I’m faulting you for saying something that is objectively correct is only correct for “a communist.” The truth is the truth, whether you’re too reactionary to refer to the economic class that rules the “ruling class” or not.

It literally is special, though. Vermont has the highest per-capita number of people attempting to purchase property of any state. Source.

Per the source, it isn't even close. We're 10 full percentage points higher than the runner-up (Oregon).

The housing crisis is impacting the entire country, and yet it is measurably impacting Vermont worse than any other state. Anecdotally, my wife and I experienced this first hand. We attempted to buy a house last year, having saved up a healthy sum for a down payment, and receiving full pre-approval for a loan that put most homes on the market in reach. Unfortunately, the very fact that we needed a loan was essentially disqualifying. Vermont's market is currently so over-saturated, that every single home received a cash offer, and the cash always won instead of financing.

The latter. Basically buying them as stocks to sell when value went up. I'd be all for buying houses to rent out

Were they planning to be landlords or wait to sell for more money later? Just curious.

The wheels of the government turn slowly. Private industry is and always will be quicker and more efficient due to lower levels of bureaucracy. The government, given all the lobbying and corruption, would go for the lowest bidder to set up the program which would significantly lower the quality of the product/service. Musk may be a megalomaniac billionaire, but is the government really any better with all the corruption and lobbying? Look at all the insider trading they do to get rich. Given all that I would rather rely on private industry and a megalomaniac billionaire.

Isn't this the case with most products, though? Currently, the only real way for companies to track which people purchased a recalled product is if they made the purchase with a customer loyalty card of some kind (containing contact info for the customer).

They misspelled racist bullshit again.

I know out of state people who were thinking of buying up houses as investments, and explained to them how obnoxious that was

"These days, minds are much more open I suspect."

I sure hope that you are right. Even if they are, there still needs to be a lot more education on the topic(s), and hopefully these conversations today helped in that regard.

I'm confused. How is a father and police officer concerned about a boy using the girls locker room is a hypothetical bigot?

I don’t think “provocative” works - maybe “hypocritical bigot” would be a better choice.

It’s literally communist terminology…if you Google “ruling class” the first sentence is “in Marxist philosophy…”

I know people on Reddit throw it around like candy but don’t fault me for calling it what it is, and explaining it will be an instant turn-off for the majority of people.

Appreciate your kind words!

I don't know if its any different now than back in the 90's, but there is/was some degree of entrenchment at work.

In the case of Ag, it was those in position at the Farm Bureau, Coop extension and the State, whose focus was so narrow that they could not think outside the box. Granted, their constituency was probably the most anti-change, 'aint broke, don't fix' group to walk/work the earth. Understandably so, considering how little is actually in their perview of control.

Just pressing for things like crop rotation, low-till no-till, ... was a herculean task! So, advocates could only really push for what their audience was ready to hear.

These days, minds are much more open I suspect.

Funny story I thought green up day was a national holiday until i met a flat lander for the first time during green up day

I saw it last night as well. I'm sure given all UFO/Balloon news this spooked some folks who didn't know it was Starlink.

> I do get that many people like them, not criticizing your taste. Dense housing is the only feasible option I see for the future.

I see your point and I respect it. However, I think that dense housing really only works in burlington - that's where the majority of folks are anywho.

> In Vermont I’m not even sure what counts as suburbs, though. What’s a suburb of middlebury (wheee the author lives)? Weybridge?

well - north ave in burlington would be a good example. unless there is some definition of suburbs my highschool education is failing me.

I bet you would.

To anyone who hasn’t been brainwashed into fear and reaction by certain words they associate with the most evil buzzword of all - “communism”

Ack that’s coming up soon! Hartford here and need to do some research. Thanks for the reminder!

I am so grateful you took the time to write all of that out. Hopefully you will bring some awareness to how our farming industry / food security crisis stems from the same problems that are causing our housing crisis: Impossible to fix either one independently from the other. Good on you!

Agreed

2 bloated budgets and some councilor/board seats.

Can't speak to whether 'turning the other cheek' or just ranting is the only thing that's been done, or not. I do know that there's no lack of advocates trying to effect positive change(s), but its not possible to escape undeniable truths.

One being that there aren't too many solutions to fundamentally rural problems; which about 3/4's of the State is. Fortunately, our rural parts benefit (trickle-down) from tourism in ways that rural villes and hamlets in places from OH to VA .... don't. Those places now look like ghost towns.

We are a tourist state that attracts 30M people from Boston to Baltimore. Sure, we have a few industries, but even relaxing regs would not make Vermont competitive with elsewhere. We need industry that we can build from the ground up.

We do K-12 OK, but >50% kids don't stay past HS; because growing up rural can be boring and there's too little opportunity. So our edu taxes make places elsewhere more literate. We're graying out, and the new blood replacing it is bringing in new values and new money; making life even more expensive.

I don't have any solutions, but know any proposed will be a tough pill to swallow and invite the inevitable backlash, no different than what's happening with the VSC/VSU transition.

What I do know, for sure, is that fixing wealth inequality, employer tied for-profit healthcare, .... the big killers of our social safety net .... would go a long way to remedying many of the issues we're facing.

Apartments are not just for lower income lol. Don’t get me wrong no one should be too poor for adequate housing but that’s a different consideration. Not that middle class people are doing so well with housing either.

Suburbs are inefficient and unsustainable. I do get that many people like them, not criticizing your taste. Dense housing is the only feasible option I see for the future.

In Vermont I’m not even sure what counts as suburbs, though. What’s a suburb of middlebury (wheee the author lives)? Weybridge?

Problem is the folks in Montpelier don’t care about the lower class people, they only care about how much money they can make off the out of staters, though ridiculous tax laws ie the view tax