Vermont beats trend with $10 million surplus

[Stoic]

Rutland Herald

"...Klein agreed that lawmakers and both the Dean and Douglas administrations deserve the credit for the state’s strong fiscal health, but added, “I think Dean gets a large amount of credit.”

“He set the tone,” Klein said. “You had fairly conservative revenue forecasts and fairly conservative spending policies that made it easier to respond when revenues collapsed.”

Like most states, Vermont has endured a dramatic drop in revenues in the past several years, particularly in the income tax, but unlike many other states responded quickly with budget cuts once the size of the revenue losses became apparent..."

Before anyone starts bitching that this only shows how Dean isn't really a progressive, ask your self this: In states that are now facing serious budget shortfalls, who is suffering the most with deep massive cuts in services? The poor and dis-enfranchised. And, like California, which Democratic governors are more likely to be thrown out of office leaving their weaker citizens at the mercy of right-wing budget slashers? It's one thing to support progressive gov't and another to fund it properely. Dean has forcefully proclaimed his opposition to the massive tax-cuts for the wealthy and the need to use that revenue for ALL the American people.

[searchingforlight]

1. I agree with your point.

The question is how do we spend what we have?

[Maple]

2. You shouldn't spend it

You need a reserve fund for a rainy day or a crisis.

Because they are inevitable, and you don't want it to ruin the current good situation.

[asjr]

3. Vermont

Vermont can thank Dean. That in itself is a reason to vote for Dean.
As to where is the money. We know. Bush sold us to corporate America. We are now OWNED by corporations. There is no money left to buy back our country. Bush's political buddies have it all. Our tax dollars to the rich. The next president has to be a Democrat. I don't envy his or her job, but it is going to be a mess. If we can repeal Bush's payout to the richest in the nation, we might have a chance but we must boot him out. It must be a clean sweep--the whole administration.
And Michael Powell must be tarred and feathered! Each day that goes by I become more and more angry at what has become of us. The Pubs in Congress are working for GW. They have forgotten they are paid by us. Let's garnishee their wages. At least they still have jobs. I wish Dean would start telling the country this. I love his "I want my country back." It is what we have been saying for a long long time and it reverberates into many households. That should be the Democratic party logo. Well, I could continue, but now I must take my blood pressure medication.

[polpilot]

4. Good post. We're experiencing 'corporate government' at its finest.

Dean '04

[burythehatchet]

7. Please refer to Corporate Government by its true name...Fascism

.

[Stoic]

5. Putting a Democrat in office...

Putting a Democrat in office, any Democrat, is a stop-gap measure until we win back Congress and undo all the damage by the radical anti-government extremists. It will be a long, hard road back to restoring our country. I support Dean, not so much for his policies, which I mostly like, but because he has the guts to fight back and not play the political game of managing at the margins. He's reaching out to the disaffected Democrats, disgusted environmentalists, disenfranchised voters and disillusioned moderate Independents and Republicans and putting together a new coalition. True political power rests in the hands of the great mass of the American people and not in the boardrooms of Corporate America. That's what the Republicans fear most. The "New Deal" wasn't created by the Democrats, it was created by the American people. We did it before and we can do it again.

[Gin]

6. I like his policies...fiscal conservative....social democrat...

its the best of both worlds. he has my support.

[scottxyz]

8. Just shows...

This just shows what happens when some kind of whacky liberal provides things like health insurance for the people - you save money in the end! (Having a plastic card that lets see a doctor instead of clogging up the ER for little things like a sore throat or waiting till things get worse does tend to save a lot of money, doesn't it!)

[MrJones]

9. Can't trust those Republicans with your money

Sitting next door to Vermont watching Elmer Pataki's budget train wreck in New York, that sure looks good to me.

[varun]

10. Where are the doomsayers now?

who said that Vermont was doomed after it allowed civil unions for gay couples?