From Governor Shumlin’s public schedule, Feb. 23 to Mar. 1:

Wednesday, Feb. 27

8:30 a.m.              Legislative Open Door, Ceremonial Office, State House

11:00 a.m.            Press Conference, TBA (note: this will be held outside Montpelier)

1:00 p.m.              Governor’s Tree Tapping, State House Lawn

The Governor usually holds his weekly “press conference” on Wednesday morning at 11. The customary location is a conference room next to his Pavilion Building office, two doors over from the State House.

Well, this week he’ll be at the State House at 8:30 and again at 1:00 — but he’s holding his weekly presser at a remote location, which will require zipping back and forth and forth and back between events, instead of simply holding the presser at one of his two Montpelier offices. In other words, he’s going literally out of his way to avoid a real “press conference.”

The remote location means one thing: there’s gonna be a dog-and-pony show. Some kind of announcement or groundbreaking or unveiling, with a nice picturesque backdrop designed to get him more time on the TV news. (The cameras don’t like his conference room.)

And also designed to minimize the amount of actual “press conference.”  

Whenever the Guv holds his pressers out of town, it means a gaggle of distinguished guests and a bunch of short speeches eating up at least half of the available time. Then, the media feels bound to ask a few token questions about the announcement/groundbreaking/unveiling before getting to the actual issues.

All while the distinguished guests stand in a semicircle behind the Governor, hands awkwardly clasped, trying not to yawn, look bored, glance at their watches, or pick their noses while providing a high-powered and high-priced backdrop. (Really, it’s a bit of a dick-swinging move by the Governor to hold all those people hostage while he takes questions. If I were one of the human mannequins, I’d resent the hell out of it. And I’d never, ever tell anyone I felt that way.)

I’ve only been attending the Governor’s pressers for a couple of months, but apparently this is a longstanding pattern. Way, way back in July of 2011, six months into Shumlin’s first term, VTDigger’s Anne Galloway wrote a column on this very subject:

Week after week, Shumlin has held press conferences off campus and his staff has orchestrated events that are long on dog and pony show (show and tell time) and short on Q and A sessions with reporters.

…What has been consistent is the extremely limited amount of time reporters are allowed to pose questions (we’re lucky to get 10 to 15 minutes in), and most of the time, the short grilling is conducted in, say, an adult day care center, a mini mart or basement teen center, and the honored participants are treated to an inside baseball game they appear to care little about witnessing.

When “press conference” time is limited, reporters don’t get a chance to drill down beneath Shumlin’s pat answers. There are so many issues to bring up, that there’s seldom an extended exchange on a single issue.

Galloway’s column drew an angry response from Shumlin spokesflack Sue Allen, who’d apparently been timing all the pressers with the gubernatorial stopwatch, and asserted that Shumlin gave reporters plenty of time to grill him rare, medium, or well done. (And VTDigger honorably posted her response, in full and without rebuttal.)

Maybe Allen was accurate. I don’t know; I’ve never timed a Shumlin presser. I can tell you that whenever  a presser is held at a remote location, the Q&A time feels limited, and I have a strong sense that it’s a deliberate strategy by the Governor’s people.

Especially when he has to zip in and out of Montpelier so he can hold his weekly presser somewhere else.

I’m not saying he should never double up like this. I am suggesting that he should hold a couple of pure press conferences per month, instead of trying to set the agenda virtually every single time. And somehow I think that if Sue Allen were still on this side of the scribe/flack divide, she’d feel the same way.  

The old notion that we can negotiate our way out of the climate crisis without drawing a line in the sand, persists like the undead through eternity.  It is routinely resurrected to make a goodwill appearance on behalf of one pol or another, in the form of vehicles such as carbon credits and carbon taxes.

This time, the well-meaning sponsor of the idea is our own Bernie Sanders, who, together with California’s Barbara Boxer, has once again proposed carbon taxes as a way to offset the trade advantage enjoyed by countries whose cheap products come from industries operated in environmentally dirty ways.  The idea is to leave it to the market to bring about an international diminution of fossil fuel use.

