earlier than the rest. All that's left for the younger generation are mill jobs, walmart, and mcdonalds. Since they all pay the same, guess where they're going?

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coolcalmaesop t1_isabhww wrote

Thinking about coming up with a plan to move my family out of Maine. After growing up in rural Maine and experiencing all the bad parts of rural life I have no interest in going back and there’s no options left in the city. We’re working harder than we’ve ever worked and getting bent over groceries, fuel, and paying twice what we paid for rent a decade ago. Employers aren’t budging on wages and god forbid you take a job for the benefits, good luck having a day granted off to even use the benefits. Trying to break out of the generational cycle of being poor and uneducated from rural Maine feels like a farce. I’ll never make enough to even take care of my aging grandparents and they had to sell everything off just to have a place to finish their lives with dignity.

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[deleted] t1_isag0sg wrote

THIS!!

They are totally unaware of the scam that elder living facilities are, and how much wealth they will drain from your family.

They don't want the farmers to become developers, so they just trickle in jobs. Otherwise the wealth would be split up, and no one would live in the city.

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deadstump t1_isat7l1 wrote

I tried to move back to central Maine a couple years ago, and there were just so few jobs for me (mechanical engineer) that I had to drive down to Portland for anything. And even then there wasn't much. Left again.

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[deleted] t1_isc4vf0 wrote

Fuck.

A lot of the trouble was the closure of the base up North. Ruined the economy instantly.

Wish you the best!

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WangnanJahad t1_isdezfk wrote

If you mean Loring that closed back in the 90s. We had a pretty strong economy all the way through to the mid to late aughts.

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[deleted] t1_isaf9kq wrote

Do you think remote work will change or help the situation?

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[deleted] t1_isah1h6 wrote

This is the saving grace for some, but you will be forced to live in the city, and subject to the whims of the renters market. It is still terrible internet, and expensive to afford enough bandwidth to video call. Forget running VPNs or anything like that. Haha

There is no real internet infrastructure to support remote work outside the main drag.

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terminalE469 t1_iscm7tf wrote

i have a stable connection and 100mbps with star link

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c4boom13 t1_iscnf1n wrote

Starlink can help but it's still prohibitively expensive for people in Maine who need it the most.

Unfortunately more serious build outs starting about 20 years ago was the real answer but we can't fix that. Fiber is coming and helpful, but even a WISP with a decent backbone could have done a lot in some areas.

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[deleted] t1_iscor7r wrote

Starlink is good. But we're talking about an actual internet infrastructure, not outliers.
I mean I could quote that commercial, I need a job, to get an education, to get a job, to get money..etc..

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Faendol t1_isatks4 wrote

If your willing to go stem there's a decent amount of options. Garmin, Idexx and Wex are all desperate for ppl rn.

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Nomadbytrade t1_isazd6l wrote

IDeXX doesnt want to pay anyone, theres a reason they are desperate.

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Faendol t1_isb07xk wrote

I mean I haven't worked their myself but their dev salaries are pretty good and the people I know that work their are happy.

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c4boom13 t1_iscnuzb wrote

Idexx is... Weird. I don't work there but know a lot of folks who do/have. They did bump salaries for devs to be more competitive, but non dev folks don't seem to get the same attention unless they're director or higher.

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Odeeum t1_isbuue7 wrote

Wex just fired 150 people today, 2 months after announcing record profits.

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portlandmainedad t1_iscgz0e wrote

Applied at Idexx. Took two months to get back to me. Didn't get the job. Got basically the same job somewhere else.

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meowmix778 t1_isb2c9g wrote

I left nh for this reason. If I didn't have family I'd be gone from new england without thinking. The WFH thing got me a decent job but that's a band aid. I still live in a town allergic to change.

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[deleted] t1_isc4gfj wrote

NH is actually a bit better off, since people often commute to MA and bring in outside money.

I wish you the best!

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meowmix778 t1_iscllz1 wrote

You'll find it's the same as maine really. The southern part has it all. Otherwise good luck, especially in the lakes region. The greater Portland area has more businesses and more opportunities than most of NH. And really the out of control property taxes in NH make it a deal breaker. Honestly both places don't make it easy for young professionals.

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mainegreenerep t1_isah5ug wrote

> There's no high paying jobs here, except in government

That's actually not true.

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[deleted] t1_isahp5j wrote

Elaborate, and discuss, thanks.

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yeahigotnothing t1_isc1sn1 wrote

Maine ranks 19th in state employee wages. Benefits are good, but nobody in state employment is getting wealthy. Private sector easily pays 1.5 to 3x as much for same role.

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[deleted] t1_isc3ov2 wrote

You could look up Presque Isle's budget for 2023 online.

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anode_cathode t1_isaoiyf wrote

Aside from standard reg capture jobs like lawyer, electrician, etc. it's very much true. No one is moving here for tech, for example. Hopefully that will change.

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[deleted] t1_isaoxnn wrote

The town councilor in Presque Isle is making 120k in the 2023 budget.

He says all wage increases are based on data from the private sector.

So the standard set for a high paying job is 120k, I want that to be clear.

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AffectLast9539 t1_isb3md7 wrote

so we're basing our opinions on the unconfirmed justifications of a small-town councilor giving himself $120K?

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[deleted] t1_isc48io wrote

Unconfirmed?

Look at your own budgets ffs. Haha

It's Aroostook county, it receives government funds just for being undeveloped. It also receives funds for it's "crisis". Those funds are misappropriated everywhere, and it's ignorance to that, that has created this economy.

Presque Isle is a hub of the county up north. The budget is available online.

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AffectLast9539 t1_iscuod0 wrote

No, I'm saying his justifications for his salary are unconfirmed. "Private sector data" doesn't sound very convincing.

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DOGO8991 t1_isef3wk wrote

>"crisis"

What is it?

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[deleted] t1_isejvh9 wrote

Bused up labor, ACAP housing funds were used up since they were paying landlords to house them.left no money for people who live here, and can't actually afford to do so cause of raising rates. They call it a "crisis" but it's manufactured.

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Faendol t1_isatwbp wrote

There are loads of available tech jobs, imo the problem is housing more than job availability.

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c4boom13 t1_isco7fa wrote

Most of the tech jobs paid like shit compared to national competition though. Unum, Tyler Tech, Idexx, Delorme all paid worse than similar jobs in other states. The pay was good for Maine but it's a hard sell when you can move and get a 30% bump with the same skills. It's got a bit better as they realized they had to compete with out of state hiring, but it's still not great.

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_freeheeler_ t1_isawivk wrote

This is pretty true, I had a decent job doing sysadmin stuff before I left Maine and I would throw out apps for other jobs and would land interviews but even with a decent paycheck, the housing is just too unreasonable.

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