A Look Back at Recent News
by
Mike Smith
I guess bad news sells papers even when the data is suspect
From the Burlington Free Press story of September 30th entitled, "Census: Vermont Income Drops 10 Percent":
..."Andy Condon, chief of the economic and labor market section at the Vermont Department of Labor, and Burlington-based economist Doug Hoffer agree that the decline in income likely was the result of a sour performance in the stock market. "...
..."Art Woolf, an economics professor at the University of Vermont, discounts the data."...
First off, who's the economist?
Doug Hoffer is a research and policy analysis consultant, based in Burlington. He holds a BA in Political Science from Williams College and a J.D. from SUNY Buffalo School of Law and Jurisprudence.
Arthur G. Woolf, is a professor at the University of Vermont and has earned a PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin.
Second, in the Freeps article you get the impression that Woolf is the lone disbeliever of the numbers. But in the follow-up WCAX story, entitled, "Analysts downplay report that shows big drop in Vermont incomes," both Condon and Woolf are highly suspect of the numbers, an impression you never get from the Burlington Free Press. Also, there is a much better explanation in the WCAX story about why the numbers are nothing to hang your hat on.
There they go again!
The Sunday, October 4th Rutland Herald/Times Argus editorial again trots out its often used phrase, which is incomplete--and being incomplete can be deceptive--that Governor Douglas proposed to raise the property tax. So in fairness let's set the record straight ... once again.
Governor Douglas did try to shift some educational type expenses now being paid from the General Fund to the Education Fund. But he also proposed that these shifts be accompanied by state mandated reductions in the amount of growth in education budgets to offset any impact to the property tax imposed. Administration officials calculated that the total proposal would not have an impact on property taxes.
The Rutland Herald and Times Argus editorials have consistently left out the second half of the proposal to make the contention that Douglas was simply trying to raise property taxes.
(Mike Smith is head of ActiveGeezering.com, an on-line resouce for active seniors. He also has a daily one minute radio segment on WDEV called "Mr. Smith's Vermont," which airs every morning at 8:35 am. He is the former Secretary of Administration of the State of Vermont and also a former Secretary of Human Services.)
Good job Mike. Funny how so many from Shumlin to their marketing departments at the Freeps and Herald miss the part about reducing costs. The left that wants to keep on spending and ignore our core fiscal issues are akin to the 6 yr old who wants candy before dinner. However, in the case of the 6 yr old they have the capacity to learn better.
Posted by: aynerand | October 05, 2009 at 12:58 PM