On the surface, it is a nice idea; but in reality, it does nothing to directly curb polluting industries and establish timetables for ending our dependence on fossil fuels.  And…just wait until the speculators get their hooks into the fine print!

There is a collateral affect from such a taxation system, which has the potential to unleash even more harmful material on the environment.

Creation of a carbon tax scheme such as the senators propose would significantly bolster the prospects of nuclear energy investors to keep that particular zombie alive; an unfortunate development,  just as the world begins to get wise to the twin economic and scientific illusions that have been perpetuated to paint nuclear an “affordable,” “clean” alternative energy source.

Taxing carbon emissions without establishing any timetable for eliminating them altogether could have the effect of legitimizing them into a tolerable vice, like smoking or alcohol consumption; one that will ultimately choke the entire planet rather than just the indulging individual.

Furthermore, establishing taxes has a way of making the state reluctant to eliminate the source of revenue. The state would become sort of a junior partner in pollution-enabling rather than reduction.

I’m all for making the fossil fuel industry pony up, but not if it grants them carte blanche to continue polluting indefinitely, so long as they contribute to the tax base; and not when it reanimates the creaking and corrupt nuclear industry, just as we might see it finally succumb to its own folly.

One can’t help but wonder if news of the carbon tax effort might have encouraged Entergy.  Just days ago, it sounded like they might be forced to close Yankee due to non-confidence from the investment community.  Now suddenly, they’re planning on refueling next month.

I commend both Senators Sanders and Boxer for their good intentions.  It’s tough enough to get anything going on climate change in the United States of Anti-Science.  But is this really the best we can do on climate legislation?  

Anything short of a timeline to eliminate carbon emissions, reinforced by a program of bold investment in clean technology,  will be limited in its impact and could unexpectedly serve as an enabling rationalization.

I would love to hear what other GMD folks are thinking on this.

Update:Visitation hours for Lloyd will be Wednesday, Feb. 27, 4-7 pm at Spears Funeral Home at 96 Dickinson Ave. in Enosburg Falls. Funeral services will be Thursday, Feb. 28 at 11 a.m., at the Franklin United Church, 5374 Main St., Franklin, VT.

For those who wish, contributions in Lloyd’s memory may be made to Enosburgh Ambulance Service, 83 Sampsonville Rd., Enosburg Falls, VT 05450 or the Enosburg Food Shelf, P.O. Box 614, Enosburg Falls, VT 05450.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lloyd Touchette, a longtime Democratic activist in Franklin County, died Friday afternoon as the result of injuries from a car accident last Wednesday on Route 105 in Sheldon. He was [66] 65.

I hardly know what to say, even though I’ve had a couple of days to think about him – we had gotten the mistaken word Wednesday late afternoon that he had died, and then the corrected info that he was in intensive care. I didn’t write then because I didn’t want to “jinx” any possibility that he might recover.

Lloyd was a longtime member of the Vermont National Guard, a member and eventually chairman of the county Democratic Committee, a longtime member of the VDP State Committee (he served as assistant treasurer for the last several years), a selectboard member in Enosburg, a consistent worker at his hometown food shelf, a strong member of the American Legion and a stalwart worker for the Lions Club. That’s him in the brown teeshirt lending a hand when the County Committee volunteered an afternoon to help with a Habitat house.

Lloyd had a big, booming voice you could hear from three crowded, noisy rooms away. He was a French-Canadian American to the core, greeting anyone with a French-Canadian last name with a hearty call, “Eh, ça va?” He first suggested that I would make a good representative for Franklin County to the Vermont Democratic Committee something like 10 years ago.

He had a kind heart. When Lloyd decided you were a good Democrat, he’d stand with you without fail. Despite resistance from old line conservative Democrats, he backed an effort to get Progressive Cindy Weed to run for the legislature in Enosburg with the Democratic label too. Lloyd recognized that Cindy is bright, communicates well, is known in the community, and that our best shot to unseat the Republican was for both Progressives and Democrats to get behind a single candidate. And while she was unsuccessful the first time, she was elected last year with both the P & D next to her name.

