Ben Sprague

Here are my book recommendations for 2025, featuring additional recommendations from my kids and wife. Happy New Year and Happy Reading, everyone. #BookTwitter #booktwt #BookList thesundaymorningpost.com/p/bens-2025-bo…

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Contrary to pop culture stereotypes, today's dads are more active than ever. We should lift up the engaged and loving dads of the world. Most dads I know love being dads, and they love their children. thesundaymorningpost.com/p/young-dads-a…

I applaud this thoughtful and urgent Op Ed by one of our local teachers describing how challenging the educational environment is inside the classroom due to student dependency on cell phones and cell phone use. A call to action! bangordailynews.com/2025/03/20/opi…

Tonight I gave my colleagues on the Bangor School Committee this book by @JonHaidt. Excessive screen time, social media, and overprotective parenting have created a generation that is unprepared for adulthood. It's time to ban cell phones in schools and help kids reset.

@MichaelSocolow Thanks for reading and sharing!

Typically excellent @bensprague article in his Sunday Morning Post on rent inflation. The data explains much... about the 2024 presidential election. [*I kept waiting for the Jimmy McWilliams "Rent is Too Damn High" reference, but, alas...] thesundaymorningpost.com/p/rental-marke…

There is relief on the horizon for renters out there - rents are actually starting to fall. In November, rents dropped in 88 of the 100 largest U.S. cities. In Austin, they are down more than 12% thanks to huge swaths of new supply. I dig into it here. thesundaymorningpost.com/p/rental-marke…

So cool that this kid is from Newport, Maine. In theory he should be part way through his senior season at Nokomis. Really fun to watch his story unfold.

I recently published a holiday gift guide for the well-meaning parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles out there. Experiences and memories are the way to go. I've got some ideas for you! thesundaymorningpost.com/p/bens-holiday…

“We agree to disagree” has shifted to “I can’t associate with someone who thinks like that” and, in some cases, to “That person wants to destroy everything I value.” thesundaymorningpost.com/p/the-insular-…

An extremely niche political what-if is what would have happened if Democrats had nominated this guy in '16 in an alternative universe where Hillary and Bernie hadn't run. O'Malley would have defeated Trump in '16 and who knows if Trump comes back from that. O'Malley!

@mattyglesias Reminds me of that episode of Saved by the Bell where the gang makes a special sauce that makes people smarter but people have to study when taking it and it turns out the sauce is just chocolate sauce.

The bear case and the bull case under Trump 2.0 - what we can expect in the economy going forward. My latest article. thesundaymorningpost.com/p/what-to-expe…

Congratulations to the Bangor Girls Soccer team! State champions with a 3-1 win over Scarborough today! The Gold Ball is coming north! Fight, fight for victory today!!

I know the local races were not necessarily what was on people's mind this year, but I would like to thank the voters of Bangor for re-electing me to the Bangor School Committee. Grateful for the chance to serve for another three years. Thank you.

There is a perfect storm of variables right now impacting the restaurant industry, leading to closures and heartache. Thank you to @bangordailynews for picking up my piece on the variables at play, and what it says about the overall economy. bangordailynews.com/2024/10/23/pol…

I've seen a lot of criticism lately on social media of some of our local restaurants for high prices and limited staff. But in reality, it's the hardest time to own a restaurant in recent history. There's a perfect storm of variables hitting the industry. bensprague.substack.com/p/why-its-so-h…

A trend we're all seeing, but not much discussion: “In many ways, a lot of restaurants never actually recovered from the pandemic.” Excellent @bensprague econ analysis on why so many restaurants in Maine [& across U.S.A.] are closing now. bensprague.substack.com/p/why-its-so-h…

Shout out to my two fellow candidates for Bangor School Committee, Sara Luciano & Dawson Nevells. I’ve enjoyed working with Sara very much for the past three years, and I admire Dawson’s willingness to step up and serve. I had a great time tonight with them at the candidate forum

Incredible: although property damage is expected to be at least $15B from Helene, actual insurance payouts will be closer to $5B. Why? Most people don't have flood insurance, and insurance policies now often have carve outs/exceptions for wind. wsj.com/finance/homeow…