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Political notes from Free Press staff writers Terri Hallenbeck, Sam Hemingway and Nancy Remsen


6.22.2007

 

The China connection

When Gov. Jim Douglas took his Vermont delegation to China on a trade mission this week, the Shanghai bureau chief of Forbes magazine took special interest. Russell Flannery grew up in Rutland and is a 1981 graduate of the University of Vermont. He's been a journalist in Asia since 1991.

Flannery took the occasion to interview Douglas. His story appeared today on Forbes.com. You can read the article "Catamount strokes The Dragon" HERE.

He notes Douglas' success in landing a meeting with Shanghai's mayor. He also notes how few Vermont companies and investors chose to join the governor on the trip. Most of the delegation is made up of chamber and trade organization representatives.

Via e-mail, Flannery told me, "I was surprised that more Vermont companies didn't take the opportunity to come here with him."

Flannery said he sees a demand in China for kind of high-quality environmental products and services Vermont offers. China's poor environmental standards present an opportunity for U.S. businesses, he said.

Does Vermont stand a chance in nabbing some of that business? The fact that Vermont does not have global companies with deep pockets that makes it tough to make individual inroads. "For a lot of companies that don't have anything going in China so far and don't have deep pockets, it would be good to try to think about how to pool resources with other companies as much as possible to share markets or intellectual-property related information, and also to tap into organizations with some degree of China-related business information and expertise such as the Vermont Chamber to get some help starting up."

- Terri Hallenbeck

Comments:
Terri wrote "The fact that Vermont does not have global companies with deep pockets"

That's not a fact.

Hearthstone
Concept2
NRG
BioTek
Burton
SB Electronics

The list goes on. Do some homework and step away from your steriotype of Vermont as a backwater state with no succesful businesses.
 
Wow. 6 successful businesses. And maybe a few more that you didn't name. I think you just proved Terri's point. Together those businesses probably generate the same revenue as any one no-name company along Rt. 128, out of tens of the thousands located there.
 
Elect Deb Markowitz Governor - then we can get something done.
 
There are tons of succesful independent businesses in Vermont -- and many that were recently "independent" but have since gone public.

I'm sorry that the success of other Vermonters is so threatening to your political agenda.
 
Hey, don't get your panties all in a bunch. Yeah, Terri overstated the case. There are some successful companies in Vermont, a few with global reach. And are we happy about that? Yes. But the fact remains that the Vermont economy is abysmally small and fragile, and the Legislature seems maniacally driven to keep business out of Vermont, and to try to kill the ones we do have here.
 
Lots of us are doing very well -- not just transplants but natives (like me) too.

I'm sorry you are not more succesfull. But you shouldn't blame your problems on other people.
 
You don't seem to get it, or are trying not to. I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about the Vermont economy. It's for rich people only -- the working people -- the people who fix our cars and serve our food -- live in the Old North End or various trailer parks. If that doesn't bother you, I'm sorry. And I'm not a Progressive, or even a particularly liberal Democrat. We need to address the theme-parkification of Vermont or soon your carpenter and garage mechanic and haircutter will be moving to New Hampshire where they can afford a house.
 
Great... Business climate is seen as bad in Vermont - must be the legislature's fault!

Do any of you who focus on the legislature ever consider thaqt Jim Douglas signs most every bill that is enacted - essentially providing his approval.

And did you know that when the Legislature was considering a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) bill this year that the Lake Champlain Chamber and Vt Chamber strongly supported - it was the Governor's administration that was throwing up one roadblock after another.

Also, did you know that the Governor does not support increased or new taxes - however, his administration is the first to promote increased "fees" instead - as long as they are not called taxes and that he proposed them.

If the legislature were to propose any increased fees, he immediately calls it a tax --- HYPOCRiTE!
 
Progressives unite - we need a candidate for Governor!
 
Whatever business Doesless is able to sell to the Chinese, they will just steal the technology and know-how, teach some 10 year olds how to do it, and then sell it back to Vermonters for a cheaper price, eventually putting the original Vermont business out of business. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can always fool Jim Douglas.
 
"then sell it back to Vermonters for a cheaper price, "


That is actually what they did with regard to wind. They hired companies from Germany and Spain to consult on China's wind energy program and basically what happened is that China became the worlds largest manufacturer of turbines.
 
Bring on a Progressive governor.
 
Yeah, you can always fool Jim Douglas. That's why he's Governor and Doug Racine is not. Why he's Governor and Peter Clavelle is not. Why he's Governor and Scudder Parker is not. Next?
 
Read the book "Deer Hunting With Jesus" and you'll understand why Jim Douglas continues to win in this supposedly "liberal" state.
 
Matt Dunne can beat him
 
Go Matt
 
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