He showed up. I know that sounds mundane, even banal. But my dad, quoting somebody, used to say that 90 percent of life is just showing up. Lloyd came to meetings, worked booths at the fair and Dairy Days, carried banners when he was fit enough, drove mobility impaired legislators in parades, worked the phones during the run-up to elections. And did similar mostly behind-the-scenes yeoman work for many of the organizations he was involved in.

And he didn’t express any negative feelings when I beat him in an election for chair of the Franklin County Democratic Committee – at least not to me. In fact, he stuck around, offered advice, usually in a private phone call and always with a “I don’t want to be stepping on your toes, Madam Chair, but I did want you to know …”

He prided himself on his connections with the upper tier of politicians and officeholders, all of whose campaigns Lloyd had worked on. Patrick Leahy and Peter Welch and Peter Shumlin, among many others, all knew Lloyd’s name, and their campaign staffers knew he was the guy to talk to in Franklin County if they wanted to connect with the traditional Democratic base.

Lloyd was no saint, none of us is. He’d sometimes forward the most awful conservative emails – info straight from Fox News it seemed. He was an old fashioned sexist, although he was just 6 years older than me.

We were, after a fashion, friends as well as colleagues. A County Committee member heard us scoring points off each other with sarcastic jokes and digs before a meeting, and she said, “You two bicker like an old married couple!” Lloyd and I looked at each other in horror at the thought. And then we both laughed. His laugh was as big as his voice, unless he was giggling behind a goofy smile. He did his best to be charming in public situations.

And Lloyd (eventually) accepted me, worked with me, and backed me – even after it became clear I was a unreconstructed lefty liberal lesbian, and a pushy broad besides.

Lloyd also made sure that Democrats turned out for funerals of “our people.” And now we get to do that for him.

I’ll miss him.

People on Facebook saw that I asked for good vibes for my friend Lloyd, who had been involved in a horrible car accident Wednesday morning.  Well, I got word a few hours ago that he succumbed to his injuries.

We'd actually thought he'd died the afternoon of the wreck.  Social media is a powerful tool for communication, including information that isn't entirely accurate.  So after some tears we were relieved to find that, for the moment anyway, he was still with us and everybody was doing all they could to help him.

Yesterday I had this exchange with my son:

Sam crashing trains, suddenly asks, “where Yoyd go?” Lloyd's in the hospital. “Why?” Car crash. “Other guys helping him?” Yes. “Oh, good.”

We'd consciously not said much around him, but apparently did enough because since then, Sam's been concerned about Yoyd, and today he was pretending that cars were hitting him and hurting his head.  He has always loved crashing cars and trains and whatever, but this is a new development, having himself involved.  Guess kids pick up a lot more than we give them credit for.

Yoyd was Sam's special buddy.  We would go up to Enosburg every few weeks to have lunch with him at the Kit Kat Diner.  Been doing that since 2010, shortly after the election.  That's when I first met Lloyd, running as an Independent in my quixotic quest for a VT House seat.

Even though I was an outsider–not much of a political threat, but still–Lloyd was one of the first Democrats to welcome me when I crashed their events.  He treated me like a colleague, and is one of the biggest reasons I decided I could join the party and not compromise my principles.

To the right, you'll see him in his true element.  Wearing his Franklin County Democrats t-shirt, he worked the new HQ last fall, chatting with our (now) State Auditor, and incumbent and re-elected Secretary of State, amongst other party and government officials.  Lloyd was our committee's Secretary and State Committeeman (yes, that is the title), and had held many other positions, including county Chair.  A wealth of institutional knowledge in that noggin.

And an unexhaustible amount of love and caring in that soul.  A man dedicated to his community, serving as a Selectman (again, yes, that's the title) and Moderator for his town of Enosburgh, working at the food shelf, and always going out of his way for his fellow veterans.

