Quick fixes and gimmicks won’t lift the economy

Bob Dylan famously sang that “you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” Well, if you’re living in America in 2008, you don’t need a political candidate to tell you which way the economy is going.

In this political season, voters have nonetheless heard plenty from candidates about how the economy is struggling, and about how the prices of just about everything are going up. Candidates assume that if they simply identify the problem, voters will believe they are “in touch” and will reward them with their vote.

As usual, many politicians are offering quick fixes and small gimmicks, when what we really need is a new direction in this country that is founded on making fundamental change.

When I think about the economy, I look at the two challenges that I hear about most from Maine businesspeople: the need for an educated work force and the cost of providing health insurance. The challenge of affording health care and higher education for their families is also never far from workers’ minds.

We can offer all the tax credits and other incentives to businesses that we want, but unless we increase the number of Mainers with a postsecondary education, we are not going to attract the kind of high-quality, high-paying jobs that Maine needs for the future. In 2006, the Governor’s Community College Advisory Council found that only 37 percent of Mainers between the ages of 25 and 64 hold a college degree, compared with the New England average of 46 percent.

That’s why I have proposed a National College Tuition Program that will pay the tuition of students who are admitted to public universities or colleges in their state. For less than we are now spending per year in Iraq, this program will ensure that Maine and our country have the educated work force we will need to compete in the increasingly competitive global economy.

Another reason that businesses struggle to be competitive not only in Maine but throughout America is the cost of providing health care for their employees. You might have heard that more money goes into providing health care for workers who build every car in Detroit than into steel. Even worse, we are not getting better health care outcomes for all that we spend – the World Health Organization ranked the U.S. health care system 37th in the world, just behind Costa Rica and just ahead of Slovenia.

What most of the industrialized countries have that are ranked ahead of us is a national health care system that covers everyone, doesn’t tie your health coverage to your job, and doesn’t depend on forcing businesses to give away big chunks of their profit so that private insurance companies can get rich.

We need a truly national single-payer health care system, and I have proposed expanding our existing Medicare program (with some enhancements) to everyone in the country. More than 90 million Americans are already covered by Medicare or Medicaid. Making Medicare a basic health plan for everyone would take a huge weight off the shoulders of American businesses.

To address the challenges that our economy now faces, we will need leaders in Washington who can tell you more than the latest price of a gallon of milk. We will need leaders who have a detailed, real plan that tells you what we really can do about it. You can read the details of my plans at www.BrennanforCongress.org.

Michael Brennan of Portland is a Democratic candidate for Maine’s 1st Congressional District.