So, welcome to the course on managerial economics. This course is specially designed for the MBA students and the motivation for this course comes from the fact that managers needs clear understanding about the economic principles because the understanding of economic concept and economic principle helps them in managing the day to day problem associated with the business decision. So, in this course specifically, we will see that what are the different domain of a business decision problem and how economic concept and economic principle generally get used to solve this business decision problem. So, to start with, we will talk about or we will define the economics. What is economics? Then we will talk about what is managerial economics? How this economics or which part of the economics considered to be the managerial economic? Then we will talk about specifically the economics and managerial decision making and we will just do a review of the economic terms. There are many concepts like opportunity cost, rationality, marginal and incremental analysis. In today's session, we will focus only on the economic rationality. So, to start with, there are numerous definitions of economics. Maybe one group of economics they call it is like science of wealth that is typically given by father of economy that is Adam Smith. This is called as science of wealth. Similarly, from another economics marshal, the definition comes as economics of wealthier. Similarly, from the other economics robins, it comes that economics of choice, scarcity of choices. So, we will pick up the third definition that comes from robins that economics is a study of the science of choices and the scarcity. From there, we will try to link that how this is related to the decision problems and how it is related to the day-to-day business activity of a typical organizer. So, the word economy derived from the Greek word okios which means household. When we talk about this household, if the word comes from Greek word okio, so basically this is the management related to the household. Now what is economics? So, reaching to this economics that how economics has become the scarcity and choices, we need to understand the fact that human wants are unlimited. So, whether you talk about an individual, whether you talk about the people, whether you talk about as a group of people, whether you talk about the economy, human wants are always unlimited. And why we call human wants are unlimited? Because of the fact that we always we have a wish list that may be in a specific time period, these are the things I have to get or these are the things I have to achieve. But wants are unlimited because everything never convert into the satisfying satisfaction, the want satisfaction because whatever the want and whatever we are doing there is a difference, there is a gap. So, wants are unlimited, individual or the group or the economy as a whole they never get satisfied that beyond this I do not want anything else. So, for it comes to individual when we are in the lower income group, we will aspire always to go to the middle income group, when we are in the middle income group, we always aspire to get into the high income group. Similarly, in a economy level when it comes to if the GDP growth is 5 percent, they always aspire to have a GDP growth of 7 percent. When GDP growth is 7 percent, they always aspire to GDP growth of 10 percent. So, any individual, any economy they always increase their want, they always feel that there are some wants which need to be fulfilled in the next time period. But the other side of this story is that human wants are unlimited, but the resources to satisfy those wants, those are basically scarce and unlimited.  On the other hand resources are scarce, resources are not unlimited, rather they are limited to satisfy this want. Now, what people or what individual they try to do in this process? In this process they want to maximize their gain. How they want to maximize the gain? They want to maximize the gain whatever the limited resources, whatever the whatever the time available, whatever the resources available may be in term of the raw materials, in term of the time. They want to see that how much they can maximize or how much they can achieve whatever their want they have given. So, if you take in a very layman understanding that why these wants and resources, as an individual we have only 24 hours in a day. So, if you look at, we never get satisfied that this is 24 hours, maybe if the 24 hours could have been 30 hours, I could have done this. If the 24 hours would have been 24 hours, I would have done this. This is in term of the time. Similarly, when it comes to resources, if I have more money, I would have done that. If I have more money, I would have done the other. So, whether it is money, whether it is time or maybe if I would have been studied more, maybe I would have aspiring a job which comes in a higher qualification.  But there is a scarcity to it and that is why there is always a gap between whatever the human wants and whatever the resources available to satisfy those wants. And as an economic agent, typically in the individual as an economic agent, they always try to maximize the gain, looking at the fact that whatever the resources available, how best they can use the available resources to satisfy their want or to maximize the gain. So, economic problems come from here that human wants are unlimited. However, the resources to satisfy these wants or those are typically limited, those are not unlimited. So, here it comes that the economic agents and the society have some economic problem because of scarcity of resources. Because there is a gap between the want and the resources, available resources that leads to the fact that there is an economic problem. And this economic problem, generally economic agent in an individual level, economic agent in a society level, generally they face this problem. And why this economic problem comes because there is a gap between whatever the human want and whatever the limited resources available to them. Now, what is the challenge for the economic agent? May be at the individual, may be at a group, may be at a country level. The challenge comes here that they need to choose the scarce resources among alternatives based on the choice and valuation of the alternatives. So, the challenge comes here that they have to choose the scarce resources, resources are limited. They have to choose the scarce resources among alternative based on choice and valuation of alternatives. Now, what are the alternatives over here? So, typically talking about one individual agent, what are the wants? May be the wants may be one, may be the wants may be two, the wants may be three, the wants may be four, may be this is less than 10 items in the want. May be we will take an example that resources are available only to satisfy the wants that come may be four wants in the list of 10, two wants in the list of 10 or three wants in the list of 10. Now, so if you look at here we have wants that is human wants, here we have the resources. So, may be to put it in a number, so we suppose there are 10 items in the wants there is 10 wish list from the 10 wish list of the economic agent and the resources are just satisfy to four item. Now, in this case what will be the alternatives? Alternatives that the human the economic agent has to be has to choose four items from this 10 items where the resources can, what the resources can satisfy. Now, this four items will be chosen from 10 items. So, what are the alternatives available to the human beings or whatever the alternative available to the economic agent? They have to choose among this 10 four. So, there are 10 alternatives and among this 10 alternatives the economic agent has to choose four items or four alternatives. So, they need to choose the scarce resources among the alternatives based on the choice and valuation of the alternative. Whatever the choice, whatever the valuation on the basis of that if there are 10 items they have they need to find out what is there in the priority list, what they require most and on that basis they will choose that four items typically in this case where the resources can satisfy to fulfill those four items. So, since resources are scarce where human ones are unlimited the economic agent has to choose the alternative choose among the alternative which the resources can satisfy. Now, from here the definition or the meaning of economics comes that economics is the study of how economic agents or society choose to use scarce productive resources that have alternative uses to satisfy ones which are unlimited and varying degree of importance. So, looking at this definition the first part of this definition if you look at this is a study of how economic agent and society use the scarce resources scarce productive resources. So, the first one is that the about the choice part of it choice part of the economic agent that how they choose the resources that is productive resources what is available to them and then the second part is that this resources have alternative uses. So, if the resources are not getting used to fulfill may be the first one that this can also be used to satisfy the other kind of one. So, this resources they have alternative use if the economic agent they are not choosing this resources may be the other economic agent will choose that resources and they will try to satisfy their want by