Vermont Tiger

High Stakes Gambling

by Art Woolf

It doesn't just happen on Wall Street.

I argued a few weeks ago that Burlington could either cut its losses or double down on its high stakes gamble on Burlington Telecom.  It looks like Mayor Kiss has decided on the latter, despite two independent consultants and a blue ribbon commission who concluded that

BT has no reasonable prospect of repaying its current debt of $51 million from its revenues and is in no position to borrow additional money

The mayor doesn't believe it and instead believes

 it could be possible to refinance BT with additional debt and “give it two or three years either to expand our (subscriber) base (or create) other elements that let us pay our bills in that time."

And who are the creditors that would lend BT the money? 

Taking Care Of Business

Oh, well.  Seems last year's good idea is this year's extravagance. 

Maybe they should get the laptops, after all.  They could surf the web as the good ship Vermont slips beneath the waves.

Interactive Budgeting

Audrey Pietrucha, of the Southern Vermont Liberty Council in Bennington, has contacted us and asked that we alert readers to the following:

This coming Monday, Feb. 8, the legislature is planning a public hearing on the budget using VT interactive TV. The hearing will take place from 4:30 to 7 pm. 

This looks like an excellent opportunity to let the legislature know what you are thinking.

Participating towns are:

Bennington, Brattleboro, Castleton, Johnson, Lyndonville, Middlebury, Newport,
Randolph Center, Rutland, Springfield, St. Albans, Waterbury, White River Junction,
Williston, Montpelier

Nowhere To Go But Up

 by Chris Campion

UVM trustees are currently mulling over the annual tuition rate increases, which in recent years have gone up by about 6%.  One might note how this increase is somewhat larger than the inflation rate.  Currently 65% of UVM students are from out-of-state, and because the out-of-state students pay almost 2X what a Vermont student pays, the heaviest burden of the increase falls on the demographic that will continue to be a larger and larger percentage of enrolled students.

Government Work

The number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal salary data.
Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession's first 18 months — and that's before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.
Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.
    USA Today

Good pay, nice benefits, no heavy lifting and if it snows, you get the day off.

We've Moved....

.... at least according to Aer Lingus....

(H/T - An old colleague....)

Super Sunday

Colts vs. Saints.  Professionalism vs. Karma.  New Orleans, city built on hedonism, vs. Indianapolis, heart of the pragmatic mid-west.  Emergency rooms from coast to coast and border to border are on full alert for cases of avocado overdose.  Yada, yada, yada.

Point is ... this is an essentially American day.  A national holiday lacking only the official designation as such.  As some guy pointed out here, a few years back.

Any reader who predicts the exact score gets an official Vermont Tiger baseball hat.

Reminder for Super Sunday

A few hours before kickoff in the ultimate game ("ultimate," that is, until they play it again next year) Tom Licata and Hugh Kemper will be conducting a presentation that we urge anyone within easy driving range to attend.  Tom & Hugh are friends of this site.  Tom has been looking hard at the fiscal big picture for some time now and the wonder is that he hasn't had to avert his eyes.  What he has to say will certainly open those of anyone who is still unaware of the crisis that looms for the nation and Vermont.

Hugh, as readers of this site know, is the authority on spending on K-12 education in Vermont and, therefore, the taxation necessary to sustain it.  He has drilled so deep into the numbers that we've had to pipe daylight down to him.  If you would like to understand the system so that you can make informed decisions before town meeting and ask informed decisions during town meeting, Hugh's presentation will bring you up to speed.

This Sunday. Manchester.

Details here.

What Makes Economists Chuckle?

by Art Woolf

Take A Breath

Politics by Emerson Lynn

President Barack Obama this week backed up his promise to support nuclear power by tripling U.S. loan guarantees to $54 billion. The president’s pledge to help the nuclear power industry build more reactors is central to his mission of creating “green jobs”, diversifying our energy portfolio, and addressing global climate change.

In Vermont, we are in the process of shutting down our only nuclear power plant, thus making our energy portfolio less diverse, more expensive, and costing us 640 high paying “green jobs”. It also adds mud to our environmental boot.

Aren’t the people driving the ship in Washington and Montpelier on the same political team? Why don’t the folks here look at Vermont Yankee jobs as “green” when the Obama team does? Why is the Obama team pushing the nuclear power option as part of its global climate change initiative, and we’re doing precisely the opposite?

Build Your Own Climate Model

By Daniel Foty

Have you been intrigued by all the "climate modeling" that's been in the news over the past many years - and with more intensity in recent months?

Have you felt intimidated by this?  Do you feel that such things must only be comprehensible to super-class eggheaded scientists?  Do you worry that such things must be beyond even the cursory reach of mere mortals?

Well, fear not.  You (yes, YOU) can build your very own climate model.  There's a way which is very simple - yet very informative.

And we'll show you how to do it below the fold....