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July 11, 2016 Edition

Global demand spurs growth in new forest product sectors

James McCarthy

James Chittum sees a tremendous opportunity for Maine companies that make products using renewable biobased resources from forest, farm and sea instead of petroleum-based compounds such as polyethylene or polystyrene.

  • One on One with Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher

    Laurie Schreiber

    In the five years since Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher took on the agency's leadership, he and his team have played a central role in making the state's commercial fishing industry stronger.

  • How To's
    How To's

    How To: Argue, properly

    Jim Milliken

    This very intense, very intelligent guy startled me by saying something I never had heard before. He interrupted a vigorous argument with me by saying, “You know, Jim, I see your point now. I agree with you. You're right.”

  • How To's
    How To's

    How To: Turn new federal overtime rules into a competitive advantage

    Art Boulay

    The new federal overtime rules will more than double the threshold for employers to avoid paying overtime when salaried employees work over 40 hours — moving from $23,660 per year to $47,476 per year. This presents serious challenges for employers. I am not writing to defend or explain the law, but rather to discuss how to turn this problem to a competitive advantage.

  • From the Editor: Why they call it The County

    We who live in southern Maine tend to think of Aroostook County, a.k.a. The County, as this amorphous space that takes up the upper half of Maine. There are plenty of people from southern Maine who have never been to The County and have no plans to go to The County. And that's their loss.

  • In Short
    In Short

    IN SHORT

    New hires Thomas College in Waterville hired Ted Prawat, Kate Cook Whitt and Katie Rybakova as education faculty members at its Center for Innovation in Education

Today's Poll

Are you worried about how potentially higher U.S. tariffs could affect your business?
Poll Description

With the election of Donald Trump to a second term as president, it seems likely that the United States will impose significant tariffs on imported goods and materials.

A tariff is a tax, of course — though not truly a sales tax, as it's been called. For American businesses and consumers, however, the effect could be the same.

Under Trump's plan, businesses would have to pay a tariff of 10% to 20% on anything they import, and as much as 60% on imports from China. Typically, such extra costs get passed along to customers in the form of higher prices.

When other countries retaliate with tariffs of their own on U.S. exports, the effect is compounded.

The Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonpartisan think tank, issued an analysis in September of what all this could mean.

Among the findings: "Assuming other governments respond in kind, Trump’s 10 percentage point increase results in U.S. real GDP that is 0.9 percent lower than otherwise by 2026, and U.S. inflation rises 1.3 percentage points above baseline in 2025."

More Information