Archive
Besides his books, Bill has written a variety of poems, short stories, opinion pieces, and 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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
Vermont’s Working Landscape: A Worthy Investment
In time and perhaps with age, we learn to doubt or at least question the predictions of gurus and futurists. Our landscapes are riddled with the remnants of “model communities”...
Chittenden County Police, Fire, and Rescue: Time to Consolidate?
This is the kind of question that causes people to stare at their shoes during Town meeting. “Does the greater Burlington area, from Milton to Richmond and Charlotte really need...
East CharlotteTractor Parade
Quick. Pop quiz: what’s free, fun for all ages, and brings neighbors and friends together for a half-day of loud, smoky excitement? Answer? The East Charlotte Tractor Parade! After an...
VT Agency of Human Services – we can do better.
Human Services Secretary Doug Racine recently acknowledged his own agency’s defeat in reducing childhood poverty in Vermont – a concession that frankly astonishes me. The Agency of Human Services is...
Ethics & Governance
We’re supposed to be a nation of laws. Statutes, regulations, and governance conventions codify the continuum of Americans’ ethical beliefs and guide our decisions as we work together to maintain...
