Joint Fiscal Committee

Yesterday I attended the Joint Fiscal Committee meeting at the statehouse. It was great after 8 quarters of bad revenue news to finally have some good news. Economists reported to the Joint Fiscal Committee this week that revenue numbers are stable. No downgrade was recommended, a notable change.

Why are revenues stabilizing? As I've written before the Vermont economy is no longer insulated from what happens nationally. Vermont is feeling the result of federal stimulus money propping up the national economy. The economy at both the national and state level is still extremely fragile, definitely not self sustaining. The economists are saying that we may have hit bottom last August or September. If we really have hit bottom, then the slow upward swing towards recovery starts now.

This recession is unlike any other in our lifetime and the Vermont recovery is tough to predict. The depth of the current recession is still staggering. A long, careful climb lies ahead of us before we get back to normal. Cautious optimism is the way to proceed from here.

Representative Carolyn Branagan
Franklin-1, Fairfax/Georgia
Vermont House of Representatives