using that particular resources. So, the first part is about the study of choice of the scarce resources by the economic agent. Second part the resources have alternative use and what is the alternative use? Alternative use to satisfy the ones and the third part of the definition comes from the third part of definition comes that human ones are unlimited and this alternative uses is there is they have varying degree of importance depends upon that what is the want of the economic agent. So, the entire definition we can break into three part first part is talk about the study of choice because the economic agent has to choose the scarce resources for the alternative use. Second part is that the resources have alternative use if it is not getting fulfilled one one that is also getting used to fulfill the other one and also this resources they have the varying degree of importance. So, taking this we can may be simply we can say that this is the economic is the study of scarcity and choice because the scarcity comes there is a gap between the human want and the resources available to them there is a resource scarcity and since there is a resource scarcity the next challenge comes from the for the economic agent to choose the scarce resource for the alternative uses for their wants. So, from economics from the definition of economics now will come specifically what is microeconomics. So, microeconomics is the study of economic phenomena at the micro level typically individual and the firm level. So, this is the microeconomics when we do the individual level study whether it is about the individual consumer, individual producer, individual firm, individual organization that is the microeconomics and it is the study of how individual firms or consumer do or should make economic decision taking the constant into the account. So, microeconomics is essentially deals with the fact that how individual firm, individual producer, individual consumer they should make their economic decision taking whatever the constant into account. So, in this case what is the basic constant in case of the economic theory the basic constant is there is all the theory all the principle comes from the fact that there is a resource scarcity and there is unlimited human wants. So, basically managerial economics is the microeconomics applied to the decision made by the business manager, but there are some topics from the macroeconomics which also essentially comes between the comes in the purview of managerial economics, but here typically in this course will focus more on the microeconomics concept and which is generally applied by the manager to take the business decision problem. So, managerial economics is the microeconomics applied to the decision made by the business manager and now we will see that how we generally link this economics into the managerial decision problem and from there this managerial economics comes into picture. So, there are two stakeholders here one is the manager, manager is the person who directs resources to achieve the stated goal and so what is the role of manager? Role of manager is they have the resources and generally their role is to see that how the resources can be used to meet the objective of the firm or the meet of meet the goal of the firm. If the goal of the firm is profit maximization if the goal of the firm is the revenue maximization, how this resources can be used to meet that objective of the profit maximization or objective of the objective of the revenue maximization. So, manager is the person who directs resources to achieve the stated goal. The second stakeholder here is the study of economics. Economics is what the science of making decision in the presence of scarce resources. So, we had a discussion on that why how resources are scarce and human wants are unlimited and the challenge for the economic agent is to use the scarce resources into the productive use choosing among their alternatives. So, in the taking that cube we can define economics here is the science of making decision in the presence of scarce resources. So, manager is one who direct the resources to achieve the stated goal of the firm and economics is one which talks about or which is the study or the science of the making decision in the presence of the scarce resources. So, taking together both the stakeholder manager and economics manager is the person and the study what is getting used in solving managerial decision problem is economics and from there we get the managerial economics and managerial economics is the study of how to direct scarce resources in the way that most efficiently achieve a managerial goal. So, what is managerial economics? Managerial economics is the study of how to direct scarce resources in the way that most efficiently achieve the managerial goal. So, basically when a manager uses this economics for solving the managerial decision problem that content is the part of the managerial economics and from this two stakeholder manager and economics we can define managerial economics is the study of how to direct scarce resources in a way that most efficiently achieve the stated goal. So, since the definition of the managerial economics is to science of directing scarce resources to manage more effectively here we get resources. Now, what are the resources over here? The resources may be the financial resources, the resources may be the human resources the resources may be the physical resources. So, here in managerial economics it is a study of directing the scarce resources that is directing the financial resources directing the human resources and directing the physical resources. Then it comes since it is the directing the human resources here it comes to the management of customers that management of supplier management of competitor and management of the internal organization and the organization can be business the organization can be non-profit organization the organization can be household. But here the difference comes if the organization is business the goal of the organization is different and accordingly the resources has to be directed or the resources has to be planned to satisfy this one. If the because business organization is one which has the motto of profit making and as compared to that we have the non-profit organization and non-profit organization is not about making profit and in this case again the again the business decision or the challenge for the manager will be different because here it is not about achieving the profit rather here it is a non-profit organization. So, non-profit organization they have to look what is the goal of this typically this typical non-profit organization and accordingly the manager has to direct the scarce resources into the to the end productive use. Then we have household so household is again if you look at it is not profit making rather it is about how to generate more income so that they can use that for their consumption or the saving or maybe for the future consumption and in this case again the since the goal of the household is different here again the scarce resources has to be used in a different fashion to meet the end objective. Now, since we say that economics is one which generally use in the managerial decision problems the economic concept and the economic principle is generally used in the managerial decision problem. We will see that what comes from the economic theory what comes from the decision sciences for this managerial economics. So, typically there is a managerial decision problem and how this managerial decision problem gets solved they use the concept of microeconomics, macroeconomics which is part of economic theory and then they use the concept of decision science typically the mathematical economics and econometrics where we use different mathematical tool, statistical tool and econometrics tool to solve the problem. And from this from the economic theory from the decision sciences we get into the managerial economics and this managerial economics is basically the application of economic theory and decision science tools to solve the managerial decision problem. So, we have economic theory from there we get the economic concept and principle we have decision sciences from decision sciences we get the basically the mathematical tool and the econometrics tool application of economic theory and decision science tools to solve the managerial decision problem basically leads to the optimal solution to the managerial decision problem. So, if there is a managerial decision problem it can be solved through the through using the concept and the principle from economic theory and to that using the tools from the decision sciences that may be statistical tool, mathematical tool or the econometrics tool and taking this economic theory using the decision tool generally the manager try to give the optimal solution and from there the optimal solution immerse for the managerial decision problems.


I think diversity and inclusion is really important for probably two reasons. First of all, the more diverse workforce we have, the greater number of perspectives we have on a problem, therefore the better solutions we will produce. So I think diversity drives good design and good solutions. But I think the inclusion that is really important because people should want to be happy at work and if you find that it's a very inclusive environment you will enjoy be there and you will do really good work.


