This commentary is by Matt Swenson, the founder of Omnidex Solutions, an independent research and strategic analysis company. He lives in Vermont. Vermont’s future depends on whether ordinary people can build a decent life here. That means work that pays the bills, a healthy workplace and comm unities where starting a business or raising a family feels possible. Too much of our politics runs on magical thinking. Pass another program, raise another tax, give another reassuring speech and the problem will somehow solve itself. Wish hard enough, and the rent becomes affordable. It’s comforting. It just doesn’t work. Start with wages. Before writing this, I spent time on Indeed.com and other job sites looking at what Vermont employers actually pay. One emergency medical transport job advertised roughly $18 to $27 an hour. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology estimates a single Vermont adult with no children needs $24.92 an hour, working full time, to cover basic costs. The people we count on in emergencies can earn less than it takes to support one person. As I argued in a previous commentary for VTDigger, affordability belongs at the center of the housing debate. An available apartment doesn’t mean much when the paycheck can’t cover the rent. At today’s costs, Vermont should set a long-term path toward $30 to $40 an hour, phased in and measured honestly for its effects on jobs and prices. Bring down housing costs, taxes and other necessities, and a paycheck goes further. Reduce what businesses pay to operate, and employers have room to pay more. Both sides of that equation matter. Hours matter as much as the rate. Full time should mean four eight-hour days as a baseline. Anyone who wants more hours should be free to work them, but no one should have to work themselves into the ground just to survive. At 32 hours a week, $30 to $40 an hour comes to $49,920 to $66,560 a year before taxes. Around-the-clock workplaces will need careful planning, but the goal should be clear. A healthy workplace is more than an hourly rate. Predictable schedules, adequate staffing, safe equipment, reasonable breaks and respectful management decide whether a job is sustainable. Workers should be able to raise concerns without fear of retaliation, and that includes seasonal and international employees. Good employers benefit when experienced people want to stay. Lower business taxes and fees can help pay for better wages and conditions. But relief meant for workers should produce measurable gains in pay and benefits. Broader tax cuts require honest spending choices, including a hard look at administrative costs and publicly funded organizations. For years, Vermont has tried to be San Francisco: high costs, big ambitions and a growing list of programs paid for by asking the wealthy to chip in a bit more. But Vermont doesn’t have San Francisco’s economy, and taxing the rich only stretches so far before the money runs out. READ MORE Sen. Bernie Sanders belongs in that conversation. He’s run on helping working people for longer than many Vermont workers have been alive. Yet over decades in Congress, only a handful of the hundreds of bills he’s introduced have become law, and two of those were to rename Vermont post offices. Wages here still don’t match the cost of living. I don’t think Vermont is feeling the Bern. Rural Vermont deserves more attention too. Plans built around compact neighborhoods and frequent transit can’t simply be applied everywhere. A repair shop, general store, farm or small manufacturer can anchor a town’s future. These businesses need reliable infrastructure, practical permitting and access to workers. And border towns competing with New Hampshire’s lack of a sales tax deserve a serious proposal for targeted relief. Homelessness demands the same practical approach. Vermont’s 2025 count recorded slightly fewer homeless people overall but substantially more people without shelter. Treatment capacity has to be part of the answer. The state still tracks adults waiting for psychiatric inpatient placement, and the 27 new residential substance-use beds in Vergennes are a real improvement. But announced capacity means little without the staff to run it and somewhere appropriate for patients to go afterward. Public safety belongs in that discussion. Homelessness doesn’t make anyone dangerous, and people without homes need protection themselves. But threats and violence require a response regardless of housing status. Leaving someone in repeated crisis on the street serves no one. Secure treatment, when it’s necessary, must include due process and regular review. This is where my own outlook comes in. I call it post-human techno-fundamentalism. The future is already here, and living in the past won’t change that. Vermont should welcome AI businesses, advanced manufacturing and employers offering paid training. Hiring should recognize demonstrated ability, including that of neurodivergent adults and people who learned outside conventional paths. I’d go farther. Vermont could be one of the first states to let AI help run parts of government: analyzing budgets, tracking whether programs work and clearing permitting backlogs, with due process and a right to appeal. Doing that carefully means keeping our power grid, water and food supply from being one hack away from failure. And as AI agents grow more capable, the question of their rights, even whether they could one day hold office, is coming. Vermont should lead that conversation, not inherit someone else’s answer. Better wages, lower costs, effective care and technological progress belong in the same conversation. Magical thinking won’t fix these problems. Sustained work and honest choices will. Read the story on VTDigger here: Magical thinking won’t fix Vermont’s problems. ...read more read less