For the United Nations Climate Change Conference time is running out for a real proposal on how to slow climate change. And while I’ve been truly moved by some very strong testimony, evidence, and creative work done by countries around the world and by the outpouring of support by [...]
Last month, Senator Sanders introduced the “Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act.”
Per an editorial then in the Brattleboro Reformer:
“In just two pages, he outlined a simple remedy to avoid a repeat of last year’s massive taxpayer-funded bailouts.”
The New York Times also weighed in on [...]
The insurance and drug companies are taking us to the cleaners, eating our lunch, just plain taking advantage of us. They don’t seem to care in the slightest that millions of Americans are going without health care while they make huge profits. How huge those profits are we can judge [...]
My wife is a high school social studies teacher. A few weeks ago she did an exercise with students where the class divided into different groups (aka countries). They were each given secret information and objectives for their turf - the idea was to mirror the events that lead into [...]
As the Senate debates health insurance reform, it’s important to keep in mind that 39 Senate Republicans voted not to discuss the problem at all. They know the system is broken. They know we need to make changes. They know health care costs are far too high and increase at [...]
Now that we have heard from tax commissioner Mr. Westman that we will need to raise the property tax by 2%, it is time to reflect on a few facts. Oh no!
Not facts! Last fiscal year the state legislature and the Governor took $25 Million out of the education fund [...]
I might as well start with full disclosure; I hate war and believe it is most often a waste of human life and a staggering expense for any country that perpetrates it. Last night I paid enough attention the President to know the message was 30,000 more troops, and [...]
After seeing the number of politicians in Vermont coming out so early to enter the Statewide races, I wonder why would I make a decision to support a candidate until after the next legislative session? Especially if the candidate is already in the House, Senate or currently serving in an [...]
We all hear a lot about the “business climate” and how states need to cut taxes and reduce the regulatory “burden.” Of course we are rarely given data to support those assertions (it’s just received wisdom I guess). In fact, the jobs impact of interstate moves is negligible.
But we don’t [...]
What will it take to keep a Progressive out of the race for Governor in 2010? That is a question that I am often asked. And, of course, I say it will take a candidate who will stand up and fight hard on the following issues:
Enacting a Single Payer Health [...]I just read that the American Farm Bureau recently reported that the cost of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner is down 3.8 percent from last year. This is the steepest drop since 2000. According to the farm bureau the items accounting for most of the drop is whole milk which is [...]
As we continue to see the unemloyment pool shift toward permanent job losses it’s not surprising to learn that shoplifting is on the rise. Reports show that the recession has sparked a 6 percent increase in shoplifting. Here in Vermont, the sad reality is that many Vermonters who have lost [...]
On Thursday, a group of people, including former Gov. Phil Hoff, Anthony Pollina and Dave Zuckerman, Ben and Jerry and representatives from VPIRG and Greenpeace, held a press conference to kick off an effort to get a resolution asking the legislature to: 1) close VT Yankee in 2012, 2) require [...]
I’m not an economist by trade, but I do know a little about finances because I am one of the many working class Vermonters trying to live and get by in these tough economic times. It has been my experience that many working folks can’t seem to get ahead because [...]
Last night I was watching TV and noticed a Christmas ad from Best Buy that promoted $300 headphones. 300 dollars! This seems extreme. I don’t think I spent that much money on my whole stereo.
It reminds me of something I’ve noticed over the last few years having to do with [...]
As state government turns over every rock in search of budget savings, the Vermont Judiciary has not been spared. Interestingly, although the Judiciary is an independent third arm in our system of checks and balances, its budget is controlled by the legislature and the governor. Last spring, the Chief Justice [...]
By an overwhelming margin, most states tax their middle- and low-income families far more heavily than the wealthy, according to a new study by the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy.
“In the coming months, lawmakers across the nation will be forced to make difficult decisions about budget-balancing tax changes¬which [...]
