Editor’s note: The following speech was given by Bruce Lisman at the Associated Industries of Vermont 91st annual meeting, held in Montpelier on November 8, 2011.
Thank you Sandra for inviting me to speak before your member’s today; this is the only industry group in Vermont dedicated to manufacturers and those who support manufacturers.
In other words, AIV is an organization dedicated to those who MAKE things. Before this economic cycle is over, we will come to revere those who make and export products to faraway markets.
I’d like to tell you about the economic change that has occurred and what I think we can do to point our state in a new direction for our future.
I’m sure you’ve noticed that the world has changed. This recession was bad. It was like anvils flying out of the sky. And you needed more than umbrellas to survive.
In many ways, this economic recovery has a twilight zone feel. It is a recovery that looks like none other — one month we’re threatened, the next month we’re encouraged.
Now we worry about Greece — it used to be a destination spot and now it’s a basket case. I’m sure you all waited anxiously for news about Finland’s vote on Greece’s bailout.
When was the last time you even thought of Finland. Italy teeters; Spain is in recession, and France might follow. The world seems to revolve on the head of a pin.
We turn away from our televisions in disgust when Washington speaks -— they’ve forgotten us and instead seem more focused on ideology than doing the right thing. Those of you who are Republicans must pine for Reagan, and those of you who are Democrats wish that Clinton was in his first term.
But regardless of their ideology, they were centrists and its there, in the center where real debate and real public policy gets done on behalf of our citizens. Those two guys worked for us and took care of business at the same time.
The world is different and it has changed us —- there is a sense of foreboding. We are a lot more cautious, our risk horizons have come in, we spend less, and we worry that our children will not have the same quality of life that we have had.
Incomes are at 1999 levels and those in poverty are at levels last seen in 1998. The stock market and your pensions have done little in a decade. But, income and wealth disparity have grown to a level where it has become an important societal concern, even an injustice. China has emerged; Brazil and India are emerging. Europe seems lost.
And, here in Vermont, we’ve had modest private sector job growth before the recession and not much since. The growth of our real Gross State Product has been closer to zero since 2000. We are an aging state and our population has grown by only a little, while many of our towns are emptying out, and those essential 30-45 year olds are becoming all too rare.
And now the effects of Irene and the uncertainty around the continued operation of Vermont Yankee threaten to saw off the already economically weakened southern and central tiers of our state.
You’ve changed your spending habits. Vermonters lucky enough to have a good job today still feel like the reward for hard work is just treading water.
And it’s not just the private sector. We all, even those who run our government, have changed the way we view of our personal budgets and finances. They, along with the rest of us, feel the insecurity of a changed and crummy economy.
I believe this is a dangerous moment. The nature of things has changed. There is more to come. We need to be aware of it so that those changes don’t roll across us.
It’s clear by now that economic growth from 2000 to 2007 was largely an illusion. It was fueled by lots of debt in support of turbo charging asset values.
Public policy that now seems to have been based upon that seems delusional today.
And, those who wouldn’t fundamentally re-examine those assumptions and policy and budget decisions made during that time are underestimating the damage this economic convulsion has wreaked on people and institutions.
That ripping sound was the fabric of our society being torn. Hoping things will return to that old normal is simply dangerous to our economic health.
But, at the very edge of an unknown future, with our backs still hot from those damn anvils that flew out of the sky; our state’s government continues to operate as if nothing has changed and would propose two-all-in-bets. For me, this is an ‘are-you-kidding-me-moment.
First, now is not the time to proceed with an elongated health care debate; whether you support single payer health care system or not, we can debate this at another time. It is not the time to freeze the decisions that our job creators, YOU, need to make. Are-you-kidding-me? This all-in-bet that is badly timed.
Second, a 600-page document that intends to lay out a risky plan for Vermont’s energy future has been released. Are-you-kidding-me? We will have the very highest costs in the region unless our neighbors decide to follow suit and I submit to you they won’t. Yes, I believe we have an obligation as citizens to preserve our environment. Finding the right balance is a debate worth having, but this too is an all-in bet that is badly timed.
And lastly, Vermont faces unprecedented funding and infrastructure challenges due to the declining role of the federal funding we’ve become accustomed to and the all-important
long-term impacts of recovery from Tropical Storm Irene. This is where we should focus our attention.
I suppose with all that I’ve said today, it sounds like a case for pessimism. But listen, I’m not much of a pessimist…really I am not.
The fact is, I am irretrievably, irrespressively, positive on most things. I can’t help it.
My father had a simple rule for the supper table: He didn’t want to hear negative things; my brother believed that my father could tell when we had negative thoughts! He had some kind of radar! Now that’s good training. I really do believe that tomorrow is going to be better than today and that next year will absolutely be better than last year.
That doesn’t mean that because you and I are upbeat and positive everything will work out. No, we need to find leadership that will re-connect and unite us as citizens and find its way to solve problems. We’ve done it before. We’ll do it again.
Vermonters are independent minded. We like being self-sufficient and self-deprecating at the same time.
We believe, really believe that by helping our neighbors, we are really helping ourselves.
