“‘Yeah, I know I’m ugly,’ I said to a bartender. ‘Make me a zombie.’ He said God beat me to it.'” Rodney Dangerfield, known for his self-deprecating one-liners 

Anybody hearing those infamous giant sucking sounds again? If you can’t, you just might want to have a hearing test and get hearing aids like I did. From the Oval Office, Capitol Building, Maine State House and the halls of the Council Chambers in Windham Town Hall, that sound is growing louder and louder every day. Please remember President Trump agreed with the leaders of the Congressional Democrats about a $3 trillion infrastructure plan, but not a word on where the money would come from. I suspect a federal gas tax hike of monumental proportions, but I predict that won’t happen until some time after the 2020 election cycle. Meanwhile, the federal debt is over $22 trillion and climbing higher every second.

In Augusta spending goes on because the Democrats are in total control, which means when it comes to money, the sky is the limit. The limit certainly isn’t within our wallets and after the rainy day fund dries up taxes will begin to rise. I suspect the trade war with China will only get worse and I fear what a war with Iran will do to the economy, even here in Maine. With every piece of legislation comes a cost, whether hidden or not, to the taxpayers of this state. Paid sick or medical leave, personal days and whatever else legislators can think of giving workers all come at a cost to business, and if they don’t want to absorb all the costs, then the consumer pays for it. It now appears there is worker shortage that is increasing, so I am positive some businesses will disappear as their costs rise.

Now there are conversations in Augusta to take Maine’s two largest electric utilities by eminent domain. Those two words are the most vulgar and vile words government could ever create. The problem I see with this fiasco is another typical government project, which means when things go bad government has the only cure for the problem, and that is to pour more money into it. If it did happen, I can only guess at what those in Augusta would want to take over next and that’s scarier than the movie “Friday the 13th.”

In the town of Windham, the interim town manager’s budget has been released, and what a shock it is. If it jumps from $18.5 million to $24 million, that’s an increase of around 18 percent, something I have never heard of. It looks to me like Windham might finally be using some of its surplus money, but unfortunately, it isn’t publicly discussed much. If the next town budget follows this trend, where will the extra money be coming from to feed another $5.5 million into the budget?

Of course, residents can overturn the proposed budget in June, but I’m guessing that will probably never happen.

Lane Hiltunen of Windham is thinking about running for president. He can’t promise a chicken in every pot but just maybe by living in Windham he could promise pot in every chicken.

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