Now that at least one candidate for Governor has affirmed that there will be hearings in the Senate on S.88 (universal health care), it is time to now squeeze the same commitment out of the chair of the House Healthcare committee, and hold hearings on H-100.
Rep. Steve Maier, [...]
I find it so frustrating when an issue that simply can’t be ignored is so played on in the press and by politicians that all regular people want to do is stop hearing about it. I had been feeling that way about health care for about a year but now [...]
A “Vermont” Democrat makes national news.
In the winter of 2008 Peter Galbraith asked me to sit down for coffee. He knew I was close to Anthony Pollina and wanted to talk to me about finding a way where he might be the challenger to Jim Douglas, in a head to [...]
Below is a memo I sent to the Joint Fiscal Committee. It deals with the VEPC/VEGI background growth rate issue I blogged about on August 13. The issue is on the JFC’s agenda for tomorrow’s meeting. This is an opportunity for the committee (including two gubernatorial candidates) to finally [...]
After my recent inquiry into state services and attempting to get information from Catamount for a constituent, I am imagining what it might be like for folks out there who have been laid off, forced into early retirement, or who are falling off the unemployment lines, trying to get state [...]
Ray Shadis will speak at the Progressive Convention on November 14th. Ray did not set out to be an activist in the nuclear power battles. Like so many activists, he got engaged because of problems in his own back yard. The following background information on Shadis is taken from [...]
Recently, I was watching a morning show that was highlighting the end of this decade and decades before, along with some of the products of the 70’s that changed the world and our lives. Of course, the seventies were my days and over the years my children have heard me [...]
John Bloch’s Oct. 26th blog on the skyrocketing in-state cost of health care is sobering. As I read the myths, horror stories, lies and other information in the health care reform discussion, what amazes me most is how many intelligent, otherwise well-informed people believe that health care must be [...]
The recent issues in the news about Burlington Telecom (BT) have obscured one of the most important facets of our efforts in Burlington: providing a high quality and local alternative to large conglomerates like Comcast and Fairpoint. These large companies in effect create monopoly conditions where consumers are subject to [...]
This morning I read that the State of Vermont has just contracted with an out of state firm, TPI, to advise the State of Vermont on using IT more efficiently and cost-effectively. This equals dollars leaving the state. David Tucker, the interim Commissioner and State CIO says that “IT is [...]
As I’m sure other legislators have heard from state employees, I too recently heard a compelling story which for me symbolizes the irrational layoffs that are happening in state government today.
These stories are not something that we can be proud of as a state, nor should we be proud of [...]
Much in the news this week about all things telecom. Burlington’s publicly-owned telecom provider (along with the Progressive Kiss administration) came under attack by the Douglas Administration Public Service Board commissioner David O’Brien. He was then quick to undermine efforts in Rutland for publicly-owned telecom.
Also under his watch [...]
The latest news that Fairpoint is asking the union to negotiate for concessions should not come as any big surprise to us. After all, our Governor and his cronies are doing it. It seems to me that the latest mantra is, “everyone must share in the sacrifices.” These words are [...]
On Monday all members of the legislature received the following letter (in multiple copies if we list more than an one email address):
Dear Legislator:
According to Rueters News Service, President Obama at a public meeting in New Orleans “spoke about the need to rely more heavily on nuclear energy as the [...]
Recently I had the opportunity to attend a conference on public policy in Vermont. At this conference I discovered that I am not the only person who sees the continual rise in health costs here in Vermont as the single most threatening event that faces all of us here, including [...]
A socialist resolution to today’s economic crisis - or any move toward socialism - is contingent upon four things: (1) the stage of capitalist development today, (2) the reasons for the current malaise, (3) capitalism’s available avenues of extrication from the crisis, and (4) the material conditions and consciousness of [...]
Our county Progressive committee just invited a speaker from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) to speak to us about the failed war on drugs. As I was promoting the event I was conflicted between saying decriminalize marijuana and legalize marijuana. It felt safer to say decriminalize and even with [...]