Y254, imagine. Thank you so much for sticking to Y254 TV. My name is Sherily Blessing, and you are watching The Power Took Show. Now, before we went on our break, we were talking about how can we better understand our mental health issues, what is the root cause, and how can we address it from the root such that we deal with every other matter that can sprout from it. And joining me live on set is Namrata Shah, who is an expert on mental health issues, particularly in children and the youth. So we were just discussing about the boy child and how they haven't felt like there's a safe space for them to express. But there's also the aspect of the ego and the perception of men should be providers and men should be like this and men shouldn't express themselves. How can we deal with that such that men are allowed to be vulnerable when things are overwhelming to them? I think as a society, we need to be open to men being able to share their emotion, whether it's sadness or whether it's tears, just a simple thing like crying. You rarely find a man crying, yes or no? That's true, they rarely cry. They just want to bottle up their emotions and be like, I'm the man, I don't do this. So just to be the new generation of parents that are coming up and those that have older kids to understand that men and the boy child need a safe place to express. And they will only express in that environment. They won't express themselves in an environment which is confrontational, which makes them feel like they're not good enough for what they've set themselves out to do. So we have to look at both the ego and also the emotions. And I think if we try to say no, the man shouldn't have an ego, it's an impossible thing. So understanding that both are there and the emotions are there and that it's okay in your home if the man expresses or the boy expresses himself, it's perfectly fine. And that way you are creating a healthy emotional environment. And I like that you said that because sometimes even our responses from when they're children, a boy will be crying or doing something and you say boys don't cry, or girls do this, boys are not supposed to do that. This is some of the lessons that they carry on till the adults and they respond to, I don't react like this because boys aren't supposed to do that.   So what is the impact of having poor role models or no role models because sometimes even the fathers are not present or the fathers are just busy at work and they're rarely at home and the mothers are the only ones who are doing everything. What is the impact of lack of proper role models on the boy child as they're growing into men? You know, the role of the father and the mother is both important. The father plays an emotional role for the child too because he provides stability and the mother is the empathetic person in this relationship, you know. She's the one who provides the child with a listening ear, the patience, the trust, the caregiving, the nurturing. So both are important. So I would say to the fathers out there that your role is very important. Maybe nobody's ever said it. And so you do play a role to provide stability emotionally to your child just by validation. For example, if I'm coming into the house one day and I'm very young and I go to my father or my mother, first to my father and I say, hey, look, I've made, I've just got a new award for painting in my school. And for you, it's like, okay, my child has got an award for painting but they're looking for validation, you know. So validating that and saying, hey, wow, that's awesome.  So you would maybe not pass it on to your child. You would be good. You can do better next time. You know, kind of, yeah. So validating that emotion to our child, validating their experiences builds a healthy communication between you and your child, which won't then bridge into a gap later on, you know. And being able to express yourself. So children and youth love to express themselves. The more you try to suppress that, the more problems there'll be at home. That's what I've noticed. That's what they get older as well. Because most people have this perception that dad is just tricked. He's just, once he gets into the house, everyone leaves the seating room and no one really can communicate. And that can carry on to the children because once they see that this is what a man does, even the girl child, they can get a perception that, you know, even when I'm looking for a husband, he has to be this and this way. So it's important, as you're saying, for parents to open up and be free with their children and communicate at the children's level. So could you expound more on what you do and the work that you've done with the youth and the children? Because you've not just done some work in Kenya. You've gone to different countries. Please expound more on that. So I started in 2017 going into different schools. I started off with one school in Kangwari in one of the slum areas there to teach what's known as the Art of Living Children's Program. And in that, we teach breathing processes. It's a technique that allows the child to regulate their emotions. And also confidence building and, you know, fun games on learning about your emotions, learning about expressing yourself, learning about how to release traumas. And, you know, when I first started, it was very suspicious. Oh, what is this girl gonna teach? I don't know.  And it helped me so much. I'm now, you know, I'm going into my 20th year of marriage. And, you know, I just wanted everybody to have that opportunity to learn what I have because it helped me in my challenging times, you know? So that was the reason I went out there. And when I got there, I told the teacher, by day two, the kids are not happy, you can call the program off. And I ended up teaching 640 children. Yeah, because they noticed such big changes. And when I was asking the kids to write what are your experiences, and I've shared that too on my profile, you can see the colorings, they've done beautiful colorings on, I feel happy, I feel stress-free, you know? I see the world in a different way, you know? So all those changes and transformations happen. And just by breathing, and I'll tell you why it's breathing and not anything else, is because how do you feel when you're angry?  Like your heart rate is up and your breath catches. There's always that, that's called chungu, kuakou, where you just feel like, you know, it's like you're choking or something. So breathing plays an important role in helping yourself come down. Sure, for sure.  And the process we teach on the art of living youth program and children program is very well researched by Harvard, by Yale, by top universities, top bodies in the world, discussing how this benefits the body, the mind psychologically and the body. So one benefit is the cortisol levels decrease. Cortisol is a stress hormone. So when they took tests of the cortisol levels of participants who had done the breathing, their cortisol levels had decreased. So understanding how to, you know, deal with your emotions, learning this process is a very important education. And that's what I was teaching on these programs and they're globally renowned. It's a standardized program where the art of living is present in 185 countries around the world. That's wonderful.  That's amazing. Hundreds of thousands of them are doing amazing work. That really shows a lot of dedication and the impact just itself because not as many people will be doing it if it wasn't something that can transform someone's life. For sure. Everything is recommended for when you're having a panic attack, anxiety, they recommend that you take a breath and then you can react to the situation. So there is a value in that, especially with the younger kids because as we've shared, kids sometimes don't have an outlet or people don't have an outlet. So when you provide a safe space, because once you create a room, maybe an hour, just relax, breathe, let loose and then it can even increase productivity.  Yes, and the process is known as the sky breath technique.  You know, you can't expect results in a day and say, hey, I lost 10 kg from going, I wish we could, but it's not like that, right? It's really noise.  So you learn how to regulate the emotion, like anger. It doesn't stay with you for so long. What I noticed with myself was, I get angry, but when I do, the time between I'm angry and I feel anger is less. So it's not three weeks of holding on to something.  Yeah, and every day somebody could trigger you, right? Every day somebody could say something that makes you feel unhappy. So we're not learning as a society how to be happy again. How to let go of that emotion of anger. And we're always blaming people for what they're doing. I'm not talking about abuse, or I'm just talking in a general, very normal dynamic that happens in work or at home. And nobody can say they're not facing it.  And so many people are carrying anger from even years back, as we've talked about from the childhood. Someone can have trauma from their childhood and they carry it on and it affects their relationship, their work life, their social life. So how can we deal with that? First of all, how can we know that my anger is rooted in this particular experience and then address that issue so that you release your anger and become happier? Yeah, so you know, I'll give you a very simple example. Something somebody said 10 years ago to you. For example, if somebody said to me, Nemo, you know, you're dumb, let's say, okay? And I come back in front of that person 10 days, 10 years later, am I going to see that person or am I going to remember the insult that I was given? I'm gonna remember the insult, right?  At least today we have terms for them. Before we never even had a terminology where we could categorize any of these mental health issues. So if you look at it from a psychological perspective, you see that your trauma is carried forward. So your cells carry that impression.  