My Turn: Pollina plan will help Vermonters
Letter to the Editor:
Last week, while the governor and the Legislature were bickering over the administration’s secret plan to stimulate the economy, and the rest of us were counting how much it was going to cost us to repair our axles, Anthony Pollina was thinking outside the box and producing a concrete proposal to put Vermonters to work, rebuild infrastructure, build affordable homes, make Vermont buildings more efficient and create jobs while stimulating the renewable-energy sector.
While Gov. Jim Douglas and the legislative leadership were trying to find the budget cuts that would provoke the least political outcry, Pollina pointed out what both the governor and Legislature seemed to be missing: If you don’t prioritize wisely, you simply increase costs further down the road and make the next financial crisis even worse. By cutting back on prevention, whether in the field of health, jobs or the fixing of roads and bridges, we guarantee larger costs and bigger financial problems ahead. As Pollina said, “We are suffering from a funding shortage but also a lack of planning and investment.”
The day before Douglas snuck out of Montpelier to release his secret plan, Progressive candidate for governor Anthony Pollina released his own proposal. Unfortunately The Burlington Free Press opted to cover only the governor’s plan.
The differences between the two programs show voters the kind of choice they have for governor this year. Douglas wants to help first-time homebuyers, but his plan ignores the fact that there is a real shortage of affordable housing to buy. He also wants to use a sales tax holiday to encourage shopping, ignoring the fact that people don’t have the money to spend.
What is required now is leadership and political courage, not status quo politicians. And so Pollina has come up with “strategies to strengthen our economy and our working families, … put money in the pockets of Vermonters so they can pay their bills and spend on Main Street … fix the roads and build housing.”
Pollina would close the capital gains tax loophole and use the savings to invest in jobs and infrastructure as follows:
- Bridges and roads: $5 million a year in debt service for bonding to raise $75 million, to fix our bridges and roads before they get worse and cost us more.
- Affordable housing: $5 million a year for 4 years — $20 million total — to build affordable housing for Vermonters.
- Green jobs: $4 million a year for 4 years — $16 million total — supporting green jobs, constructing, renovating, and designing buildings that are energy efficient and supporting Vermont companies engaged in renewable energy technologies.
This plan will create jobs, make Vermont more affordable and fill some of the governor’s potholes.
Pollina pointed out that “the gap between the wealthy and the rest of us is growing. Good jobs are being lost or replaced with lower paying jobs. Nine of the 10 fastest growing jobs in Vermont don’t pay enough to allow workers to buy a home. … Families are struggling because their income is not keeping pace with the basic costs of living, health care, housing, energy and food.”
Median family income has actually declined even while, until recently, the economy as a whole has been expanding. This is the first time that has happened since the government started keeping track of these factors. So, even though oil companies and many on Wall Street are making record profits, this economic crisis threatens middle-class Americans. It may, in fact, threaten the continued existence of America’s middle class.
We need new leadership. And we need it now.
Martha Abbott of Underhill is chairwoman of the Vermont Progressive Party.
This Letter to the Editor was posted in the Friday, April 25, 2008 issue of The Burlington Free Press (link to source)