High Road Vermont

2009 Unified Economic Development Budget Report

2009-02-11T13:14:00.000-08:00

Is the Economic Crisis Over - or Just Beginning?

2008-06-18T16:51:00.000-07:00

Hear podcast of economist Jack Rasmus, author of The War at Home: The Corporate Offensive from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush on "Is the Economic Crisis Over - or Just Beginning?" on High Road's Equal Time radio program.

Budget Cuts: Legislative Leadership; Like a Deer in the Headlights?

2008-04-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

First thing, please sign the petition. Tuesday, April 22nd, more than 33 advocacy groups, including the Vermont State Employees Association, Vermont-National Education Association, Vermont AFL-CIO, and High Road Vermont, representing tens of thousands of hard-working Vermonters called on Governor Douglas and the General Assembly to resist the urge to slash programs, and instead invest in Vermont

Is Vermont Really on the Job?

2008-04-03T14:53:00.001-07:00

Apparently Jim Douglas’ old campaign slogan, “Jim = Jobs,” was only a little bit right By Doug Hoffer in Seven DaysIn Vermont, as across the country, there’s been a lot of talk about jobs and economic development. Bluntly stated, the economy has been lousy for some time now. Yet two months ago, Governor Jim Douglas touted his record in his “State of the State” speech, greatly

Downturn, Measures Needed, & Traditional Party Politics

2008-03-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

Today, as we enter a recession that threatens to become severe, there are indications that this may become the deepest economic crisis since the 1930s. This has the potential to cause widespread suffering because it is taking the form of a crisis of stagflation, that is simultaneously an economic downturn and rising prices. Along with rising unemployment, recession would eventually result in

It's a Bad Deal!

2008-01-31T09:34:00.001-08:00

As the above chart reveals, under the Bush administration's stimulus proposal, over 70% of the rebate would go to the top 40% (income above $47,000) and less than 10% would reach the bottom 40% (income below $27,000). According the analysis by the Brookings-Urban Institute Tax Policy Center, 55.9 million households would get no rebate at all from the plan, in part because many households pay no

"Nothing like a little catastrophe to help you sort things out" - from Antonioni's film Blow-up:

2008-01-23T14:41:00.000-08:00

On the cusp of economic history By Katrin Bennhold January 22, International Herald Tribune DAVOS, Switzerland: Is economic history about to change course? Among the chieftains of politics and industry gathering in Davos for the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, a consensus appears to be building that the capitalist system is in for one of those rare and tempestuous

Most Serious Financial Crisis Since the Great Depression

2008-01-23T14:31:00.000-08:00

Economics Journalist Robert Kuttner on the “Most Serious Financial Crisis Since the Great Depression”: “This is the Result of Rightwing Ideology and the Political Power of Wall Street”Democracy Now! interview with economics journalist Robert Kuttner and Robert Weissman, co-director of the corporate accountability group Essential Action and editor of Multinational Monitor magazine. More...

Rx for Recession: An Economic Strategy that Works

2008-01-18T16:57:00.000-08:00

By Lawrence Mishel, President of the Economic Policy Institute Jobs.That’s the word that has been missing from the debate about how to contain the damage from the recession that members of the nation’s political, corporate and media still stubbornly deny has already begun. But the recession is about paycheck economics—jobs, wages and family budgets. When most Americans don’t have the cash or the

Jim & Those "12,000 New Jobs"

2008-01-11T06:03:00.000-08:00

In his State of the State address, the Governor said "As a result of our steadfast focus on economic growth, in the last five years, we've created 12,000 new jobs".First, according to the VT Dept. of Labor, "employment" is up 11,100 in the last 5 years, not 12,000.Second, the Gov. was referring to "employment", which includes the self-employed and those who work without pay in family

Jobs: Rest of the Story

2007-12-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

Once again, the monthly press release from the VT Dept. of Labor failed to provide sufficient historical perspective. Here is the data the DoL did not show you. After regaining the jobs lost during the recession, we've gained only 3,500 net new private sector jobs in the last three years (and the annual figure has declined each year). Vermont Net Priv. Sector Job Growth: Nov. - Nov. 91

A Downward Push: The Impact of Wal-Mart Stores on Retail Wages and Benefits

2007-12-18T09:45:00.000-08:00

By Arindrajit Dube, T William Lester and Barry EidlinThis study finds that Wal-Mart store openings lead to the replacement of better paying jobs with jobs that pay less and are less likely to provide health benefits. Wal-Mart's entry also drives wages and benefits down for workers in competing industry segments such as grocery stores.