Is moving, yeah. Right? So in the same way, your emotions also have that imprint on your body, on your mind. And like memory, you know, you remember things. You remember the good things and the bad things. So if I gave you 10 compliments and one insult, what would you hold on to? The insult. There you go. And I've had the experience where I was dressed so well and this one guy said, Umivanini, and I carry that forth. And you forget all the other compliments. So it's something that, it's a response that we all have. Yes, and it's natural, I would say. But the way to deal with it, like I said, you have a breathing process which was developed called the Sky Breath through the art of living programs that I'm teaching. And I'm seeing results in the youth. You know, some of them are coming out of drug addiction. They're coming out of crime. They're coming out of, you know, depression. And why? Because, you know, it's a very easy breathing process that you do 20 minutes a day. It's free. It's like exercising your breath because we know the breath is connected to emotion now. Like you explain through anger. So every emotion is connected to your breath. And the more we learn to work with our breath, the more we're able to handle our emotion. And you see, this is something that, it's a lesson that is vital and it's natural but it hasn't been communicated or taught. So the fact that you're able to communicate this to even young kids, it helps them through their life to understand that at some point, your boss will frustrate you. And you need to just step aside for five minutes, breathe, and come back and handle the situation. So in line with that, how can we also identify our triggers? Because as we've said, sometimes it's just a traumatic response.  For sure. Or they said something and you carry that forth. So maybe you've dealt with everything but once you're in the presence of that trigger, once you're in the presence of that person or even a scent or just a flashback of something, how can we deal with the triggers such that even once you're healed, it does not trigger the same response that you had? You know, it takes time first, I would say that. It's not an easy part to let go of any kind of trauma. Even if it's a small criticism somebody gave you. So that's why I want to say, one, the breathing helps.   And four, communicating, communicating and expressing. You could find just one person that you trust, a friend or a family member or even just a colleague and sit. And the other thing is that society needs to change the narrative. We cannot judge or label people who are facing mental health issues.  It's such a, it's more than an emotion. It's a psychologically debilitating process that can happen in anybody at any time for no reason. And you know, you could be normally going about your day, but you know, you don't feel good from inside. But you're not able to express that to somebody. You're not able to see. And generally people who are going through such events, like you are saying, you're not able to share that. So I'd like two ways for this solution. One is we have a more listening society.  Just sit with them. You never know, just you providing a listening ear can help them. That's one simple solution, you know. And the second is learning to regulate your emotions. Now through the breath work and the meditation. And so I'm acknowledging that these are difficult processes, you know, depression, suicide, anger, anxiety, dealing with the world around you. Imagine what our youth are facing. And then there is this perfect ideal you have on Instagram of somebody who's got the best life and you in your home without even having, you know, 1% of what you are. So this idea of perfectionism is creating a lot of anger amongst children and even adults, you know. That's true. And I like that you've said that because it adds value to our conversation that we were talking about last week about dealing with anxiety. And the people who were here, the guests that we had also shared the same opinion. Once you're active, once you exercise and you have a way of channeling that the emotions, then it really helps you sort out and deal with them. So I want to also talk about the value of self-awareness because people have issues. I find that especially nowadays when I go on social media, I find that people project a lot of their issues without really understanding that this comes from within, this comes from a certain aspect of my life. So what is the value of self-awareness and how can we get to a place where we really understand the root cause of our issues and address them from there? You know, it's a journey and that journey starts with you. Understanding that you may have an anger issue, you may be in having resentment towards somebody, it's important. That's the first step of self-awareness. The second is to go into some kind of, you know, reflection or meditation. Like I've taught hundreds of youth and children and they're finding it helps them. You know, closing your eyes for 10 minutes and just going into observing your breath and going into that space, it's important to give yourself that time because you don't need to invest all your time outside. We've been taught that, right? We have to work, we have to achieve, we have to be successful, great. But to get to that, you shouldn't lose your health in the process. And we're doing that, we're losing our health because we don't have time to eat, you know, nutritious, healthy food. We need a quick fix. We're quickly on Instagram. We just, without even looking at the food, you know, the spoon is going into our mouth. You can finish and just get back to work or whatever you are doing. But just 20 minutes of your time investing in yourself. And it sounds, I don't think it sounds out there anymore. Before I would say maybe people would be very skeptical or labeling why meditation, why she's saying, cause she's Indian. It's not like that, no. I think it's very accepted now.  Yeah. And I like that you say that because it's really an individual battle. Like each of us are unique because our experiences, our history is all unique to us. So once you can reflect and go within yourself, then it's very easy to identify. I may have this trauma because of this. Let me give you an example. This is not like a bad trauma, but I find myself buying shoes that are sparkly every single time. I'll just spot something that shines and I'm like, I need it without even understanding why. So once I reflected on it, I remembered an instance where I was younger and my mom couldn't afford because, you know, she was prioritizing everything and we had to travel and I saw shoes that were sparkling as a kid and I cried because I wanted them, but she couldn't get them at that point. So I carried that trauma and I was like, now I have to fill the void of the sparkly shoes that I didn't get as a kid. So you see, traumas like that, they can be good or bad, but we have to look within for us to understand why am I acting a certain way or why am I reacting this way? So would you also say these cuts across relationships because sometimes even maybe our reactions in certain past relationships can affect our current relationships or the fact that someone broke your heart five years ago? Because I've had this theory, there's this common perception that people, especially men, they'll get hurt broken once and they close off and they think every other partner they meet is the same way. So what is the value of really reflecting on even issues such as that, in your relationships, in your work life, before you move on to the next situation? You know, there are so many aspects to a relationship that make it work. I think you know that. As we grow older, we see that either they become, they become more complex or you can simplify them. You know? And unfortunately, we haven't had that conversation amongst us. Like let's say I sit with my partner and I say, okay, this is the issue, can we deal with it? It normally becomes, you know, like a mountain before you can deal with it. You want to address it? Yeah. So identifying triggers from your past definitely help you to bring in a fresh perspective into your relationship. But it's not easy. Otherwise, we would have all done it. Yeah. Because we all want to be happy, right? True.  That is true. It's an impression you carried in the mind from your past to your present. So learning how to let go of the past and knowing that it's the past you can't change it is a very important point. And that's what we teach on our program. We train our kids, you know? Like the past is the past. I can't go back. Can you go back 10 years from now? No, you can't. You can even go back to yesterday to what happened. And life is moving ahead, right? True. So the breath is an important aspect in that it helps to release those impressions from the past. And then identifying those triggers, you know, identifying that I have this generational trauma, maybe my father faced it and my forefathers faced it and now my father passed it on to me and I may pass it on to my child. But I want to be self-aware about it now. You know? Yeah. I want to be self-aware about it on to my child. So that's why I said, take your step towards emotional help because it will help your children in the future and help you. But it's an individual journey. I can say it. It's an individual journey. But you have to do it. Right. And you see, that's an aspect of also breaking generational causes. Yeah. Because once a habit has been carried forth from one generation to the next, you have to decide, I'm going to be different. Yeah. And there's also the aspect of detaching the person from the action. Correct. Even the bullies, sometimes they were dealing with so much at home and they didn't have a channel to project all that. So they could have found you or I and they found us to be vulnerable. And they're like, okay, no, this is the week wide. We're going to zone all our projections on this person. So how can we, as we're getting older, how can we detach and say that perhaps my mom was dealing with this or my father was dealing with some challenge at work and that's why he reacted a certain way so that it can help us also forgive and release all the past frustration. I think you've said it, you know, forgiving and letting go. And as I mentioned, that's why, you know, the counselors are there. How many of us have access to mental health resources? Very few. And what is available is also very expensive. And that's why I came forward to take the programs. I realize mental health resources and access to those resources or information that I need to help myself is not easily available. That's true. So reaching for help is important. Having that conversation with yourself first and forgiveness is a journey. It's never easy. You're going to take your time with it. But one thing I can say for sure is the breathing, the sky breathing I did, it helped me. It really helped. So I want to share that with Kenya, you know. Please. Yeah, I like that. I totally agree with you because I've seen from very many different cultures. Even if I look at this book that's called Ikigai and it's rooted in Japanese culture and they have the same. The breathing, the diet, the philosophy of life, all of that affects the quality of life. And as we were sharing, you know, our parents in the older generations had less stress. Or perhaps the lifestyle was much healthier because they were outside in nature. The food was healthier. But we are dealing with a lot. But we're also not getting the nutrition that helps us produce the right hormones. Because now we have all these toxic hormones and everything without the balance in our system. So what is the value of also prioritizing our health and about the meals and the diet that we have? You know, the diet pays such an important role. Like how many of us are, you know, in Kenya we're so lucky in our country we have abundance of vegetables and fruits. Yeah. The same fruits and vegetable cost so much money in another country, you know. But it's true. So are we having nutritionally high energy foods? Like for example, you know, pumpkin is very nutritionally good for you. All these kind of foods that we have available here like spinach and kale or succuma is brilliant for your body system. Who said it wasn't? Your forefathers lived on it and they lived a long life. And I was telling you the same thing. I don't know if we'll reach there because we have processed foods and fast food. The chemicals and everything. Yeah, everything is now. And then the other thing I want to share is, you know, we're losing that ability to have an access to a network of family. It's breaking down. You know, before your, you know, our grandfather, great grandfather had the network of people around him who would help when there was a family problem. And now you don't have that same network. So are we losing our culture in the process too? Yeah. And you know the world because of the digital era, people are more online.  