Archive - Nov 2009

International trade went through its deepest slump since WWII, highlighting the severity of the global recession. Vermont's exporters took an unprecedented beating in the first half of this year resulting in big job losses in industries that rely on selling their goods overseas.

At the height of the summer construction season, activity on roads was so intense that some feared a shortage of materials would create a price spike. That didn’t happen, said Mel Adams, whose areas of concern at Vermont’s Office of Economic Stimulus and Recovery (ESR) include transportation, public transit, water and sewer, the military, and the Agency of Human Services. (Prior to that, he was the Director of the VTrans Policy and Planning Division.)

Seventeen thousand square feet of lofty open space with sun streaming through large windows of clear glass, is an ideal setting for the new home of Ibex, a wool clothing manufacturer in White River Junction. Occasional tire skid marks on the wood floors are a reminder the building was once home of a Saab car dealership. The youth of the 24 person-staff is striking. Some bring dogs to work, others arrive on bikes, kept neatly on wall hooks in the old car service area.

gan his banking career with Chittenden bank in 1985, and during his time there oversaw functions related to commercial banking, international banking, retail banking, trust and insurance services.

Vermont lawmakers must not count on Washington to rescue the state's unemployment insurance fund from insolvency, Labor Commissioner Patricia Moulton Powden warned in an interview last month.

Vermont lawmakers must not count on Washington to rescue the state's unemployment insurance fund from insolvency, Labor Commissioner Patricia Moulton Powden warned in an interview last month.

Employment in Vermont isn’t exactly booming, but the state does have the lowest rate of joblessness in New England – 6.7 percent in September, which is far below the current national average of 9.8 percent. The July and August rates were 6.8 percent. The proportion of unemployed Vermonters has also been dropping from this recession’s peak, so far, of 7.4 percent, which was reached in May. How can this trajectory be explained? Is it merely a statistical anomaly?

Marselis C Parsons III - called Div by just about everyone who knows him - retired last month after a remarkable 42-year career in television journalism.

The St Albans Cooperative Creamery along with dairy cooperatives across the country is a member governed organization whose primary goal is to add value to its dairy farmer owners. St Albans Cooperative, based in St Albans, was established in 1919 and today has approximately 475 members, producing in the range of 146 million gallons of milk on an annualized basis. The St Albans Cooperative members own a manufacturing facility and farm supply store in St Albans.

In recent months throughout the United States the good news regarding the economy/recession is that the economic indicators are not getting any worse. The economy is not getting much better, but it is also not getting worse and that is the good news. In Franklin County we are fortunate to have built a strong, diversified manufacturing base that compliments dairy agriculture (please see accompanying story) and the County benefits from a strong federal government service center.