In fact, he was on his way down to Montepelier when his car collided with another vehicle in Sheldon.  The Vermont League of Cities and Towns was holding its Local Government Day, wherein municipal and county officials get updates on pending state legislation and whatnot.  He'd asked a couple weeks before if I'd want to go with him–when going to state committee meetings, we would meet in St Albans and I would drive from there–but I teach on Wednesdays so had to beg off.  We hadn't seen each other since January, so that was a disappointment, but of course there would be other opportunities.

Our last email exchange (he preferred talking on the phone, but knew I don't so much) was about our family's plans to go up to Enosburgh in the next two weeks.  Ericka manages some property up there and had suggested we all get together for lunch when she had a meeting.  His final response was, “keep me posted, bro.”

I don't exactly remember how it started.  I think I'd written something like, “rock on, bro,” in a message and it just sorta became our thing.  Every voicemail from Lloyd started, “hey brother, it's yer old bro…”

Gonna miss that terribly.

ntodd

Awww. Apparently, I missed a world-class clusterfrack at the Statehouse today. An episode blending high drama and low comedy, the kind of thing that serves as a reminder that Our Leaders Are People, Too. Just like the rest of us, they put on their pants one leg at a time. And just like the rest of us, they occasionally step on a rake and konk their noggin. It was, as one observer told me, “bad planning but good theater.”

The scene was a Friday meeting of the House Health Care Committee. On Tuesday, the panel had somewhat surprisingly approved a health care bill that included the so-called Soda Tax, a penny-per-ounce levy on sugar-sweetened beverages. Today the panel was poised to give final approval.

And then, Democrat George Till, a doctor in real life, was called away to a medical emergency.

The vote was called anyway. And it was a 5-5 tie, with three Republicans joined by Progressive Chris Pearson and Independent Paul Poirier voting “no.” The bill failed for lack of majority support.

A tizzy ensued.

“It’s frustrating,” said Rep. Mike Fisher, D-Lincoln and chairman of the House panel. “The committee spent a lot of time and took majority votes on a number of steps along the way and there were a few members of the committee who couldn’t support the bill because of how much it did, and there were a few members of the committee that couldn’t support the bill because they … wish it had done more. … I think right now everything’s dead.”

Before we all go tearing our hair out, a couple of points. Three, actually.  

First: Mike Fisher knew damn well that Pearson and Poirier didn’t like the bill as it stood today. They had sought changes — relatively minor changes, at that. Their “no” votes should not have been a surprise. Couldn’t the committee chair count the votes? When Dr. Till was called away, a 5-5 tie was all but certain. Couldn’t he have shelved the vote until Tuesday?

One person who was in the room agreed with my suggestion that Fisher had “screwed the pooch.” Remember that, if Democrats try to blame Poirier or Pearson for “killing” the soda tax or imperiling health care reform.

Second: Fisher’s lament notwithstanding, the truth is, nothing is dead. Any member of the committee can seek reconsideration of the bill on Tuesday. Dr. Till’s vote would break the tie and move the bill onward.

Third: Even if the Health Care Committee fails to pass the soda tax, the health care bill goes to the House Ways and Means Committee, which could put the tax right back in.

So if you pick up your morning Freeploid tomorrow and read the following passage…

The vote creates a new cloud of uncertainty over efforts by the Legislature and Gov. Peter Shumlin to solve what has become one of the key riddles of the current legislative session: how to move to the new health care marketplace, or exchange…

… remember that the reality is far less dramatic than today’s moment of dramedy. Unless Fisher is so mortified that he refuses to allow further consideration.

He’s got until Tuesday to cool off.

The core of the bill concerns the transition from Catamount and VHAP to Vermont Health Connect, the insurance exchange mandated by Obamacare. Pearson and Poirier object that the working poor will see higher premiums and/or out-of-pocket costs under VHC. As Pearson told VTDigger, this is not only a matter of fairness, it’s also crucial to the success of Governor Shumlin’s ultimate goal, a single-payer health care system.

