Living As It Was

Long Ago
“I have long advocated that one of the biggest obstacles to job growth in Vermont is the inability of employers to afford the rising cost of health insurance,” Shumlin said. “It is killing business." (VTdigger.org, 2/22/2012)


You learn something everyday. We would have thought that the biggest obstacles to job growth in Vermont include the state's anti-business climate. For one example, let's turn to IBM, the state's largest employer. Might IBM be frustrated by the Shumlin administration's policies? What policies? Well, the decision not to complete the Circ Highway. What else? How about the desire to shut down Vermont Yankee with its cheap and reliable power required by IBM to run its manufacturing facilities. What else? Well, Shumlin's mad dash toward single payer health care with its unknown costs.


If health care costs are killing job growth in the state, does Shumlin honestly believe that businesses will flock to Vermont if it leads on implementing his health care plans? Everything we have read says that businesses are moving to states that enact right-to-work laws, reduce regulations, and reduce taxes.


Down
In the midst of a contentious Republican primary season, we have read and heard numerous media reports which speak of Obama's rising poll numbers. Just tonight, Chris Matthews repeated the DNC talking point that Obama's popularity was rising. RedStateVT had its doubts and so was interested to see the following (from the New York Times, no less!):


But the downsides for Mr. Obama have become clear. His partisan turn undercuts a central promise of his 2008 campaign, to rise above the rancor. And by neither embracing Bowles-Simpson nor explaining his objections and quickly offering an alternative, Mr. Obama arguably failed to show leadership on perhaps the country’s biggest problem. This month, in a New York Times/CBS News poll, 59 percent of Americans disapproved of his handling of the deficit. (NYT, 2/27/2012)


And then we saw this:


The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -16 (see trends). That’s the president’s lowest rating in over a month. (Rassmussenreports.com, 2/27/2012)


And finally there is this:


For the first time ever, Texas Congressman Ron Paul also leads the president. In that matchup, 43% prefer Paul and 41% Obama. Ten percent (10%) would vote for some other option, a figure that includes 17% of Republicans.  (Rassmussenreports.com, 2/27/2012)


If Ron Paul leads Obama then we wonder whether it is game over!