So I want to go on our Facebook where we asked how are you dealing with your mental health issues? Do you understand what you're having and how are you addressing the root cause of the issues? So I wanted to read some of the comments that we've had. We have some Adeline who says, just watching from Westlands. Thank you so much, Sam, for watching. Isaac Nalyanya says, hi, I'm watching from Buterre. I think the best way is by, number one, adopting healthy sleeping patterns. Very important. And number two, we should live in protective and supportive environments and by learning to manage emotions. Thank you so much, Isaac. That really resonates with our conversation. And then Peter also says, in the case you see Malawa, Naivasha watching, thank you so much for everyone who's watching us. And I like what Isaac has said, because number one, people are not sleeping as long as they need to. We need to have like six to eight hours of rest and kids, it's different across every age group. But when you look at even kids, kids are up by five, four, 30 a.m. and they have to get ready for school and then once they come back, they have all this homework and all this workload, they're not getting as much sleep. So what is the value of also just resting and relaxing, even on weekends, just taking time off and disconnecting from social media, what's the impact of that or mental health? And the impact will be huge and you need to recognize and notice that for yourself. So I don't know if it will be appropriate for me to share with you one of the breathing, for a good sleep. Yeah, we can try that. Yeah. So it's known as the back of the throat breathing. And it's a very good exercise because it helps to oxygenate the system. Yeah, and I think if you try it at home, it's perfectly okay. So I'll just share with you. So I hope when you're back home, you're in a very comfortable position. We're going to try this because it's evening. We need to relax before we go to bed.  Can you do that for me? That's it. Just keep breathing for me. Keep going. And when you feel comfortable, you can close your eyes if that's okay for you. Keep going, keep going. I'll tell you. Just keep going. Okay. Now just keep your eyes closed for a second or two.  That's so relaxing. I feel like I almost went to sleep. That was very relaxing actually. Because I know many people face sleeping issues and you know it's a problem. And you know it's really calmed me down for a moment. I could see one of our camera operators also trying in case one of the camera I met actually. He's fallen asleep. We are asleep in this. He's fallen asleep. Sorry. We are so relaxed. But that's really good. Because you know people are dealing with insomnia because they're up thinking about work, their social life, even social media. People spend time on social media just comparing their lives to someone else who they perceive is doing better. So breathing like that really helps calm you down. Yes, and it stops the train of pot that keeps on bombarding the mind because social media is a stimulation to the brain. So it's like a light bulb that goes off on. And then when you can't switch it off, what do you do? So the breathing is, yes, it's a way forward. And how would you recommend, once let's say I'm getting ready for bed and I'm just at home, how would you recommend? Should I go off social media or turn off my phone for about 30 minutes before and then do the breathing before I go to sleep? So you can lie down on your back, keep your hand on your stomach and do the back of the throat breathing 15 times. And then you can message on your Facebook handle. I'm sure you'll get many messages. I'll probably text the next and be like, oh yeah, I passed out. Yeah, you'll get many messages. And I'm really... And then when you try it at home, I hope when you're watching us back home, you try this exercise because I know so many people. The minds are so active at night. I need so many. You're up at 2 a.m. on Twitter, on TikTok because you can't fall asleep. So we have to distract ourselves from our phones and from television and the computers and laptops.  And how can we also deal with that? What advice would you give someone who's probably dealing with stress from work or from school? For the youth, people are dealing with stress from school, the expectations from their parents and people who are just walking and the economy is stressing everyone out. How would you advise them to get day by day? What breathing exercises would you recommend? So I would recommend to come on our program, to learn the sky breath, do the breathing that I taught. If you're finding you're not able to sleep and you've really got an issue with sleep and I know most people do, you can do 30 times the breathing, you know, 30 times in and out and then rest. Don't keep your phone like this and then do the breathing and tell and then say, it didn't work for me. You've got to keep the phone aside. The second is to know that life has its challenges, you know, you are going to get challenges. I know there are economic, social, relationship, financial. It's really big out there and it's getting worse. I don't see that, you know, wherever I'm looking, people are sharing how much they're facing, whether it's an emotional challenge or whether it's a financial challenge. I would say, you know, do something that brings you to a space where you are able to deal with it yourself. You know, something that you like doing, whether it's an outdoor activity, whether it's meditation, breathing, prayer, singing, listening to music, for example, that has nonviolent lyrics, that really helps. And all those facets of life, which we face on a day-to-day basis, we're able to go through them. So I would really like to say that this culture of giving up has become normal. I think we noticed that. Yeah, it's very normalized this days. It needs to be the narrative that we can change as a society is to building resilience. I can face criticism. I can face my problems. I can be happy and smile, not by escaping or pushing things under the carpet, but by building myself emotionally and mentally and learning to manage my emotions. Thank you. I think that's very well said. I was about to ask you for your parting shirt, but that kind of gives us some aspect of the parting shirt. So maybe you can just tell us where to find you on social media, across all platforms, maybe your contacts, and advice you'd give, particularly to parents of young kids or parents of the youth, or just older siblings, people who are dealing with children, how they can help nurture their mental health to avoid half of the issues that we are dealing with right now. What would you advise them on? And you can also share your contacts in the same breath.  Both go together. Being empathetic towards your child, listening, and developing a space where their friends and yourself can come together as parents to discuss this. Don't lose that opportunity to bring together your friends, your colleagues, to discuss how you can better this emotional quotient amongst kids, amongst youth, and don't give up as parents. Parenting is hard, especially in today's world. So we're acknowledging it's not easy, but go for it, give you 100%, give time to your children. Like I said, one hour a day is really like an investment in your child because it will give them all the tools they need for their life ahead, you know? And acknowledging their emotions, validating their feelings rather than putting them down will give them a lot of strength and confidence to move through life.  I find one criticism and the youths and the children are not able to deal with it. They want to lock themselves up and say, I can't deal with this. My boss is so bad, I'm doing an internship and I'm always facing problems, but no, we must have a narrative of building resilience, of building a happy, healthy society that can face challenges, you know? Thank you. So where can we find you on your social media platforms? Yes, so we have a Facebook page called The Art of Living Kenya. Please like our page, comment, and you can reach me there. I'll give my telephone number, 0706-581-454, and I have my ex, Twitter ex-handle. It's Namratasha7. Please reach out to me. I'm happy to be there, to have a conversation with you about mental health and share my insights on how breathing has helped me and thousands of youth in Kenya and globally. Thank you so much. I like everything that you've said. Thank you so much. I hope you've taken note of her contacts because you can find out if she has workshops or trainings about how you can deal with your mental issues and build resilience. That is it for today. I hope you've taken away something. In today's society, there's so many stresses and triggers. Learn how to deal with your own triggers. Do breathing exercises, meditate, and heal from within. You have to address your issues from within yourself. I'd like to thank you for sticking to Y2-540-V. My name has been Sherry Blessing and this has been The Power Talk Show. I want to appreciate every single person who has made this show a success and I want to see you next week, same time. So tune into Power Talk, same time next week. And that's it for today. Have a lovely evening.


