Brainless On The Jobless

Language in the bill calls for a 12-person study committee, comprised of representatives from the legislative and executive branches, to meet during the summer and draft a proposal for consideration next January.
    Herald

Ah, yes.  The legislature's default solution to any thorny economic problem facing the state – commission another study.  This one on what to do about funding the unemployment trust fund which is rapidly running out of money.  Once the fund goes broke, the state will be obliged to borrow from the Feds to keep payments going to those who are out of work.

Maybe the legislature's secret, long-term solution to the problem is to put all of the unemployed to work studying Vermont's various problems. 

Meanwhile, the temporary fix is ... surprise, to raise taxes.  On employers.  Vermont's employers rank 17th in the nation for payments into unemployment insurance programs.  Vermont's workers receive more than the national average in benefits.  (details here & here)  And, the money that employers will now be paying in additional taxes is money they won't have to hire people so they will no longer be unemployed. 

After all, isn't the desired solution to the unemployment problem more jobs? 

But don't count on a study committee from Montpelier to come up with that answer. 

Comments

[Kevin Ellis]

While it is tempting to trash the legislature for too many study committees and putting off hard decisions, sometimes that actually is the right thing to do. The Founders in a Philadelphia were one giant summer study committee with the windows closed. Given the lack of expertise by our citizen legislators, their lack of staff and the part-time nature of the session, it is sometimes worthwhile to punt short-term so you can study, learn, question and come up with a considered solution, especially when times are so fluid.

[Ed G. Mann]

The Legislature has the answer it wants; the study group is to formulate a suitable question to fit that answer.

[David Usher]

Surely legislators are not expected to be experts in all the issues they face. But it's not too much to ask that leadership have the understanding and foresight to set an agenda that deals with the crucial issues facing Vermont. That's what leaders do.

Until this legislative leadership demonstrates that political power and protecting their favored special interests is less important than exiting this recession with a healthy Vermont economy able to create jobs, we remain skeptical of their motives and their competence.

They surely have been in power long enough to own the problems. We'd like to see them own some rational solutions.

[Chris Campion]

It's tempting to trash a legislature that is trashing the state's economy, continuing a long-standing trend of doing so. Forcing down median incomes due to ill-conceived public policy is not in the public's best interest. I did not ask a one of them to run for office - they all chose to run. In so doing, they have an obligation to all Vermonters - and they have repeatedly punted when it comes to making decisions that will improve the business climate in Vermont. Without a vibrant economy, and I'm not talking about subsidized dairy or tourism, the state is on a path easily described as a death spiral.

Much of what we have today is the work done by legislatures, governors, and courts past - it's not fair to blame this session for the state's woes. I can blame them, though, for pointedly failing to address the primary challenge - creating a viable economy, which can be done with relative ease, if they're willing to take a political risk. Unfortunately, it will take some years to convince business that something like a low permanent corporate tax rate will never be rescinded by future legislators. I'm not sure the state has that long.

[VTC4L]

Let me get this straight: After ten years of one of the highest employment rates in the nation, Vermont has only one year of funds to divvy up for its unemployed? Where'd all the money go?

Now that the high tax rate and anti-business attitude has succeeded in chasing companies and jobs out-of-state, and the growth rate is turning negative, you wonder where they're going to get ANY money to pay out when unemployment inevitably rises in the years to come. Oh wait, I forgot, there's the Green Revolution coming... jobs and benefits sprouting up like soybean shoots for everyone! That is, if we're not too timid to 'invest' large dollops of tax monies to make it happen.... What a crock!