Vermont Tiger

Experienced Copy Editor Urgently Needed

Internet consortium say it’s got financing

headline, today's Freeps

How many errors can you find?  Come up with the correct answer and maybe you'll land the job.

No Wit; Less Wisdom

Average cost for a gallon of unleaded gasoline in Vermont in January of 2003, the month Jim Douglas became governor: $1.52. Average cost in June: $3.97.

Affordability as an issue in this year's gubernatorial race: Priceless.
    Times Argus

As an attempt at clever writing, that isn't especially adroit.  And the rest the story – the part where the writer does "analysis" – is even worse.    One has to be unusually obtuse to write about Vermont's economic problems, and the "affordability" issue, without even mentioning Acts 60/68.   And if the topic is Douglas vs Symington on "ideas for stemming growth in property taxes," shouldn't the little matter of Act 82 be part of the story? This was, after all, a measure aimed precisely at controlling school budgets and, hence, property taxes.  The Governor proposed the measure.   Symington was for it ... before she was against it.

You'd never know that, however,  from reading this story.

But you did get the joke, didn't you?

Har, har.

Language and the Media

I usually write about economic issues, but a headline and story in today's Rutland Herald points me in a different direction:

Pollina: Douglas rewarded cronies while planning to cut jobs

When I first read the headline, I assumed that Mr. Pollina had used the word "cronies" to criticize the bonuses the Douglas administration gave out to some state officials.   But nowhere in the article was Mr. Pollina quoted as using that term.  The Herald's editors could have used the term "top aides," "key officials."  Or even "key members of his administration," which is the term Mr. Pollina actually used in his press release on the subject.

What's wrong with the word "crony?" Webster's defines it as

a close friend especially of long standing:  pal

Nothing too wrong with that.  But most of us associate "crony" with "cronyism," especially when it's used in a political context.  Sure enough, Webster's says it means

partiality to cronies especially as evidenced in the appointment of political hangers-on to office without regard to their qualifications.

And Wikipedia's more extended discussion gives the word a pejorative meaning.

If Mr. Pollina had used the word crony or cronyism in his press conference, he would most likely have been criticized for it.  Instead, the Herald's editors have given Mr. Pollina a negative spin that he couldn't have pulled off on his own.  The Herald owes Governor Douglas, and its readers, an apology. 

Other Views On IBM

Some reactions to the news of IBM's layoffs:

* The Brattleboro Reformer blames Douglas (what, not Bush?) and points to the success of the nanotech project across the Hudson.  Fair enough; we've noticed, approvingly, what New York is doing.  But there is this line in the Reformer editorial that catches one's attention:

... New York made a conscious decision to invest in a hot new technology and put real money behind it.

Vermont spends more than 1/2 of state and local tax revenues on K-12 education and more, per-pupil, than all but three or four other states.  That's real money that the state doesn't have to invest in economic development schemes ... even if it had one.

* Green Mountain Daily also blames Douglas.  Which is not surprising.  But this is:

We've got artisan and specialty businesses galore, but how many people do they employ?  A couple at a whack.  Don't get me wrong, they're great, but we need employers who hire a lot of people.  We need employers who pay decent livable wages to Vermonters.  This is where Vermont is absolutely not competitive.  We've got a lot of educated, hardworking people who've had to settle for less.

The desirability of economic growth and prosperity for Vermonters shouldn't really be a partisan issue and one suspects that will become less and less the case.  One question for GMD, though.  If we are serious about finding those companies that will employ 1000 or more high wage workers --
Do we shut down Yankee?

Emerson Lynn on Politics

Will IBM's layoffs prod Vermont into action?

    Early next week IBM is supposedly scheduled to announce layoffs.  The speculation is running rampant as to whether the number will be large or small, as if comfort could be derived from either. One way or another, people will lose their jobs and their security, and some grit is tossed into the gears that drive the state’s economy.
    Predictably, we will rub our hands and wonder aloud as to what could have been done. Those who complain about the governor’s penchant for complaining about the state’s anti-business reputation will retreat, looking a bit Pollyannish trying to suggest that Vermont is in full bloom.
    In truth, there probably isn’t anything that Vermont could do to change the employment picture at the IBM plant in Essex. Not now. We will always wonder whether that opportunity was lost in 2001 when the company announced its plans to build its new chip-making plant in Fishkill, N.Y. – the largest capital investment in its history.

Front Page Musings

From the Freeps front page headlines today:

Vermonter Indicted

We first talked about Ralph Cioffi's role in the Bear Stearns  meltdown nearly a year ago here on Vermont Tiger and wondered why no local media thought it worthwhile.  I guess only an indictment is newsworthy, not losing a couple of billion dollars.

