What will it take to get the Maine economy on solid footing and off what Charles Colgan, the economist from the Muskie Institute, has called “thin ice”? I have argued that the place to start is the Brookings Report commissioned last year by GrowSmart Maine. The Report suggests that Maine needs to build on its advantages as a wonderful place to live or visit, what Brookings terms the “Maine brand”.

It was heartening last week to see a good example of building on this advantage in L.L. Bean’s announcement that it plans to develop a four season resort in the Freeport area. This kind of investment will bring more out of state visitors and provide a boost for an important tourism sector.

Brookings also endorsed investment in R&D to support cluster business development. This kind of investment was highlighted in an op-ed piece in the Press Herald ten days ago, by Michael Burgmaier, a New England venture investor. Mr. Burgmaier highlighted the importance of promoting communities of companies in growth areas such as biotech and specialty boat building.

These two thrusts, investing in the “Maine Brand” and encouraging development of cluster growth business, are the heart of the Brookings Report recommendations on where the state needs to invest.

However, there is a second part to this equation, finding the money to make these kinds of investments. With a weak economy and fast growing entitlement programs, we have to come up with significant savings to be able to generate the needed investment.

On a much larger scale it is analogous to an architect who wants to invest in an expensive piece of design software. The software, he knows, will improve his productivity and thus boost his earnings significantly. However, he must come up with ways of trimming his current budget so that he can save the money to make this investment. The vacation at Disney World is replaced with a camping trip to Baxter State Park. He turns the thermostat down a few degrees in the winter. He and his spouse limit any eating out. There are a hundreds of things he may do, large and small, to save the money he needs.

It is much the same with the state, and the stakes are much higher. If Maine can boost its economy in a significant way, we will see more and higher quality jobs. We will start generating healthy surpluses in the state budget rather than the chronic deficits that force contortionist economics each year to plug the holes.

So to make the investment necessary to raise our economy above such gimmicks we must find significant savings. Our record here can only be described as disappointing. The state budget just passed increased spending over seven percent, well above the rate of growth of the economy. The Governor can claim that he is within the budget growth guidelines passed by the legislature two years ago, but only by excluding the substantial increase in K-12 school funding. The budget does contain some modest efforts to curb the growth of Medicaid or Maine Care. It also provides for the Appropriations Committee to conduct a review of state government costs. The Brookings Report fingered this type of review as one that should yield substantial savings, but the task seems a stretch for the already over-worked Appropriations group.

However, the Governor’s big idea in cost reduction was his school consolidation plan. In its earliest version the plan promised more than two hundred million dollars in annual savings. Six months and many heartaches later, the legislature passed a budget with a much watered-down school consolidation plan that may save thirty million dollars a year. Even that is in doubt since local authorities can opt-out of the plan so many of the anticipated districts may not materialize.

What is clear from all of the follow up to the Brookings Report is that the state has made but modest beginnings to a task which needs much more focus and drive. The Brookings Plan may be the last best hope for a state that is teetering on the brink of economic decline. We have the capability to do much better. We know what needs to be done. Let start making tough choices instead of modest beginnings.