Our COVID-era Guaranteed Income
The Labor Department recently reported that the economy had 10.1 million job openings in June. This comes amid a booming recovery as the pandemic lockdowns ease and there were 8.7 million unemployed workers in July.
Another Major Leak in the TCI Boat
When the folks at the Georgetown Climate Center put forward their memorandum of understanding for thirteen New England and Mid-Atlantic states to sign onto, it was a blow to the interstate carbon scheme that only three states (plus Washington DC) signed on. It was a further blow that in two of those states where the Governor gave the okay, Connecticut and Rhode Island, the left-leaning legislatures in both balked at adopting legislation that would actually allow their states to participate in TCI. So, as of now, they’re still out. That leaves Massachusetts, which does not require legislative approval to participate, as the only state left on the field. And now even Massachusetts’ participation in TCI is in jeopardy.
The Biden Pelosi Sanders $3.5 trillion bill
Daniel Henninger, a Wall Street Journal columnist who I admire, had this to say recently about the likely effect of enactment of the Pelosi-Biden $3.5 trillion domestic spending bill.
“This is not just a bill about spending numbers, Henninger writes. “It is a do-or-die effort by the now-progressive party to enact four new lifetime entitlements—universal prekindergarten, universal child care payments, universal paid family and medical leave, and two years of community college. No one has been clearer about the stakes than Speaker Pelosi, who describes it as a “once in a generation” effort. She’s right.”
Why Joe Biden Isn’t Going Anywhere
Watching the Afghanistan debacle unfold, it’s easy to understand why people and pundits are grumbling that the Commander in Chief needs to go. His competency is highly questionable. Even before the election there were legitimate questions raised about Joe Biden’s mental state, and less legitimate conspiracies about his being a Trojan Horse candidate who would step aside or be removed to make way of Kamala Harris. None of this is going to happen. He won’t resign, he won’t be impeached, he won’t be Article 25-ed. Democrats won’t let it happen. Ever. At least until after the mid-term elections in November 2022. They will go full-on “Weekend at Bernie’s” before they let Joe go. Here’s why…
Climate Council is "akin to deer in the headlights"
Annette Smith of Vermonters for a Clean Environment has been closely following the meetings of the Climate Council, which is drafting a sweeping plan to save us from climate change.
Leahy’s Debt Limit Confusion
A fellow Vermonter shared with me Sen. Patrick Leahy’s reply to his letter expressing concern about the national debt surpassing the value of the entire US economy.
Government Is Screwing Up the Labor Market, and More
A story in the Mountain Times, Woodstock struggles to solve restaurant shortage, describes in detail the tourist town’s “impossible equation” with labor, regulatory, and supply issues that are hampering the overall ability to meet the needs of visitors. Many restaurants can’t open seven days a week because the federal government is paying workers not to work. It’s gotten so bad that when a tourist bus showed up in the popular Vermont tourist town and disembarked 44 hungry people, there was no place open for them to eat. Can you say “hangry”? The tour company subsequently canceled its future bus trips to Woodstock.
The Salisbury Digester: Turning Waste into Energy
Vermont Digger published a noteworthy story July 21 by reporter Sophia McDermott-Hughes. It’s about the largest anaerobic digester in the Northeast that has just begun full-scale production of renewable natural gas on the Goodrich Family Farm in Salisbury.
Civil Society Supporting Farmers
The 2020 annual report of the Vermont Community Foundation describes some of its work to strengthen our local food system especially in the disruptive year of COVID.
The Ones Who Gave Residential Solar a Price Hike
If you have solar panels connected to an electric grid in Vermont, you may have been caught off guard recently by a sizeable increase in a subtle change to the “Energy Efficiency Charge (EEC).”