Interest on the Public Debt

What a mess! Consider the implications if interest rates rise! Congress MUST rein in spending. Many plans are or soon will be on the table. Will Congress seriously deal with the issue of will tis become just another special interests fight? If history is our guide, expect 95% rhetoric and 5% action.

VP Biden Sleeping During President's Speech?

Perhaps VP Biden's closed eyes epitomize the attention most Americans pay to the deficits and the national debt created by Congress that threatens to bankrupt the country if not soon fixed with a plan to reduce government spending to more realistic levels.

Vermont and New Hampshire Property Tax Comparison

Another comparison of VT with New Hampshire. Overall, NH wins the two state tax comparison with no sales or income tax. The good news for homeowners is that VT's residential property values did not suffer in the housing bust as did most other states.

3. Vermont
> Average Property Taxes as % of Median Income: 5.4% (3rd Most)
> Average Median Property Taxes Paid on Homes: $4,618 (3rd Most)
> Unemployment Rate: 5.6% (5th lowest)
> Average Median Income for Home Owners: $77,161 (7th Highest)
> % decrease in Median Home value (2006-2009): +9.0% (20th largest increase)

Vermont residents spend 5% of their net incomes on property taxes, the third most in the country. The median homeowner income is the seventh-highest in the U.S., at $77,161 per person. An additional boon for state homeowners is a 9% increase in home values between 2006 and 2009, well above the national average. Unemployment is low, which in theory should mean the pool of potential homebuyers should be greater than in many other states.

2. New Hampshire
> Average Property Taxes as % of Median Income: 6.38% (2nd Most)
> Average Median Property Taxes Paid on Homes: $4,168 (2nd Most)
> Unemployment Rate: 5.4% (4th lowest)
> Average Median Income for Home Owners: $72,489 (13th Highest)
> % decrease in Median Home value (2006-2009): -2.8% (11th Greatest Decrease)

Vermont’s neighbor, New Hampshire, has an even higher rate of property taxes as a percent of resident income, at 6.38%. The state’s residents also pay the second-most overall on taxes, a median of $4,168 per household. Unlike Vermont, property values decreased by 2.8% between 2006 and 2009, the  11th highest decrease in the country. New Hampshire has comparably low unemployment rates and median income for homeowners, meaning residents are probably more capable of paying these large property taxes than the residents of less well-off states.

Read more: The Ten States With The Worst Property Taxes - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2011/04/05/the-ten-states-with-the-worst-property-taxes/#ixzz1IwBG57fz

Employers Testify Against Vermont Healthcare Reform Plan

    Dealer.com and IBM testify against the rush to single payer in Vermont to VT Senate Committee on Health Care. (Credits: TrueNorthReports for the video clip.)


    Vermont's Democrat-controlled Legislature and Gov. Shumlin are hell-bent on rushing to health care reform that runs a very high risk of failure to meet cost containment goals. Multi-state companies who self insure health care for employees will not pay twice nor will employees stand for reduced (yet-to-be-defined) benefits. Who knows if they will pass these extra costs on to their employees? They certainly will not choose to pay twice for Vermont employees.


    The state will be downright stupid to take an action that at great risk of driving multi-state employers and jobs from Vermont.


    If Vermont chooses to eventually exempt companies in this category, that will further reduce the number of people who will be enrolled, because Medicare eligible folks will apparently not participate. ShummyCare as presently envisaged in H.202 is a mirage with no guarantee of success in reducing costs or providing any significant quality improvement. Wat we can expect if this plan comes to reality is RATIONING of services.

A Comparison of Per-capita Expenditures by State

Vermont spends nearly 3 times New Hampshire's level per person. How is it that two states sharing a common border are so different in their desire to spend and tax? Some differences may exist in how education is funded in the two states. NH may fund education with more local dollars than Vermont and we also know that NH pays for some of it's transportation costs via tolls, but the stark difference clearly shows that Vermont is off-track in it's fiscal policies and philosophy compared to most other states.