Cost, Demand Rise for Wood

But it appears that the reporter isn't too good with numbers.  The first sentence of the article states that

The cost of heating your home with wood, like the cost of heating your home with oil, propane, kerosene, natural gas or electricity, has increased significantly during the past five years.

And  the accompanying chart shows that the cost of oil, propane. kerosene, and natural gas are indeed higher than they were five years ago.  But electricity is cheaper, not more expensive.   And the chart does show that, which makes the article's lede flat out wrong.  As we noted a few weeks ago in Vermont Tiger, that electricity is now relatively cheap compared to other fuels, and cheaper than it was five years ago, is just as important as the point the article made, which is that firewood, although up in price, is still much cheaper than competing fuels. 

Although the article wants us to believe that many Vermonters will be using more wood to heat their homes this winter, I think that even more will be using more electricity.  After all, buying an electric space heater is a lot cheaper than buying a wood stove and installing a chimney.

Oh, and to the Freeps' editor:  The logger you featured, Ron Frey Jr. is a neighbor of mine and supplier of my firewood.  His name is spelled with an "e", not F-R-Y.  They got it right in the photo caption, but not in the article.

I Wrote, They Told, We Know

More on the state  pension change:  H.403 did more than just increase the cost of living adjustment.  It also continued a cap on the inflation adjustment of 5%, which limits the state's exposure to inflationary increases.  That's good.  But even more important, the bill raised the retirement age, changed retirees' medical contributions to one based on their years of service, and increased the amount employees contribute to the state retirement fund. 

I haven't read the entire consultant's report upon which many of these changes were based but the changes appear to be fiscally sound.  State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding comments on this in his reply to my earlier post on the subject.

State employees and teachers still both have defined benefit (DB) retirement plans, which are becoming increasingly rare.  Only 30% of employees in the U.S. with pension plans are in DB plans, while 70% have defined contribution (DC) plans, nearly a complete reversal from three or four decades ago.   DC plans benefit the modern, mobile employee by not penalizing them when they change jobs.  DB plans, by contrast, give an incentive for workers who would otherwise leave their job to stick around in order to get their increasingly lucrative retirement benefits. 

I'd much rather see employees -- whether private, state government, or teachers -- leave when they feel they are getting bored with their jobs rather than staying in their job just to be able to get the most out of their pension benefit. 

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Know

The 2008 legislature increased Vermont state employees' pensions by about 20%.  Surprised?  I was.  But that's what  H.403 (Sec. 3.  3 V.S.A. § 470(b)) does.  It makes a seemingly minor change to the calculation of benefits for state employees who are retired after 2014.  Currently, state employee pensions are a defined benefit plan with the benefits indexed to increase at half the rate of inflation.  As a result of H.403, after 2014 they will be fully indexed for inflation.

The State Treasurer has a nifty calculator so people can calculate what this means for them.  It's hard to generalize, but by my reading, it means that a state employee will easily see at least a 20% increase in his or her total pension benefits.   State employee pensions may be low compared to private pensions, or maybe not.  That's not the point.  The major point is why and how did this significant increase in benefits (that is, a big increase in future taxpayers' liabilities) pass with almost no discussion? 

I don't remember reading anything about this in the state's media.  Where were the reporters?  After checking the agenda of the relevant legislative committees, I found almost no hearings on the bill.  The only testimony seemed to come from the Vermont State Employee Association and the State Treasurer's office.  Who voted for the bill?  We'll never know.  There was no roll call vote on the bill.

Did anyone bother to calculate what this might cost the state taxpayers of Vermont?  Given that it doesn't take effect until 2014, my guess is that there won't be many legislators still sitting who voted for the bill who will have to face the future costs. 

What did the state get from the employee union in return for this benefit increase?  My guess is nothing.  What did the public think about this?  With no media reporting, we'll never know.  What were the Governor's views?  He signed the bill, so I guess he supported it.  Why was there was no mention of this bill in any of the business lobbyists' reports of what was going on in Montpelier this year?   Were they as unaware of the bill and its potential costs as were the state's media?

All in all, this is not the finest example of how a bill becomes law.

Right On The Farm Bill

Less significant but still highly objectionable is the fact that the legislation includes earmarks like a tax break for owners of racehorses, added by the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. We are not clear on whether these are bad times or good for the racehorse-owning sector of the agricultural market, but we feel pretty confident in saying that this is one group that ought to go it alone without the taxpayers' help.
    Valley News

Good editorial.  Good paper.  Somebody send a subscription to our team in Washington.

VPR Interview

With Vermont Tiger editor.