Bruce Lisman Speaks to Vermont's Future - Finding Skin
On Thursday, May 13, 2010 Bruce Lisman spoke to a packed conference room at the Ethan Allen Institute's Sheraton Series at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington. Bruce described himself as an unbridled optimist about the future of this country and Vermont. His talk, FINDING SKIN: How Vermont Can Become Its Own Version Of An Economic Powerhouse Without Abandoning Its Values, was enlightening but incomplete.
Mr. Lisman believes that we are now in uncharted territory and the recent past 10 years do not portend the future potential for prosperity and economic health in Vermont. A mark of a good leader is one whose glass is half full rather than half empty when setting the stage for a rosy economic future, but Mr. Lisman, despite his optimism, did not provide enough substance for a way forward to Vermont prosperity which he ardently believes is not only possible, but achievable. Perhaps that's the job of candidates running for office.
He believes we have common goals in Vermont despite political differences. Those goals, among others, are: 1./ preserve the dairy industry and family farms; 2/ protect our land; 3./ provide a quality education for our young people; and, 4./ insure affordable housing. He emphasized that we all care about some basic values and we should be able to forge a new social contract based on prosperity that incorporates those shared values.
He cited several examples of states and nations that have been thriving despite the world recession. These include Israel, Indiana, Ohio and Sweden. He believes these examples of success can provide guidance for Vermont to shape its prosperous future.
Vermont's top priority, according to Mr. Lisman, and by implication, those seeking election who will set Vermont's policy, should be to enable, foster, support, encourage and do every reasonable thing to create prosperity from which private sector jobs will flow. He believes that a rising tide of prosperity will provide opportunities benefiting all Vermonters.
While I admire his optimism and I agree with his premise that prosperity (I'd call it a healthy Vermont economy), Mr. Lisman was short on strategy for how to achieve it. Optimism must be tempered by reality when it comes to strategy, policy and actions that will lead us from here to there.
In the past two decades, Vermont's policies as enshrined in law and regulation have created an unhealthy dependency on government largess for far too many Vermonters. The private sector has become viewed by some as a secondary player to government for the health and welfare of Vermont's citizens. Too many Vermonters have been weaned off the necessity of a good job in the private sector that should pay a decent living. Instead, government employment and payments for support and services to the 'less fortunate' have grown beyond a rational commitment to care for those who cannot care for themselves.
In addition, Vermont has created a system of taxation where 23% of Vermont tax filers pay no taxes, i.e., they have no 'skin in the game,' and have become, to one degree or another, dependent on the state for their well-being. This is far too high a percentage for a prosperous economy and suggests a very progressive tax policy as well as a struggling economy.
Special interest groups and sympathetic Legislators have largely created a dependency culture of too many public jobs and too few in the private sector where taxes are paid to provide revenue for the public sector. Deeply entrenched views about what makes a healthy economy and society are not commonly shared among Vermonters and this values/belief chasm must be crossed to change public policy in favor of prosperity rather than government dependency and redistribution of wealth which is created in the private sector.
Bruce Lisman's optimism is a necessary element of leadership but the gap about what Vermonters believe about the role of government in economic prosperity is wide and deep. Several election cycles and many new faces will be needed before Montpelier truly values the private sector's contribution and enacts policy changes that will foster prosperity. Redefining the social contract will not be easy.
Lisman Talk
Quite agree with Dusher's comments. I wondered why in the world EAI would have this man as a guest speaker? To demonstrate that his type of thinking is the problem and not the solution? So, avoid this kind of thinking? Why waste time doing that?
I don't think Bruce Lisman has a clue about the degree to which Vermont's regulatory and tax structure have driven business away and discouraged new private sector business formation. Lisman sounded like he was still pitching dicey bonds to the rubes for Jimmy Cayne's Bear, Stearns. Or, am I being too uncharitable?
I think Tom Licata would have been a better choice,i.e., someone who has the background and understanding of where we have been, what the obstacles to a revived private sector really are, and the best solutions. This is the information that hasn't sunk in with the average Vermonter. Repetition is the mother of learning, as my cold college roommate would say.
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