Vermont Medicaid Hospital Taxes - FY 2012 Budget

"The Association does not oppose the fee bill (H.436). As you know, the fee bill contains, among other things, the hospital provider tax. The House Ways and Means committee supported the Administration’s recommendation to increase the hospital provider tax to the greatest extent possible. The $17.4 million proposed tax increase for SFY 2012 brings the total tax paid by hospitals to $111.5 million. These tax revenues, when matched with federal Medicaid funds, generate more than $230 million – $48 million more than the state eventually pays hospitals and employed physicians to care for Medicaid patients."
--Quote from open letter to Vermont Legislators on H.202 from M. Beatrice Grause, RN, JD

President and CEO,Vermont Association of Hospital and Health Systems

I'm no expert on Medicaid and health care funding, but let me be sure I have this right. Hospitals will be taxed more to help balance Vermont's FY2012 budget. This will mean that additional Federal Medicaid dollars will flow into the state to help pay hospitals for services to Medicaid patients. Meanwhile, our Federal government now borrows  about 42 cents of every dollar it spends, including Medicaid dollars flowing to the states.

So, if all states do what seems to be a cool deal to get more Federal dollars from Medicaid, the Feds are required to borrow more to pay for the additional Medicaid support. It seems to me this tactic will drive up Federal Medicaid spending and more deficit spending/borrowing, some of which apparently will flow back to hospitals, at least in Vermont.

This seems to me a scheme to 'rob Peter (Federal budget in dire deficit mode) to pay Paul (Vermont's hospitals)' and exemplifies one of the problems with our present U.S. health care system. I remain unconvinced that ObamaCare or ShummyCare will solve this problem.

Granted, this is fundamentally a national issue that requires deep restructuring of entitlement programs. But Congress seems to have little stomach for that. Despite the rhetoric, we have yet to see any real action from Republicans or Democrats to reduce deficits.

Meanwhile, states will continue to milk 'the system' for their own benefit. In Vermont's case, the budget will be balanced partially via increased federal deficit spending, not unlike the use of ARRA funds in the previous two budgets.

Opera Live-at-the-Met

Went to Live-at-the-Met at Palace 9 in So. Burlington this afternoon for Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. What a marvelous performance! I have never been an opera fan, but these HD live performances are (for me) better than being there in person because of all the extra behind-the-scenes features.

Economy, Gas, Partisanship and War Gang Up on Confidence in Governmen

"Confidence in the U.S. system of government has dropped to a new low in more than 35 years, with public attitudes burdened by continued economic discontent, soaring gasoline prices, record opposition to the war in Afghanistan -- and a letdown in hopes for political progress after a bout of bipartisanship last fall."

Gee whiz, no surprise in the results this ABC poll. Politicians have been promising more than they can deliver for dozens of years as they pander to the citizenry for votes and power. Now, the economy has lost faith in the government's ability to 'fix' anything. Unrealistic expectations of what government can and should do have overtaken personal independence, accountability and reduced market vibrancy. We have allowed a culture of dependency to saturate our thinking.


This results in extreme political  demagogues, such as Vermont's own Bernie Sanders, calling for massive redistribution of wealth, a task that government, if allowed to do so, is very good at. Folks of common sense see Government more as the problem rather than the solution. Now we are at the day of reckoning and very difficult time lies ahead.

Guantanamo Remains Open - Reality Trumps Campaign Promises

Will his supporters realize, As Obama has, that confirmed terrorists must be kept out of circulation and tried for their crimes by military tribunals? Obama's campaign promise was nothing more than unrealistic vote-getting rhetoric. Far too many people fell for it.

Now, he should really get serious and appoint a new Attorney General to replace the hapless Eric Holder who wanted to hold civilian trials for terrorists in New York. What a foolish proposal.

Radical Islamic terrorists are evil people rightly named enemy combatants who should be tried as such.

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama on Monday approved the resumption of military trials for detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ending a two-year ban.

The approval was the latest acknowledgement that the detention facility Mr. Obama had vowed to shut down within a year of taking office will remain open for some time.

"I strongly believe that the American system of justice is a key part of our arsenal in the war against al-Qaida and its affiliates, and we will continue to draw on all aspects of our justice system—including Article III courts—to ensure that our security and our values are strengthened," the president said in a statement. Article III courts are military commissions.

Under Mr. Obama's order, Defense Secretary Robert Gates will rescind his January 2009 ban on bringing new cases against the terrorism suspects at the detention facility.

Closure of the facility has become untenable because of questions about where terrorism suspects would be held.

Wicked Winter Weather

Son Mark's home in Shoreham, VT.

My driveway at 0800:

Looks like the storm is over. Only very light snow in Colchester at 1500. Here are the snowfall totals from around VT. I'd say we have close to 22-24" here.

