When your most fierce competitor fails...

[broadbill]

Originally Posted by fxtrader

Just the opposite opinion for me. I have several family members and know a lot of people that work for this company on the track crew. My grandfather and father also worked there. Well when it used to be Bangor and Aroostook.

I agree with you here. I think there are two industries that we as a country should have invested in infrastructure-wise: railroad and nuclear power.

As for farming, its a sad state when the family farms are lost. However, that is the nature of the free market, and efficiency pays. For agriculture, it has become all about economies of scale. The only exception to this in farming is the niche markets....dealing in local markets, organic, kosher, halal, etc.

[maine4.us]

I would disagree with you broadbill, it is not efficiency when the government offers subsidies, and tax breaks to some, but not to all. It will eventually turn the US into a 3rd world country. When all our farming, and industry moves to another country, the only jobs left here will be low paying, service industries that cannot be turfed overseas. We cannot compete with a country where the average income is $5000 a year. We need to wake up, and start protecting our own economy. We are selling the future of our children to save a nickel. Isolationism dragged us into two world wars, but in the end we have had 70 years of almost continuous growth.

I do agree with you about nuclear power and railroads. I saw a commercial the other day where the railroad can haul 400 tons for $1.33 a mile, yet year after year, the miles of usable track become smaller and smaller. The same comment that started this thread applies to railroads, once you abandon the track, you never get it back.

[maine4.us]

Broken Tap, I reread your post, and I can sense how saddened you are. Maybe you are wondering who might be the next person you know to go under. I remember the milk trucks that once ran the dirt roads in the farmland of Tennessee where I grew up. I remember the metal milk cans that were kept in springs before refrigeration was wide spread. Those days were over in Tennessee in the 1950's.

[Maine Writer]

I remember Pleasant Hill Dairy arriving early in the morning to leave fresh milk in the insulated silver box on the back steps.