All right. Well, welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us today. You're joining us for a discussion with Senator Patrick Leahy and his staff on supporting the economic future of Vermont. I want to welcome you all for joining today. I'm Charles Martin, the government affairs director at the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, our guest today is Senator Patrick Leahy. He's currently president, pro-temporary of the United States Senate, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and the senior most member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Agricultural Committee. As Vermonters, many of us had had the opportunity to vote for Senator Leahy and engage with him on issues. While he has always been a leader that Vermont can count on, he also ranks first in seniority in the Senate, which is extremely beneficial to Vermont. Today, he gives Vermont Chamber members and other businesses around the state an opportunity to engage directly with Senator Leahy. And of course, duty calls, the Senator's currently opening the Senate session as we speak, but we expect him to be with us shortly. Until then, we have two of his staff with us. Many of you probably know Chris Saunders. He's, he joined the Senator staff in 2002 and works out of the Senator's State Office on Economic Development, telecom and transportation issues.  Jeff Van Hoot is also with us. He's the Senator's Washington lead on economic development, taxes, broadband, transportation, and other issues. He previously worked on healthcare and education policy in the Senator's D.C. office and is originally from Brattleboro, Vermont. Alright, well, in the meantime, the Senator should be joining us around 315. We're going to start things off with a discussion with Chris and Jeff, and kind of focus on the infrastructure plan that the Biden administration has proposed and many in the Senate are endorsing including Senator Leahy. Chris or Jeff, could you two help us frame the discussion in Congress around infrastructure plan, kind of where it is at this point and where you expect it to be over the next few months. Either or Chris, you can go or Jeff. Sure. I'll start in and then Jeff will fix all the details that that I've screwed up. So hi everybody. As Charles mentioned, I'm Chris work here on the on the state side of the Senator staff. We have been collecting from Vermonters over the past year, you know, billions of idea dollars of ideas and priorities for the state and helping the Senator think through those and and look at the opportunity that's in front of us with the with the President's American Jobs Plan and try to try to find a way to incorporate those ideas into the bill. The process really started with with the President announcing his proposals and Congress has has picked up the ball and started to hold hearings on those ideas. I know Senator Leahy will want to talk about his work and his role in that. Last week, his committee, the Senate Appropriations Committee had four of the cabinet secretaries in person to talk about those ideas. But the hope and the belief is that that Congress will take the ball and run with it, trying to pass a bill first through the House of Representatives. Later this summer, maybe by the 4th of July, and then the Senate picking it up and making some adjustments and sending it back over to the House either later in the summer early in the fall. The dynamic that folks are keenly aware of, you know, the Senate really being having the slimmest of majorities majorities for Democrats. Means that there's a pretty narrow framework for for which they can pass a bill and to the degree that anybody kind of follows the machinations of the Senate and the Senate rules. There are some procedures that allow the Senate to move forward and get a bill just with Democratic votes that will be kind of a key piece over the next couple of weeks and months. The President has made very clear his intention to reach out to folks on the other side of the aisle and bring them into the process. At the same time, acknowledge that that he's got a vision and feels that he wants to move forward with a bill that meets his goals and objectives. And if he has to go with a bill that the majority of the country support, but ultimately doesn't have bipartisan votes in the Senate, he will use that tool, if necessary. I think there's, there'll be a lot of action that the bill is still coming together and ideas are still being considered. I know the senator will talk about some of his priorities that include broadband and road and transportation infrastructure water wastewater those types of things as well as the more human infrastructure that that you've seen the Biden administration talking about so Jeff what what what did I miss or what what did I include. You touched on all the high level topics very did a very well job very good job with that and I mean just to go further on what you've already said is that there are more proposals to come. As we all know the president Biden has his first joint address in front of Congress to Marcus first 100 days in of the administration on Wednesday and the expectation is for the president to unveil the state before the more human infrastructure side of things for that prior to the joint address with the American families plan. And we're happy also to speak more about that. And as we are continuing to in the on the congressional side of things we are continuing to work with the administration and field ideas and hear proposals and legislative text is still in the works and as far as that I would also add that the on the other side the aisle the Senate Republicans as I'm sure a lot of people have seen have begun their processing negotiations and offered a counter proposal to the Biden initial white paper for the American jobs plan and we're happy to go more into that as well just let us know thank you. Yeah, that might actually be somewhat interesting for the company here without without getting to terribly political is there sort of a stark differences between the Republican plan and the and the Democratic plan at this point. I guess it might be easier to talk about where they overlap so we can kind of start framing around, you know what we might be able to expect Chris or Jeff. I think in terms of let's start with similarities in terms of similarities both have significant may do make significant investments in various sectors of our America's infrastructure and on the for the GOP proposal. I think they primarily focus on specific funding for to repair roads and bridges with by proposing 200, I believe 299 billion there out of all the proposals I believe that is the only one, no, and airport still that is one of the few where the levels are above initial proposals of the American jobs plan I think they also have with included within the account of GOP's count proposal is 61 billion for public transit when compared to the American jobs plan which is provides would provide 85 billion. And I feel as though they've dedication they don't the investment proposal for rail is not nearly significant enough to fix the issues that are at play right now. And I don't know if Chris would like to have a little senator. Well, Senator Lee. The session and there are a few delays on the floor. I don't want to raise that all senator we're just happy you're with us. I wonder I want to be with you buddy or every so often the job gets in the way. It's an important job and we are certainly understanding. Opening up the United States Senate is as good a reason as any to be a little bit tardy for one of these zoom panels. We already kind of introduced you and the introductory remarks and Chris and Jeff we're just starting to discuss the Biden infrastructure plan. The proposals that you're supportive of and kind of the proposals from the Republican side of things and where those overlap. I think folks on the call would be interested in kind of generally hearing about, you know your history of working with President Biden, and Vice President Biden and Senator Biden throughout his tenure as a public servant. And kind of what you're most excited about in terms of future collaboration with the administration, and what excites you about this infrastructure plan that's been proposed. All right, so, so I started here. Yeah, of course. Thank you. I know we have other chamber members on that I appreciate that. I'm glad we're doing it here. I'll be at her home in middle sex next week at this time is I know we're going to talk a little bit about broadband. It's not as easy to do these from there, even though we're halfway between my payer and water barrier. It's not totally a joke that you get a good signal you put one foot in the coffee table, leave one elbow against one door not point toward a particular window, and you might get it. Even though we pay for the top grade but I mentioned only because you have to think of it when you see so many people working, working from home, kids going to school my own grandchildren going to school remotely. And so I worked a lot with the with the governor and the others in the state about this. In fact, I had a long talk with with Governor Scott this morning we're talking about coven and what we can do with getting vaccines out you