VERMONT

...ADDISON COUNTY...
   CORNWALL              22.0  1030 AM  3/07  SPOTTER

...CALEDONIA COUNTY...
   LYNDONVILLE           21.0  1215 PM  3/07  LYNDON STATE
   2 SW SUTTON           19.5  1220 PM  3/07  COOP
   ST. JOHNSBURY         17.8  1200 PM  3/07  FAIRBANKS MUSEUM

...CHITTENDEN COUNTY...
   JERICHO               30.0  1136 AM  3/07  TOWN HIGHWAY
   JERICHO CENTER        23.5  1019 AM  3/07  GENERAL PUBLIC
   1 NE SOUTH BURLINGTO  23.3  1250 PM  3/07  NWS OFFICE

...FRANKLIN COUNTY...
   SWANTON               18.1  1120 AM  3/07  PUBLIC
   HIGHGATE CENTER       17.5  1117 AM  3/07  PUBLIC

...LAMOILLE COUNTY...
   STOWE                 27.0  1245 PM  3/07  PUBLIC
   MORRISVILLE           24.5  1220 PM  3/07  PUBLIC
   2 S EDEN              22.0   100 PM  3/07  COOP OBSERVER

...ORLEANS COUNTY...
   1 NE NEWPORT          24.5  1135 AM  3/07  COOP OBSERVER

...RUTLAND COUNTY...
   WALLINGFORD           10.0   839 AM  3/07  GENERAL PUBLIC

...WASHINGTON COUNTY...
   MORETOWN              19.0  1020 AM  3/07  SPOTTER
   BARRE                 15.0   824 AM  3/07  MEDIA
   CABOT                 15.0  1230 PM  3/07  PUBLIC
   EAST CALAIS           10.5   929 AM  3/07  GENERAL PUBLIC

Updated from Weather Service...

924 AM EST MON MAR 7 2011

...SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...

THE COMBINATION OF SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO CREATE AREAS OF
NEAR ZERO VISIBILITY IN BLIZZARD LIKE CONDITIONS THROUGH EARLY
THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS MOST OF THE NORTH COUNTRY. THESE CONDITIONS
WILL CONTINUE TO CREATE EXTREMELY POOR DRIVING CONDITIONS AND NO
UNNECESSARY DRIVING IS ADVISED.

This from the national Weather Service...


It's snowing very hard with strong winds at 0800. Visibility is less than 1/8 mile. 12-14" already. Will be shoveling soon! See NOAA forcasted snow amounts below.

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BURLINGTON VT
314 AM EST MON MAR 7 2011

NYZ028-035-VTZ001>009-016>018-071600-
/O.CON.KBTV.WS.W.0007.000000T0000Z-110307T1800Z/
EASTERN CLINTON-EASTERN ESSEX-GRAND ISLE-WESTERN FRANKLIN-ORLEANS-
ESSEX-WESTERN CHITTENDEN-LAMOILLE-CALEDONIA-WASHINGTON-
WESTERN ADDISON-EASTERN FRANKLIN-EASTERN CHITTENDEN-
EASTERN ADDISON-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...PLATTSBURGH...PORT HENRY...
TICONDEROGA...ALBURGH...SOUTH HERO...ST. ALBANS...NEWPORT...
ISLAND POND...BURLINGTON...JOHNSON...STOWE...ST. JOHNSBURY...
MONTPELIER...MIDDLEBURY...VERGENNES...ENOSBURG FALLS...RICHFORD...
UNDERHILL...BRISTOL...RIPTON
314 AM EST MON MAR 7 2011

...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM EST THIS
AFTERNOON...

A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM EST THIS
AFTERNOON.

* LOCATIONS...CENTRAL AND NORTHERN CHAMPLAIN VALLEY AS WELL AS
PARTS OF NORTHERN VERMONT.

* HAZARD TYPES...HEAVY SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS...1 TO 2 FEET.

* TIMING...SNOW...HEAVY AT TIMES WILL CONTINUE THIS MORNING BEFORE
  SLOWLY TAPERING OFF THIS AFTERNOON.

* IMPACTS...HAZARDOUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TODAY. GUSTY
  NORTH WINDS WILL CREATE AREAS OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW ALONG
  WITH REDUCED VISIBILITIES.

* WINDS...NORTH 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 MPH.

* TEMPERATURES...HIGHS IN THE LOWER 20S.

* VISIBILITIES...BELOW ONE QUARTER MILE AT TIMES.