Pearson has repeatedly said that leaving lower income Vermonters with less coverage could jeopardize the state’s ability to implement a universal health care system in 2017, when Vermont would be eligible for a federal waiver to deviate from the Affordable Care Act.

“I’ve said from day one that I want to do more to insulate people shifting from Catamount or VHAP into the exchange,” Pearson said. “We came back with more and more modest proposals. There wasn’t the desire to (provide higher subsidies) even though we included new sources of revenue that would have alleviated pressure on the budget. It seemed really shortsighted to me.”

Affordability issues already keep some eligible Vermonters from enrolling in Catamount and VHAP.  If the cost of VHC is even higher, it stands to reason that more people might opt out. And that creates a big problem: If the number of uninsured go up, Vermont will lose out on federal premium assistance funds. That, in turn, would jeopardize the financial stability of the whole system.

In short, Pearson’s “no” vote wasn’t a matter of pique, or a display of bleeding-heart progressivism. It was a very practical vote, aimed at solidifying our single-payer future.

And it didn’t kill a damn thing.  

 Thursday in the Upper Valley we experienced what turned out to be a real live sonic boom – not a train crash, propane explosion or all the snow and ice dams falling off the roof at once. I got calls from friends miles north and south wondering about the noisy jolt.

WCAX found the cause was a F-15C at 20 thousand feet that broke the sound barrier, thus creating noise and a sensation felt from Topsham VT to Lyme and Hanover NH. The Massachusetts Air guard said they never intended to cause any “undue concern”.  

So because of the F-15C’s unintended boom I had been thinking of the Burlington Airport and the future F-35 squadron anyway when I read on TPM that the troubled fighter has been grounded.

The Defense Department has suspended flight operations for all three variants of the F-35 as a “precautionary measure,” officials said. The suspension comes after a crack was discovered in an F-35 engine blade, according to Kyra Hawn, a spokeswoman for the F-35 Joint Program Office.

The project is seven years behind schedule and 70% over budget at almost $400 billion, according to Bloomberg

Too soon for any reaction yet from those in and round Burlington who have organized to stop the troubled fighter from arriving in Burlington or word from newly elected adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard, Brigadier Gen. Steven Cray who called the new fighter critically important to the future of the air guard.

Well the F-35 project has also been called “too big to fail” but they are working on it .

Previously in this space, we have expressed our awe and wonderment at the ability of Tayt Brooks, International Man of Mystery, to hold onto his position as Rasputin to Czarina Lenore Broughton, absolute ruler of the Imaginary Kingdom of Ethanallenistan (the free-market, libertarian haven known in reality as Vermont), After all, the Tayter squandered a million or so Broughton Bucks in a fruitless attempt to elevate Wendy Wilton to the Treasurership and elect a few more Republicans to the Legislature. Anyone with that kind of track record should rightfully find himself quickly unemployed, his golden parachute-pack stuffed with assorted dirty laundry.

But despite all logic, he still has a job. And since Miss Daisy is rather unlikely to follow my advice, I direct her to those other would-be purchasers of democracy, the Koch Brothers. They know what to do when an investment goes south:

Take the billionaire businessmen Charles and David Koch who are spending their 2013 figuring out why they the money they spent in 2012 was such a waste. They have already fired most of their 100 staffers at Americans for Prosperity, and they’re now conducting an audit.  

Yeah! Away with you, incompetent flunkies! You waste the Koch Brothers’ money, you hit the bricks pronto.

Of course, when you’re talking about egotistical gazillionaires, the self-examination can only go so far:

The Kochs have delayed their twice-a-year meetings with big conservative donors until they’ve finished their audit, Politico’s Kenneth P. Vogel reports. The results of the audit will be presented at an April seminar, Vogel writes, adding, “Early indications suggest that they’ll continue playing in politics but will tweak their approach to reflect 2012 lessons.”

“Tweak,” eh? That’s the ticket. Make a multi-million dollar bet, come up snake-eyes, and then “tweak” your approach. Y’know, firing the staffers and then “tweaking” the approach is a lot like the captain of the Titanic firing the deck chairs.  