The lame duck tenure of Governor Jim Douglas will be filled with stories and pictures and other reminiscences of a man considered by many to be the most popular politician in Vermont. His popularity can be attributed in part to his down-home folksiness and to his amazing ability to remember [...]
My local newspaper reports that The Vermont Unemployment Trust Fund Reform Study group (a group of lawmakers) just heard that Vermont should keep unemployment taxes high when the economy is doing well so that Vermont will have the money to pay out benefits when the next recession hits. This advice [...]
This week a Vermonter, Will Allen, joined others from around the country in an act of civil disobedience in order to get attention to the laws governing hemp cultivation. By attempting to plant help seeds on the lawn of the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) they clearly were pushing [...]
According to the Armed Forces Press Service:
“The military services’ active and reserve components notched record recruiting numbers and signed up the highest-quality recruits ever in fiscal 2009.”
Their personnel department acknowledges that it is based in part on the lousy economy.
The Washington Post reports that recruitment has been so [...]
During the upcoming legislative session, the VT legislature will decide whether or not Vermont Yankee will be re-licensed for operation beyond its 2012 expiration date.
Entergy Corporation has already begun a well financed lobbying campaign in an effort to protect its own financial interests. Grass-roots groups are working hard to ensure [...]
This past week I sent out emails to my fellow state retirees urging them to attend the meeting on Friday with the Retirement Commission. I am recovering from a serious illness and was unable to attend but stand in solidarity as a fellow state employee, retiree, and Progressive legislator. I [...]
Yes, yes we are. NASA, in all its wisdom, has decided this could be the best way to determine whether or not there is water beneath the surface of our lonely night light. I guess I should be glad the Obama administration is taking drinking water issues seriously [...]
As Congress lurches toward a health insurance reform bill, it’s distressing to realize just how low the bar has been placed. Single payer was never even considered (though everyone recognizes that the savings in administrative expense would be huge). The intermediate step was going to be an expansion of Medicare. [...]
There are curious and more curious things as we dig through the rubble of the non-health-care system. One of the most curious items is trying to figure out costs and how to meet them with a State single payer system (which 73% of Vermonters favor, and which an overwhelming number [...]
Mark Johnson reports that Dubie is running for Governor.
He seems to be kicking off his campaign on the wrong foot, announcing by e-mail rather than press conference. Johnson speculates it is that he can’t handle more than one reporter at a time.
If so, Dubie has a long campaign in front [...]
There has been a lot in the news lately about the war in Afghanistan. Are we on the right track? Are we being successful? Is this a war we can afford? For a country that is facing such a high debt load and that needs revenue to cover the [...]
[Economic Analyst Doug Hoffer shared the following testimony, submitted to the Blue Ribbon Tax Structure Commission. It is long, but an excellent examination on how bias and ommission are used to distort data, and economic policy, in Vermont.]
I see that the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce and GBIC have [...]
Last week, VPR reported that High Mowing Seeds in Wolcott won a legal victory over GMO giant Monsanto. Monsanto losing in court is a rare enough event that you’d think it would get widespread coverage in the VT media. I have seen no other reporting of it anywhere.
It would [...]
When the millions of first-time voters who came to the polls wanting change and excited about its new messenger wake up to find global warming undeterred, health care unsolved, college still very unaffordable, wages still too low, and women still lagging men in paychecks, how will they respond? I fear [...]
For some, it may be news that I am considering a bid for the position of Lieutenant Governor of Vermont. It may also cause some chagrin that if I do this, I would run in the Democratic primary and would hope to have earned the Progressive nomination as well, with [...]
Chris Pearson, Rep. Susan Davis, Martha Abbott, Meg Brook, Elizabeth Skarie, John Bloch, Traven Leyshon, Rep. Sandy Haas, Doug Hoffer, Morgan Daybell
