The Maine Economic Growth Council recently released its economic report. If you bought the media’s description of it as a “mixed bag,” showing “some parts of the economy doing well,” here are the real findings. The full report is at www.mdf.org.

?Personal income slipped to 37th in the nation, a 20 year low. Maine has been in an especially steep slide for the last four years.

?GDP growth is well behind national growth and New England’s.

?”From ’04 to ’05 Maine experienced zero job growth.”

??Thirty-two percent more Mainers hold multiple jobs than the national average. And not just because the Maine number is rising, but because the U.S. number is falling.

?R & D investment in Maine is below the U.S. and New England.

?Maine lags behind the U.S. in international exports, and the gap is widening.

?High-speed Internet use in Maine lags both New England and the U.S.

?New business starts were down, as compared to an increase for New England.

?Growth in manufacturing productivity lags behind the nation. The gap has nearly doubled in the last 15 years.

?Higher ed attainment is well behind that of New England.

?Our tax burden is 30% higher than New England and the U.S. In this section is something everyone should memorize: “Maine competes with other New England states to attract people and businesses, and its high tax burden puts the state at a disadvantage.”

?Health care costs are well above the U.S. average. [Not in this report, but noted during the recent joint news conferences of Maine’s largest health care providers, is that Maine’s physician pool is shrinking alarmingly.]

?Maine’s roads/bridges are poorer than in New England as a whole. New England’s roads have been improving, generally, and Maine’s have been worsening.

?Our poverty rate is about 25% higher than the New England region.

?Women’s income is “still significantly lower than men’s.”

?Death from chronic diseases are falling at about the same rate as the U.S., but as noted elsewhere, Maine achieved these reductions at a far higher (and faster accelerating) cost than the rest of the country.

?Health care coverage is higher than the U.S. The study notes that in “nonelderly” citizens with “at least some” employer health care, Maine does no better than the rest of the country, which demonstrates it is making up its place above the U.S. numbers with government health care handouts of one kind or another. This is not the kind of health care coverage statistic that indicates a healthy economy.

?Conservation land is increasing, and MEGC wants an even bigger increase. Many might question the value of putting more and more space off-limits to economic development.

?Sustainable forest land is only holding steady, and landowners might – might – be able to stave off any large reduction in their lands’ usability. But if conservation lands increase … .

?People are “sprawling” out of cities, though there is no data from other states, so readers can’t know how “bad” Maine’s sprawl really is.

Gov. Baldacci says this report proves his plan is what Maine needs. Putting superintendents out of work and freezing property valuations (the former looking less likely and the latter currently unconstitutional) won’t scratch the surface of Maine’s problems. This report is short on specific recommendations, but there is more than a whiff of suggestion that “investments” are the answer.

Will we ever learn that we cannot government-spend our way into prosperity? The governor says changes are necessary. Am I alone in wondering what he has been doing for the last four years? I found it instructive that during the campaign, Mr. Baldacci’s advertisements were light on accomplishments and heavy on assurances that “every day he works hard.”

In David Stockman’s 1987 The Triumph of Politics, Stockman (Ronald Reagan’s whiz-kid budget director) detailed his efforts implementing a plan of tax cuts and reductions in spending. Mr. Stockman found broad and eager legislative agreement on tax reform, but the politicians steadfastly refused to cut spending as required. It is easy for anyone to say, and many in our one-party state government do, that taxes are too high. Far fewer admit that spending – which drives all taxes – is the problem.

Maine’s population is aging, its incomes are falling and its economy is in a tailspin. It’s easy to see how more of its people are and will be receiving some form of public aid or paycheck. These folks do not elect those who promise to shut off the spigot. Remember the defeat of TABOR, which didn’t cut taxes one dime, but smelled too much like spending limits to Maine’s voters. And our voters have yet to meet a bond issue they didn’t like. Politicians have been all too ready to keep the dollars flowing.

Well, Mr. Baldacci is finally at least saying he is unhappy. But I’m not holding my breath.

Paul Tormey is a resident of Orrington.