Living Wage Policies and Wal-Mart

2007-12-17T14:30:00.000-08:00

How a Higher Wage Standard Would Impact Wal-Mart Workers and Shoppers by Arindrajit Dube, Dave Graham-Squire, Ken Jacobs, and Stephanie Luce In July 2006, the Chicago City Council passed a "Big Box Living Wage Ordinance," mandating that all retail stores larger than 90,000 square feet and operated by companies making more than $1 billion a year in revenue pay workers a minimum hourly

Home Heating Aid & Effiency

2007-12-07T17:49:00.000-08:00

Vermonters are facing a 26 percent hike in their heating fuel bills this winter. The fuel assistance issue needs to be front and center in more minds in Vermont than it is. It can be summarized as follows: Last year, if a household was at or below 125% of federal poverty and applied for fuel assistance for the full seasonal benefit, they were awarded, on average about $1,370. This year's

Inadequate Mortgage Rate Freeze Plan

2007-12-06T15:59:00.000-08:00

Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on Bush Administration Mortgage Rate Freeze Plan After sitting idly by for months while countless Americans saw their dreams slip away, the Bush Administration has put forth a plan to deal with the subprime mortgage crisis that is both too little and too late. The plan to freeze rates that was outlined this afternoon would cover only a small

The “F” Word

2007-11-28T12:11:00.000-08:00

It’s out. It’s not resetting interest rates that are the big factor behind the surge in home loan defaults YET. Most of the defaults happening today are for mortgages under a year old and so hadn’t even hit the two year reset mark. (Nationwide, more than half of the subprime delinquencies and foreclosures this year were loans that hadn’t reset.) Its not lending to people with poor credit scores.

Wal-Mart Fights Paying Fair Share of Property Taxes

2007-10-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

by James Parkson AFL-CIO Blog:A new report shows Wal-Mart—the world’s largest retailer, which made nearly $12 billion in profits last year—is squeezing money out of local communities by trying to reduce its property taxes, the main source of revenue for schools, roads, police and fire protection. The giant retailer has sought to reduce the property taxes it pays on 35 percent of its stores and

VT Tax Study Info Debunks "Tax Burden" Myths

2007-10-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

Vermont's Joint Fiscal Office published Vol. 2 of the Tax Study last week. It contains important information that helps debunk the mantra about VT having the highest "tax burden" in the country. By calculating tax liability for 24 different hypothetical filers in 12 states, they show clearly that VT's progressive income tax (and various sales tax exemptions) helps moderate the cost of taxes

Backdoor Electric Deregulation by “Political Suck-up Board”

2007-10-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

Reprinting a comment by Traven at the Prog Blog:CVPS wants what GMP has - “Alternative Regulation” - which may not use the deregulation word, but produces similar results. Effective earlier this year, GMP was granted permission to pass along the volatile wholesale cost of power to electric users. Under the alternative regulation scheme, GMP customers may see their electric bills change four to

Anemic Job Growth - New Policies Needed

2007-09-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

Doug Hoffer comments on Monthly Jobs Report:In the latest Dept. of Labor press release, the Commissioner stated, “job growth continues on its modest growth path [but] we continue to be concerned about recent downward trends in labor force and employment."It's good that the Commissioner has acknowledged a problem. But a longer term perspective would lead one to characterize job growth as anemic,

Inequality Growing Faster in New England

2007-09-24T06:46:00.000-07:00

Rich & PoorRutland Herald editorial: "...It is not an accident of nature that our economy has worsened the economic plight of a majority and enriched the very richest. It is how our policymakers have designed the system. The question is how much longer the majority will allow those policies to widen the gap between rich and poor." Read More..."Between 1989, when inequality in the region was low,

Truth & Taxes

2007-09-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

On yesterday's "Vermont This Week" (9-7-07), Mr. Roper (chair of the VT GOP) said that "the biggest expense that Vermonters are facing right now is the cost of their taxes". That is inaccurate. A simple calculation shows that for a median income family with a median priced home, state & local taxes represent about 6% of their household budget, while transportation, housing, and food are all more

Aging bridges ignored at our peril

2007-08-15T05:57:00.000-07:00

Rep. Sue Minter, who represents Waterbury, Duxbury, Huntington & Buels Gore, is a member of Vermont's House Transportation Committee. Her Op Ed in the Sunday Times Argus calls attention to reality that, "In the face of state budget shortfalls, the Douglas administration has chosen to delay transportation repair projects all around the state":I wish I could say that I was surprised by the deadly