In fact, the Kochs are just as clueless as Lenore Broughton; they’re just meaner to their employees. And their “tweaking” isn’t going to suddenly add wisdom to a political operation that has more to do with the extreme self-regard of two spoiled rich kids than with any connection to reality. (Pictured at right: the gold coin David Koch minted in honor of his 1980 candidacy for Vice President on the Libertarian ticket. I kid you not.)

The Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity has drawn particular grumbling for ads whose goal, critics say, is more about ideology than victory in November, its daily message determined, one rival SuperPAC operative jabbed, by “whatever the Koch brothers had for breakfast.”

… “These fat cats are never politically informed. A good percentage of them are very politically naive – politics are not their thing,” said Richard Born, a professor of political science at Vassar College, who cited the growing sophistication of political consultants at separating donors from their money.

Hey! Finally, a kind appellation for Tayt Brooks! He may be a complete political hack with no clue about winning, but he’s obviously sophisticated “at separating donors from their money.”  

Scanning the Yahoo news this morning, I saw this story about a 117 MILLION dollar home recently sold in California, supposedly the most expensive home in the country (or the world?).  Sick RICH fuckos.  No wonder the Rich are opposed to Mental Health Care.



PETEY SWEETY’S 10.5 BILLION Dollar Dream Home

My Dream Home will have 20 bedrooms and 35 bathrooms and restrooms, its own indoor pool and indoor sauna and sweat lodge, and its own indoor baseball field.  My Dream Home will have its own indoor nightclub–a real bar, with a bartender, a band, and a dance floor.  It will have its own indoor woods, so I won’t have to worry about a view.  Also, an indoor shopping mall where I can buy lots of shit, and then return it.  But the indoor mall will be closed on Sundays, so my Dream Home will also have an indoor corner store where I can go for the Sunday Times and coffee.  My Dream Home will also have an indoor ‘red light’ district where ladies of the night can gather, after my indoor nightclub closes.  And also an indoor street corner where I can buy drugs.  And another indoor street corner where I can hang out with my very own indoor homeless people.  My Dream Home will have its own indoor Public Library, where the ladies of the night will have their day jobs.  I will have my own indoor public bus service and indoor taxi service to drive me to my various indoor venues.  Of course, my Dream Home will have at least 3 indoor restaurants, two of which will be upscale.  I will have real animals in my indoor woods, and I can go indoor hunting.  And an indoor trout stream, and a very large indoor lake where I can fish and swim and boat and maybe spot the Loch Ness Monster from my indoor yacht.  My Dream Home will have its own indoor weather, which I can adjust by remote control.  And its own indoor Police Force.  There will be an indoor junior high school and an indoor schoolyard where I can lurk if the mood strikes me.  My Dream Home will have its own indoor Municipal Building and government, and an indoor municipal front lawn large enough to hold vigils and rallies against my very own indoor WAR going on in the East Wing.  Of course, because of my indoor WAR, my Dream Home will have its own indoor hospital and mortuary.  Also an indoor cemetery.  My Dream Home will have a large landing strip on its roof for alien spaceships to set down, so aliens from outer space can go shop in my indoor mall and then take homeless people on a space trip.  And yes, my Dream Home will be totally sustainable and socially and economically diverse.  It will have its own group of politically correct indoor assholes who will harass me about my cigarette smoking, but, because this is my Dream Home, I will be able to kill them, and then tell my indoor Police Force that they were probably killed by a bunch of kids from my indoor junior high school.  Ah, my Dream Home.  It’s in the works.  It will have its own indoor Hereafter, where I can give my very own indoor God a piece of my mind on occasions.  And its own daily newspaper and radio and TV stations, and its very own blogsites and Facebook and Twitter.  So enjoy my posts now while you can, because after my Dream Home is completed, I will have everything I need.  And I won’t need you anymore.  My Dream Home will have its very own indoor nuclear missiles and missile silos, and I will be able to sit on my indoor yacht on my very large indoor lake drinking a very expensive single malt scotch and use my remote to slowly eliminate those of you who threaten to fuck-up my neighborhood and depreciate the re-sale value of my Dream Home.  I will not kill all of you though.  Because my Dream Home wouldn’t be a Dream Home without people around to be impressed by it and say: “Wow!  Look at that house.  Wonder who lives there?”

