LePage criticizes personal income growth report
Gov. Paul LePage criticized a federal report that ranked Maine low in personal income growth and said the state looks a lot better when not including federal payments for programs like Social Security, Medicare, unemployment benefits and Medicaid.
A new report by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis said the state’s personal income grew by only 0.5% in 2014's first quarter, ranking Maine 39th in the country and last in New England. The rate was below the 0.8% national rate. The report attributed that to Maine's continuing refusal to expand Medicaid.
LePage in a statement Wednesday said that Maine's net personal earnings for that period was 0.8% when not including “transfer receipts,” which includes federal payments for Social Security, Medicare, unemployment benefits and Medicaid, the Portland Press Herald reported. The governor said he preferred his own method of measuring the state's income growth, because it doesn't include what he considers “welfare benefits.”
“It doesn’t matter what liberals call these payments, it is welfare, pure and simple,” LePage said. “Liberals from the White House all the way down to Democratic leadership in Augusta believe that redistribution of wealth – taking money from hard-working taxpayers and giving it to a growing number of welfare recipients – is personal income. It’s not. It’s just more welfare expansion. Democrats can obfuscate the numbers any way they want. The fact is that we have created thousands of jobs, more Mainers are working, and their income is going up.”
U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine and independent Eliot Cutler, LePage’s two opponents for this year’s governor's race, criticized LePage for referring to Social Security and Medicare as welfare because recipients pay into the programs.
In a later message, LePage said he does not consider Social Security and Medicare “welfare,” blaming critics for twisting the words of his original statement.
The Maine Democratic Party used the new federal study to criticize LePage’s refusal to expand Medicaid, which is causing Maine to lag behind in personal income growth.
LePage’s spokeswoman, Adrienne Bennett, said Maine’s growth in net earnings, however, is something to be more proud of, pointing to boosts in the construction and manufacturing industries.
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