Jim = McJobs

2007-08-08T15:19:00.001-07:00

From VT Democratic Party newsletterLast week, the governor grabbed a pair of giant scissors and snipped the ribbon at the McDonald's in Barre. Though we realize it's just one unfortunate ribbon in a long line that have met the same fate, and that we all like to indulge in a little fast food every once in a while, this particular ribbon cutting exposed a few inconvenient truths about Jim Douglas

Wasting Economic Development Resources

2007-08-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

To the Burlington Free Press editor:Sunday's article about Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility ("Business group pushes for change", August 5, 2007) quoted the Secretary of Commerce on Vermont's tax credit program: "It's a critical program that returns money to the state."The only way this misguided program can return money to the state is if the businesses would not have invested money

Wage Deficit, Not Skills Deficit

2007-07-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

Times Argus letter published Jul 11, 2007Don't blame the victimsThe article, "One third of Vermont youth drop out of work force," gets it wrong, blaming the victims — working Vermonters — instead of low-road employers. The article quotes Mr. Stenger about "good-paying, open positions," but provides no facts to back up his assertions. You report that Rep. Kupersmith claims that "employers have the

Check out VPIRG's new Rap on Global Warming

2007-06-28T16:13:00.000-07:00

The minds behind the popular '802' rap video have struck again, and this time they're targeting Governor Douglas, the global warming legislation he vetoed and the state legislature. Click here to see the serious and seriously funny YouTube video 'CO2'.

Wal-Mart's reliance on Chinese imports costs U.S. jobs

2007-06-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

Economic Snapshot for June 27 by Robert E. Scott China's entry into the World Trade Organization was supposed to improve the U.S. trade deficit with China and create good jobs in the United States. But those promises have gone unfulfilled: the total U.S. trade deficit with China reached $235 billion in 2006. Between 2001 and 2006, this growing deficit eliminated 1.8 million U.S. jobs (Scott 2007

Paul Krugman: we can cover everyone at negative cost

2007-06-22T12:45:00.001-07:00

Correcting Douglas Administration Misinformation on VT Job Losses

2007-06-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

Response to Kevin Dorn, Vermont’s Secretary of Commerce and Community Development's defensive outburst in Seven Days regarding job losses and the Douglas administration signing onto failed trade policies:Thank you for the recent article on trade and jobs ("Labor Department Links Free Trade to Vermont Job Losses", Seven Days, 5/30/07). It reminded us of the human costs of globalization as

Productivity-Pay Gap - Reality check for VT CFED

2007-06-04T13:44:00.000-07:00

excerpt from:Testimony before the Labor-HHS Education Subcommittee, Appropriations Committee, U.S. House of RepresentativesBy Lawrence MishelThe Productivity-Pay Gap...our policy discussion must be situated in the reality that our nation is not generating broadly shared prosperity even though we have seen relatively fast productivity growth that provides the basis for rapidly rising incomes. It

Labor Department Links Free Trade to Vermont Job Losses

2007-05-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

From Seven DaysVERMONT — One of the pillars of the Douglas administration’s economic development strategy turns out to be made of cardboard. Rather than generating abundant opportunities for Vermont workers, the state’s plunge into the global marketplace is resulting in extensive loss of livelihoods.Free-trade agreements cost Vermont nearly 1700 jobs in the past three years, the state Labor

Vermont export industry jobs down

2007-05-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

Vermont export industry jobs down Bob Kinzel MONTPELIER, VT (2007-05-21)(Host) According to a new report, there's been a significant loss of jobs in Vermont's export industries over the last 5 years.Members of the Vermont Commission on International Trade expressed surprise and dismay at the details of the report.VPR's

Truth of health care is very inconvenient

2007-05-21T17:33:00.001-07:00

Truth of health care is very inconvenientSeveral weeks ago an important report commissioned by the Vermont Health Care Commission was quietly posted on the Legislative Council Web site. No fanfare, no press conferences, no attention given. Media ignored it. The committee that ordered it ignored it. The Legislature ignored it. The administration ignored it. The report's findings tumbled into the

Public Assets Institute Monitoring Eco Devo Commission

2007-05-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

The Commission on the Future of Economic Development was created by statute (10VSA§1) in Act 184 of 2006. The Commission is responsible for Vermont's long-term economic development planning (previously the responsibility of the Vermont Economic Progress Council). It is charged with producing an economic development plan every five years using "a planning process that is open and inclusive, with