We are proud that we are prepared to choose different, even untried paths, but we are equally proud for limiting our risk.
We don’t mind making mistakes, but want to be honest when we do.
We sometimes act as if the borders of our state mark the known world and beyond is someone else’s world, and in so doing mark ourselves as special, even as it may limit what we might become.
If we are exceptional, it isn’t just because it’s so dam cold and dark. It’s because in all that we have ever done we work hard, we work smart, we adapt quickly, we solve problems, and we know how to strike a deal to get things done.
We marry our kindness and caring gene to the gene that demands practicality and frugality.
Consider this: After the flood of 1927, our State launched Vermont’s Commission on Rural Life, a three year project to re-imagine Vermont.
From that study, our leaders recognized the challenges we face, as individuals and as a state, are sometimes bigger than we can handle alone.
We were a bit humbled, but also enlivened by the opportunities for renewal presented by accepting a bit more dependence on Federal resources.
Irene offers a parallel opportunity to re-imagine Vermont in a world that is changing; an opportunity to examine the resources available and re-imagine.
Our challenges of today call for new imagination.
Let’s declare the pursuit of prosperity as our most important theme. It’s bigger than health care reform and it’s bigger than an energy plan. It’s bigger than any of our other favorite issues.
Without a vibrant economy here in Vermont, it’s going to be very difficult to afford the things we need and the things we want.
It seems like such a simple goal to set —- Prosperity. But it isn’t a casual thing, it isn’t a casual goal.
Prosperity requires fantastic focus, lots of hard work in support of a long-term strategy. It requires a robust debate of the issues. It requires broad consensus. It requires moving to the middle politically.
It requires trust that the private economy is fundamentally a positive force in our society and government has an appropriate role of protecting citizens from its excesses.
Prosperity is not the result of big, all-in bets that can go bad, but the product of hopeful and energetic choices moderated by the careful consideration of risk.
We want higher incomes for our citizens — the best measure of an economy’s success.
We want to create more jobs than there are people able to fill them.
We want more tax revenues but not because of higher tax rates. No, we want more revenues because our economic engines are strong and prosperous, so when the full recovery comes and all of the changes to the economy emerge, we are ready!
By driving a strong economy we will have a stronger middle class, more jobs, higher incomes —- the very definition of a vibrant economy and resulting prosperity.
We want every generation to be more economically secure than the last. The truth is that prosperity and a vibrant economy equates to quality of life issues. It makes sense, doesn’t it? The value of a strong economy is that it gives us the capacity to invest in our environment, in our schools, in our efforts to help those who need help.
Prosperity is the right goal and the right thing to do for the people of our state.
I’ve met with a lot of Vermonters over recent weeks to explore an idea which might promote prosperity for Vermonters. And the feedback has been positive.
Given the fiscal calamity at the federal level, those looking to Washington to fuel prosperity in Vermont are looking down a dry well.
Additionally, those looking for big pay-offs from all-in bets on healthcare and alternative energy are taking on too much risk. The best path to prosperity is a return to the Vermont values of self-reliance, moderation and neighbor helping neighbor.
As a result of our discussions around Vermont we will be the launching an effort called Campaign for Vermont.
Our goal is to set a new direction for the future -– one toward economic security, better job opportunities and growing prosperity for every generation of Vermonters.
Our goal is to support an open and honest discussion, absent party affiliation, on the issues and priorities surrounding economic prosperity, transparency and accountability for Vermont’s future.
Campaign for Vermont will be a campaign of ideas that are centrist in nature, commonsense to a fault, and in support for those that really matter: the people of the State of Vermont.
We deserve greater transparency and accountability in our government. We prize the intimacy of our state —- you can find yourself pumping gas next to your legislator or walking down the street and run into our U.S. Congressman. We’ve gotten used to seeing our governors at fairs and at parades. That’s good, but it isn’t transparency.
We don’t understand our public education funding system. We don’t understand how our state property tax on your home is calculated. We don’t understand how it relates to our school budget or that of another town’s budget. Very few can explain it.
For me it’s another one of those ‘are-you-kidding-me-moments.’
We don’t understand how our state budget is built or how well our tax dollars are spent. Very few can explain it. Our budget tops $5 billion dollars. No one here would spend $500 without knowing the expected results and at some point being able to measure those results.
We should now how well our money is spent. It’s a cynical government that forgets for whom they work.
I bet if you understood how your tax dollars were spent and that they were spent well you’d feel pretty good or at least a bit better. Some of you might even be proud. And, some of you might not even mind if the state asked you for more.
Transparency is accountability: the single most powerful word in a functioning democracy.
A functioning democracy is a government “of the people, for the people and by the people.” So, I’d like you to consider our ideas as we roll them out. Decide for yourself if you think a vibrant economy and the broad prosperity it creates is a good thing — and if you agree — sign up on our website when it goes live.
We intend to provide a home for moderates —- for centrists who believe as I do that we are most comfortable at the center of the political spectrum.
We won’t abandon our values as Vermonters.
We will work to restore values that include commonsense and economic opportunity.
Thank you and I hope you’ll join me in this campaign.