know they have a system where and from a whole pharmacy gives them but they have some leftover they have to send them back and the governor said, you know we got some rural areas. Don't send them back anywhere. We'll get them to people you know we have to have same boys and national guard or something drive them house to house will do will get them there. I'll get him off Kamala Harris's husband when he was in town days and just count the number of pharmacies between here and the airport and this is the largest the burn today and the largest concentration you see very very few. And so we have to do it differently in our state. And so I he and I are working on that I met with the White House this morning. And he's going to be on a conference call with the same people from the White House tomorrow morning along with other covers they hope they can do that. But we know the gaps we have. Because of COVID the nationwide 12 million women have lost their jobs left their loss their work from their workforce they buy park. And so we have to really hit. Look at our lodging and restaurants and you. These are your members and, and you're hearing the same stories from them that I'm hearing, or that I hear when I'm back home in Vermont. So I think we have to figure out where we go now our labor shortage. That's reemerging as a significant concern. So many companies have worked like mad to stay open they've had to innovate they've had to change. They stayed open and that that's helped us of course, I tried to make sure that we've had the money that might help I the first COVID package had what's called the small state minimum in it. That got us about a billion and a half dollars for Vermont. And I thought it was well worthwhile because it was spent on the right things paycheck protection program, direct assistance to Vermonters those are out of work but what you might do. I want to make sure our state fiscal situation didn't collapse. So they can work with businesses around the state and I made it very clear to the other members of the Appropriations Committee.  So we're all in this together. If you get COVID, you're out of a job. The worst both. They don't ask what your political background is. They asked what's going to happen. So, in the American rescue plan marches even get another billion dollars to Vermont. But I know the government and the legislature worked harder than that. I want to get through the pandemic of course, but we got to make sure that this is an opportunity to build back a lot stronger. You know, we used to say infrastructure myself we got to fix that bridge of that road. It's a lot more than that. We have to put resources and transportation and affordable housing, water infrastructure. We talked a little bit about the internet and broadband. Well, there's so much that we have to do. The, I remember as a little child, my grandparents telling me from the lives in South Ryegate, Vermont. And they told me how when rural electrification came to their, to their community and my grandfathers they just walk over turn the light on turn the light off. You know, I grew up in Montpellier. I said, what's the big deal? Everybody's got electric lights. Well, they didn't. The large parts of Vermont didn't went out by the same token. I walk in my office in Burlington. I log on to the computer. I've got high speed internet.  You may not have that. And we can't we can no longer say well someday we'll build it. It's going to be the same way. When you go to your home you can turn the light on the icon. They got to be able to turn on the internet. So, if we don't I don't know what we're going to do in creating jobs we have. You've done a lot working with some of these. job creation sites but we have to create a lot more. And we have to say that okay. We have to jump forward. Number of years after COVID. But I see Jeff and Newton Chris Sanders Sanders on my on the screen. They understand this far better than I do I'm really a constitutional impediment to the staff does all the work. They don't tell them I said that, but they can when I have to go back to the floor a little bit they, they can take over but you probably have a lot of questions you want to ask. Absolutely Senator I so appreciate your continued focus on and all of us at the chamber do on pandemic recovery because as you alluded to we have to get through that before we can kind of be more forward thinking. And the name of kind of being forward thinking folks are tremendously interested and kind of the ongoing discussion with the administration and you touched on a little bit of it on the infrastructure plan that the Biden administration's proposed. I know that you've worked pretty closely with President Biden when he was Vice President Biden and Senator Biden from Delaware. What, what excites you kind of most about the potential of this plan and what it could do for Vermont and northern border region states. We're going to have the, we're going to fund the northern regional commission of course extensively and I changed the law in that last about a year ago. So it's not just a northern part of our state. We're going to get all the way down to the, the bottom of the state and back. There were going to a couple ribbon cuttings before we had to start wearing masks down in southern Vermont, because of things through the northern border regional commission will continue that. We had a number of discussions with President Biden. And he says, look, I'm not thinking about what's, what do we do during this term of the Congress, how do we get through this. So I'm looking at my grandchildren, you better look at yours. What do we do for them. What's going to be the difference. How do we get young people coming out of school today. How do they have jobs decent jobs. They have businesses that are hard to stay open during COVID. How do we make sure they know we're with them and they can stay open and can start hiring again. He's very, very committed to it. Now we do. We have one thing we do joke a little bit about. He said to me the other day said, how's it feel to be third in line to the presidency, which, which is what I am as president pro tem and I said Joe, I always prayed for your health and safety before. I pray for twice as much now as I did that you kind of enjoyed that. He's a for a long when he's. He's done the right thing he's talked to Republicans and Democrats and what I've done with the with the appropriations committee. I've worked very closely with Dick Shelby, conservative Republican who's the senior Republican on the committee but we're also, he's one of my closest personal friends we traveled across the world together and we are trying very, very hard to bring Republicans and Democrats in and voted real things. But I made it very clear. I'm not looking at something to pass to take care of this year. You know yourself. If we just plan in Vermont just for this year. Who knows what hits next year. What if we have a natural disaster or something we got a plan for the future. And we definitely agree with you on that here at the chamber. And, you know, I guess I would ask sort of out of Chris mentioned Chris Sanders mentioned you had a meeting last week with some cabinet officials on this very topic. I'm curious as to what that discussion entailed, what those priorities were, and kind of who was present there and what you're what you're able to discuss. Of course, and you mentioned Chris Sanders and Jeff and you should always never hesitate to John Tracy, Paulie major either people in my office. They get to me call call them. They send me memos every single day, and it helps more here from home. The cabinet members we met with were very clear they, they're not looking at this as a partisan political thing. They say we're here. We got handed this terrible problem as do other parts of the world. Let's get out of it, but let's let's come back a lot stronger than we were before. You know, I could not help but think on a much smaller scale when a hurricane Irene hit Vermont. And I remember flying over Vermont with a governor as a general helicopter, the day after hurricane and looking at a farmhouse that been on one side of the river is now on the other side of the river upside down. They look like toys. They just been twisted. And I was almost in tears seeing things I'd known from the days I was a child. But we said we'll come back stronger and Vermont did. And, but the whole country has to do that now. One of the things that encouraged me in talking with cabinet members they all come different backgrounds. They were all optimistic. They think we can do it. It's not going to be exactly the program I might write or you might write or, but it'll be one that we can all come to our state because of its size location has problems but then Oklahoma has different kinds of problems. And I think that's what's been exacerbated by drought. We have got to come together and I'm hoping that the partisan temperature we heard during the last election would just fade away and do as we have in Vermont where Republicans and Democrats have worked together. We're certainly hopeful that's the case as well because I think everyone's pretty excited about the potential of this infrastructure plan. I think it's a bit, in Vermont, as you know, we have