Looking back to look to the future of Maine's economy
Twenty years ago, I was a young business editor at the Post-Tribune in Gary, Ind.
At that time, Gary was a city in steep decline. You could drive block after block and see boarded up houses and businesses. Residents fled for the suburbs. Gary's murder rate was the worst in the nation. The city police budget had been so decimated the state police had to take over patrols. From our Gary newsroom, I had a front row seat to the decline.
Gary was a steel town, but major employers like U.S. Steel, Inland Steel and Bethlehem Steel were furiously scaling back workforces to cut costs. Competition from Asia and newer steel mills in southern states with cheaper labor were hammering the so-called Rust Belt mills. While the mills in and around Gary still produced as much steel as the hey-day, it took fewer employees to run the machinery.
The decline of the steel industry started in the late 1970s and was a full-blown crisis by the mid-1990s, when I was in Gary.
Yet manufacturers still need steel and the industry has survived, albeit in a different makeup. U.S. Steel's Gary Works is still in operation, as are two nearby sites. The Burns Harbor, Ind., site once owned by Bethlehem Steel is now owned by ArcelorMittal, which is based in Luxembourg and which also owns the former Inland Steel mill in East Chicago, Ind.
When Senior Writer James McCarthy and I sat down to discuss a cover story on Maine's pulp and paper industry, I couldn't help but think of what I'd seen in Gary. It's obvious the world still needs the paper and pulp products produced here. Yet we've all grown accustomed to the daily barrage of headlines about layoffs, bankruptcies, mill closures, foreign competition and private equity deals.
An industry conference in Bangor proved to be a good launching point for the conversation. For the story to move beyond the bad news of today, we needed to figure out what's ahead. What is the future of the paper and pulp industry? When investors look at the industry, staggering from repeated blows, what are the assets that they still consider viable long-term?
I think you'll agree, Jim's story puts the shakeout in perspective and shows that, while battered, the paper and pulp industry is still a heavyweight when it comes to employment, economic impact and the value of its exports.
2016 outlook
In January, Mainebiz will take its annual look at the upcoming year, with its annual “Five on the Future” cover story and panel discussion.
The Jan. 11 print edition will feature five economists, including Amanda Rector, the Maine state economist, looking at where the economy is headed in 2016.
On Jan. 14, Mainebiz will convene a panel of business leaders to give their thoughts. Our keynote for that event will be Jeffrey Fuhrer, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
In the meantime, I'd be curious to hear what you're seeing. How's the outlook for 2016? Do you plan on doing any hiring? Are you planning to expand?
Other areas that would be of interest:
- The availability of credit
- Trending industries
- The potential impact of pending legislation
- What, if any, impact the presidential election might have
- Biggest challenges coming up next year
- Availability of labor.
Feel free to give me a shout!
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