R.F.D. R. I. P.

 I think the heat-drunk garter snake living in our mail box is an omen. As I lower the battered cover and reach gingerly inside to get our mail, I wonder… Read More

Vermonters Overcompensated? Not!

According to The Washington Post and other sources, executive compensation at the nation’s largest firms has quadrupled in real terms since the 1970’s even as pay for 90% of Americans… Read More

Imagine Vermont as a Destination for the Best Education in the World

Picture this…..Vermont abandons many of its under-funded, often poorly conceived fix-it initiatives in favor of a single strategic one. Investments largely wasted on economic development, various consumer and business subsidies,… Read More

Principles Underlying a Redesign of Vermont’s Tax Code

Bill Schubart serves with former Secretary of Administration in the Dean and Kunin Administrations, Kathy Hoyt, and the economist and radio commentator, Bill Sayre, on the Legislature’s Blue Ribbon Tax… Read More

Dear Governor-elect Shumlin,

Congratulations and thanks for taking up the challenges we face. May I suggest some priorities as you move ahead?  You know from your own political experience that there are no… Read More

Vermont’s Two Electoral Systems

Vermont has two electoral systems. The traditional one we all know and a shadow cabinet of older men who, over the years, have provided many great services to Vermont, but… Read More

A New Town Center for Vermont’s Small Towns

At least for the time being, we must all get smaller. By “smaller,” I mean our government, town, school, non-profit, business, and household budgets. Though we may feel like victims… Read More

Another Chance to Lead: Humane Slaughter

Bad incidents can teach us good things… if we’re willing to learn from them. We may believe that the horrific video of animal abuse shot undercover at the Bushway facility… Read More

The Future of Vermont’s Working Landscape is Up to Us

I often write about how we, as a civilized society, need to keep striving towards equilibrium.  As in many times in our history, we live in a highly polarized world… Read More

Government Accountability, Been There, Done That

If you go to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s website and click on “Reports” and type in the word “outcomes,” you’ll get a free copy of a report entitled “Reframing… Read More

UVM, Food Systems and Vermont Farms

The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College is the formal name of UVM. It has served Vermonters for two centuries and now faces difficult choices. The strategic ambiguity of… Read More

When Elephants Grazed in Wolcott

It’s 1956 and we’re bouncing along route 15 in our ‘54 Ford wagon headed to Aunt Rose and Uncle Alcide’s farm in St Johnsbury for a late afternoon Thanksgiving feast.… Read More