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.

Comments

[Chris Campion]

I would love to be there to listen to both of these gentlemen in person, but work intrudes. Here's to hoping there's a bit of sunshine in their presentations.

[Tom Licata]

Thank you, Chris. No sunshine, though.

Here's a snipit of my presentation:

"The level of employment today, at 129.5 million, is the exact same level it was in 1999. And, during this 11-year span, the working-age population has risen 29 million.

Contemplate that for a moment; fully 29 million people competing for the same number of jobs that existed more than a decade ago."

"Not only that, but consideration must be taken that in 2009, we had a zero policy rate, a $2.2 trillion Fed balance sheet and an epic 10% deficit-to-GDP ratio. You could not have asked for more government stimulus. Yet employment tumbled nearly 5 million in 2009."

Total Federal Govenment job growth this past decade: 18%

Total Private-sector job growth this past decade: 0%

President Obama's five year projected deficits (2010-2015)outlined in his FY 2011 budget, released last week: $5 Trillion

I can go on forever, and I almost do in my presentation (nearly 50 slides long).

No sunshine.

Only realism.

What we need are realisic legislators, both Montpelier and Washingon, DC.

What we need are leaders, whose interests lie in our nation's interests; whose interest's lie in our nation's founding; whose interest's lie in our founding's Constitution and its Declaration of Independence.

We cannot borrow our way out of debt, nor can we spend our way into prosperity.

Montpelier is full of those who believe in unicorns and rainbows.

There is no happy ending here.

Montpelier will find this out the hard way.

Dreams of unicorns and rainbows die hard.

[Chris Campion]

Tom, thanks for that. I expect that the groans will have subsided by now, after the first hour.

I agree that leadership is needed to address what we've done to ourselves over the course of decades. The answers to the problems are fairly simple, but the medicine itself will be the painful part. We collectively need a willingness to change our perception of why gov't exists, not "Why isn't gov't doing everything for me?"

[Glenn Eno]

Thank you Geoffrey, Tom and Hugh. It was a very informative meeting and Tom's overall economic picture and Hugh's specifics on education funding should serve the attendees well. I had a few specifics on how equalized pupils, budgeting, declining enrollment and tax rates co-exist, (Or don't co-exist). I have a clearer picture of Current Use and how much of the increased education taxes actually goes, (doesn't go), to fund education.

Tom and Hugh were very gracious with their time and attempted to answer questions as best they could without overloading the mind. I'm glad they each took a few minutes after to answer follow up questions I had. I do believe I'm in one of these circuit breaker towns and this information will be very useful in the coming weeks.

What has become clear is how many people,(not including the attendees), only see taxes going up and no link to the causes.

I now have budgetary hmework to do.