Getting It Wrong

            by Jack Harding   

    Maybe next year the Vermont Legislature will get it right.   If progress were measured in nit-picking  committee meetings, self-aggrandizing speeches,  and misguided notions about national issues then our legislators would be in eligible for the Guinness Book Of World Records.  Instead, we get, among other things, harassment of corporations that made the grave mistake of locating in Vermont, tax policies that drive away the very people who can pay taxes and create jobs, protection of a teachers’ union whose membership grows as its workload shrinks, and a total reluctance to deliver on legislation that will address a single threat to this state’s looming financial crisis; skyrocketing education costs, health care cost-shifts, and inadequate or aging infrastructure.   

    Other than that, great job Team Vermont.

    We have all heard the stories; the doctor who declined a hospital’s offer of a staff position because he couldn't afford to live in Bennington County; the canceled conferences because cell service proved to be non-existent; business closings and job losses as hurdles to progress were raised to the point that the business owner made the staggering decision to move to New York, New Hampshire  … anywhere that treated his or her firm like it might be welcome.

         Does anyone have even the slightest notion of how much pain and frustration a business must be feeling from the misguided policies of this state to actually shut down, replace the trained employees or move them, forecast the business disruption to its customers, accept the uncertainties of change and the inevitable lost revenue and profits?  It is a decision of tectonic proportion.  If you are persuaded now that this might be true, then than you may be within shouting distance of understanding why no rational employer would risk coming to Vermont.

     It is mind boggling to me that Vermont’s policy-makers either elect to ignore --- or are ignorant of -- the opportunities they miss. It's akin to concluding that the fish you caught was the only one in the pond.  Vermont is clueless about the companies that never even consider it for a sales conference, let alone opening an office or plant here.  Hmmm, it makes me wonder: "If a company was considering a new home for expansion, and the Vermont leadership didn't know about it,  did the opportunity ever exist? "
    I’ll leave that one to the philosophers. But I will say this: Vermont is heading the wrong way on every business vector.

    It doesn't take an Aristotle to know that,  fifteen years ago, America shifted from a factory- based economy to a clean, knowledge-based economy; one driven by small business, entrepreneurship and the graceful integration of industry, government, and academia. Everywhere, that is, but in Vermont where the legislature is the enemy of business.  From an entrepreneur's perspective it is the state of random search-and- seizure tax policy, energy company muggings, the hijacking of environmental policy to achieve political and ideological goals, and among the last whispers of Socialism in America today.  It is not even the distantly and arguably righteous Robin Hood version where you take from rich and give to the poor.  Here it is, "Take from the rich, and  dump it into Lake Champlain ".
    Clean, safe economic progress is not a partisan issue.  It is about creating jobs, hiring our children, responsibly funding health, education and infrastructure programs, and yes, protecting the environment.  There is nothing mutually exclusive about America's growth trends today and the goals of most Vermonters.  Accept the facts; smokestack factories are the buggy whips of this generation.  We simply don't make them anymore.  The future is based upon knowledge, innovation and, therefore, relevant education, and thoughtful policies that promote stability and predictability for the small business. There is exactly one large business in Vermont (other than our bulging, wasteful state government) and, folks, IBM is not going to let Vermont tell it what to do.  If, and I repeat, if IBM stays (every trend in the semiconductor industry has them in China in 24 months) they will stay on their own terms, so let's not believe our own speeches from Montpelier.  All of our policies, or lack thereof, have absolutely no impact on IBM, other than making it easier for them to move to Shanghai. Then to whom are we blustering?  It is the small guy, the entrepreneur, the UVM grad who would like to stick around and raise a family.  It is you and me.

     It is time, then, to hold our elected officials accountable for our future economic viability and reject their self-important agendas. It does not matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat, it is time that we tell our legislature, and our governor, that we want rational policies to encourage the small business owner to come to Vermont, that we expect them to provide for our future health care and educational needs with sustainable and rational funding programs -- or cut them back until they are affordable -- and that we want them  to subordinate their own 1960's disproven Utopian visions for our modest and fundamental needs.  Otherwise, we vote them out of office.

   

Jack Harding has deep roots in Vermont.  He was raised in Burlington and maintains a home here, though his work is in California’s Silicon Valley where he is CEO of eSilicon, the company which he founded. Harding began his career in business at IBM. Prior to co-founding eSilicon, he served as president and CEO of Cadence Design Systems; during his tenure, Cadence was the world's largest supplier of electronics design software. Previously, Harding was president and CEO of Cooper & Chyan Technology, which was acquired by Cadence in 1997. Harding also served as Executive Vice President of Zycad Corporation.

         Harding earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics and Chemistry from Drew University and has served as Vice Chairman of its Board of Trustees. He is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Development Strategies, a member -- and former Steering Committee member -- of the Council on Competitiveness, a Washington, D.C. based organization dedicated to the global competitiveness of the U.S.; and a former National Academies' Committee member for Software, Growth and the Future of the U.S. Economy. He is a frequent lecturer on innovation and entrepreneurship, and has served on many boards of public and private companies. His most recent appointment was to the 2007 board of directors for the Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA).

         Harding is a friend of this site and shares many of the concerns that vermonttiger.com attempts to address and we are delighted to publish his thoughts on the trajectory of public policy in Vermont, troubling and provocative as they are.

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Comments

[Vermont Woodchuck]

So nu? You expected something different maybe?

[Jeffrey Pascoe]

Very well put. Mr. Harding has done a service to Vermont by sharing his clear thinking.

Note offered in proof... Have you seen the new publication "Growing Vermont's Next Generation Workforce" (pdf)? It's bloody scary:
http://www.thinkvermont.com/documents/nextgen/Next%20Gen%20Workforce%20Exec%20Summary%20final.pdf

[James T. Rude]

Mr. Harding's comments are right on point, except for one minor detail. Robin Hood did not take from the rich to give to the poor. In the context of history, he took money from the government and gave it back to the tax payers.