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.

One of Governor Shumlin’s very favorite statistics is the 49% rise in the state’s portion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. He cites the magic number every time he talks about his proposed massive cut in the state’s EITC — from $25 million to $8 million, so he can boost child-care funding for working families by $17 million.

See, $17 million seems like a lot — but look: the EITC has gone up so rapidly that it’s not really a cut at all. It’s just a return to normalcy. Here he is, citing his favorite number in a recent opinion piece on VTDigger:

Our current EITC allocation is among the highest in the nation, and has risen 49 percent in the past eight years because it is federally indexed.

Problem: That number is technically accurate, but it’s grossly misleading. The individual benefit hasn’t risen by 49% — it’s the total cost of the program. And most of that increase isn’t due to federal indexing; it’s due to a rotten economy that’s driven more working people into poverty. So notes Jack Hoffman of the Public Assets Institute:

Much has been made of the 49 percent increase in the cost of EITC between 2003 and 2011. During that period, the number of people claiming the EITC increased by 27 percent. And in the last five years-from 2007 to 2012-real income for the bottom two quintiles has dropped. In other words, the cost of the EITC has increased because of a growing need, much of it driven by the Great Recession.

That remark comes from Hoffman’s testimony to a state House committee on January 29. And yet, Shumlin has gone on repeating his favorite number — “49%” falls from his lips almost as often as Rudy Giuliani says “9/11.”

And yet, no one in the media has pointed out this discrepancy. Nor have they challenged the Governor.

But wait, there’s more.

Let’s visit our old friend The Inflation Calculator and learn the difference between a 2003 dollar and the 2011 model.

Hmm. It says that what cost you a dollar in 2003 would cost you $1.22 in 2011. Well, that pretty much eats up the actual increase in an EITC credit, does it not? Indeed, when Shumlin uses the phrase “federally indexed,” what he means is that the EITC is adjusted with the inflation rate. If you don’t believe me, believe the IRS:

The income amounts and the amount of EITC are adjusted for inflation each year.

In other words, two factors are responsible for all, or virtually all, of that infamous 49% increase: the growing numbers of the working poor in Vermont, and the inflation rate. Nobody’s getting fat and happy off the EITC. The Governor insults the working poor, and our intelligence, by continually repeating that bogus 49% figure.

U mad yet? Read on.

Shumlin insists that his EITC raid is not a “cut” because the money is going into a child-care program that will help EITC recipients. They’re getting the same benefit, just in a more targeted way.

Er, no. We turn again to Hoffman’s January 29 testimony.

The proposal has been described as a “trade-off,” but it is difficult to see it that way. It raises income taxes on 44,000 poor working tax filers to expand a program that supports about 7,000 families.

And it gets worse:

…about two-thirds of the families in the child care program-about 4,000 families-now receive a 100 percent child care subsidy-because they are at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level. …They don’t pay for child care now because they can’t afford to, and they won’t pay under the expansion. However, they will lose much of their EITC making these families poorer.

Governor Shumlin keeps on saying the same stuff about EITC and the expansion of child care. And it keeps on being untrue. I would hope that the Governor’s plans are solid enough, reasonable enough, that he wouldn’t have to mislead us to win our support.  

We all mocked it, but turns out it is a real thing (just not what exactly what Mr. Brock had in mind…)

With Business in a Box for Square Register, merchants can now simplify their countertop with an affordable and comprehensive package that includes two Square Readers, an iPad stand, a cash drawer, and an optional receipt printer. All work wirelessly with Square Register.

Flashback to the campaign of 012….

😉

Carry on.

From:

https://squareup.com/news/rele…