| ...and persuades this fence-sitter to finally join them.
Up to now, I've not been on the Progressive's mailing list; but when Cindy Weed told me that Governor Shumlin was going to put in an appearance at the State Committee meeting, I decided this was one I didn't want to miss.
Sunday afternoon, at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Rutland, Martha Abbott set a cordial tone for the meeting by observing that, " If the Democratic Legislature takes on our issues and fights for them, we win."
The agenda opened with an economic primer by Jeff Thompson of the Political Economy Research Institute, who explained the factual evidence that economic stimuli, not budget cuts are the key to turning the economy around.
Said Thompson, lack of demand, not Government spending, is the primary down-driver of the recession. Despite the low cost of borrowing, business investment declined in the recession and still lags, while the savings rate has climbed higher, but only among high income earners. Ordinary folks aren't spending as they once were; but they also aren't saving because they can barely cover the essentials.
The answer on the state level, says Thompson, is not to cut taxes, because to do so would also necessitate a cut in public investment and therefore, jobs. He points out that, on average, Vermont has not managed to preserve as many public sector jobs as other states have; and that these job losses not only represent an extension of the jobless cycle, but also real impacts on public health, safety and education.
Mr. Thompson reminded us that historically, we've seen much higher taxes on upper income households in the not so distant past, and that there is absolutely no evidence supporting the assertion that slightly raising taxes on those households would cause the rich to flee the state.
Finally, he believes that not tapping into the rainy day funds for the short-term relief and stimulus they could provide represents "fiscal mismanagement."
This presentation was followed by a legislative summary; then a break and organizational business, ending as Governor Shumlin took the podium.
The Governor's words predictably tracked his stump speech, carefully steering away from any points of contention. This speech was immediately followed by audience questions read by Martha Abbott from cards that had been collected earlier.
In retrospect, I think it would have been a more authentic interface with the governor if he had dispensed with the stump speech and simply entertained questions informally posed from the modest-sized audience. |