quite a workforce shortage. We have sort of a demographics challenge of the state's population and such. I know Governor Scott recently sent a letter to the State Department that was indicating Vermont can continue to be a great home for new Americans. And at the Chamber, a lot of our members depend on new Americans to augment their workforces. So with that in mind, I'm just kind of curious as to what you envision for work on immigration reform and how that might help rural states like Vermont that really need people to live here and are welcoming of those people. Well, you know, the Senate a few years ago passed the comprehensive immigration bill. Unfortunately, the House refused Speaker Boehner would not bring it up. But I wish I think he wishes he had now because it wouldn't pass. But I, the Lays came to Vermont about 1850. Part of his economic refugees from Ireland. And then before 1900, my maternal grandparents immigrated from Italy to Vermont. They also come looking for a better, better way of life to my grandfathers were both my grandfather Patrick Lee, my grandfather Piazza Rosamble were stone carvers. But they helped build businesses and and made it better. We're, we're a nation of immigrants. My cells family immigrated from Canada she was born Newport Vermont they spoke French at home. Her uncle Tony promo just died at a study over 100 years old created big businesses, which his family carries on. The immigrants have been good for Vermont. I don't know what we would would do otherwise you know they thought after the Civil War, we lost so many for monitors we might disappear as a state. And so we had a lot of immigrants came into Vermont and made a difference and improve it. We have to do that. Our farm community. We have got to update our immigration. We've got to be able to give dairy farmers time to stay here for more than a matter of months you can't. You can't say okay come here for a few months to help it would just tell the cows. When you come back next year they can milk you again it doesn't work that way. And in the high tech area what we've seen in some of our high tech industry. The number of people are there. I tell the story of bill sessions that federal judge makes a point to do these naturalization ceremonies where it swears in new citizens you probably been to some I've been to them I find very emotional. George Bush was that one in New York class weekend. What.  They come to the hospital just in time had an emergency operation and he would have died. If he hadn't had it. He had an immigration ceremony told the story of that. He said the reason I'm telling it I looked at the doctor who saved my life operated my brain. And I remember when I gave him the oath of citizenship as an immigrant to Vermont. Now, you can tell hundreds of other stories like that. We have, we have got to improve immigration system we've got to make it better we've got to welcome people. We need it for all kinds of workforce is not just farming we have a high tech. The medicine. And I think the pandemic has probably brought this home to a lot of people that a lot of parts of this country. I would not have made it through, but the first generation or the, or even those seeking citizenship, who have worked on it. Well, Senator, I definitely appreciate that and we're, we're hopeful that we can have additional new Americans move to the state because we know that our businesses here certainly depend on them to be successful. Thank you for those questions in case you had to run back to the floor but getting a little more specific on the infrastructure plan this might be a question for Chris Saunders. Claudia LaValle from Lawson's finest liquids asks us to discuss the future of Amtrak service in Vermont, any additional service rail lines, and what reminders might be able to expect in that realm, and how it might relate to this infrastructure proposal so I don't know. I'll let Chris go on to that but first I was speaking on the floor again about how we're seeing railroads coming back to Vermont and working with Canada. When that border can open up so we can go straight. I remember as a law student taking the Montrealer back home to Vermont from Georgetown. There's a Montrealer because it went to Montreal to here and we're going to get back to that I know we've had grandkids here during the summer. We love to take the train. And we go from either Waterbury or Montpey or go down to White River goes to the Montshire Science Museum. And so we're working that but Chris you want to add to this. The two quick updates would be that the agency of transportation and conjunction with Amtrak is just kind of put the final pieces together to get the Ethan Allen service from Rutland to Burlington. So that should be able to start sometime in the coming months, either before the end of this year or next year I think there's some considerations about making sure it's successful right off the bat, but that is pretty much ready to go. And hopefully he's been working for a while on, as you mentioned, restoring the Montrealer. And the chief challenge there has been inspecting travelers on the train. And so what he's done is passed a couple of laws that allow Americans and any traveler to be screened by Customs and Border Protection at Central Station in Montreal before they board the train. The train can can, it wouldn't stop before then it comes down to St. Albans and so most of the roadblocks on the on the US side have been taken care of, and we've been working with former Vermont transfer station secretary Brian Searles and others to to work with our Canadian counterparts to get that proposal. Tempted to use a bad rail pun but to get that moving forward so those are the two most immediate. Conversations you know Amtrak released this big proposal about how they would spend some of the Biden infrastructure money. And some of that would lead to increased service along the Vermont route so they're definitely opportunities both as part of the infrastructure bill and some of the regular course of the work this senator's taking on. But Chris wanted to say but he bit his tongue you want to say getting it back on track but and of course we've probably certainly my lifetime that never had a president who likes railroads as much as President Biden used to after his first wife was killed he take the train back home to Delaware almost every day. Be with his be with his sons. And he talks about the trains all the time we come every time I would mention to my been in New York City for something he said well Pat did you take the train I said yes well it's a good. We'll get it back. I'm excited about that. Switching gears a little bit to sort of soft infrastructure and going into the chat we have a question from a few questions in the chat on investments in high quality childcare and how that can play into, you know generally just being beneficial to our state and also freeing up workforce to contribute to the businesses that need workforce. It's a general question either for you senator or your staff, but could you discuss a little about what this infrastructure can plan can mean for childcare and other investments that have been made in the childcare front, even prior to this infrastructure plan. I think everybody understands that childcare is real and it's a real cost. And as people start going back to work it's going to be even, even more so, I'm trying to keep as much flexibility in the money that goes to the state, I'm trying to make sure in the appropriations committee we don't do one size fits all and that's kind of a general thing but I have a lot of knowledge in our governor and our legislature take that money and make sure it's spent in a way that will do that, but there again, even in the childcare we also have to have the people available to do the childcare. Yeah. I don't know that Chris or Jeff want to add to that. I would, yes, I'd be happy to add to that senator. I mean, as what was brought up at the top of this in my past work in healthcare education and including childcare we the senator and then as chair of operations does understand the significant need for increased funding for childcare centers and how the economic impacts that will have on in Vermont and places across the country. We've heard from childcare providers throughout the pandemic and part of pandemic about this desperate need, especially in the state and we know we are just as concerned and upset as others when we hear the stories about working young parents having to travel 30 minutes to a childcare center one way then drive 45 minutes the other way to get to work. That's unacceptable and we're doing all that we can to bring the money to Vermont to ensure that we can fix problems like that. Thanks, Jeff. And the other thing is that and I sound like a broken record sometimes in the appropriations committee although if you're chairman they'll listen to the broken record the but I say that the scale in an urban area is so different than what we face in much our state, but then I'll point around the committee point of various Republicans various Democrats on say you have this rural area in your state you have that rural area in your state and it is amazing how again is bringing Republicans and Democrats together that they don't see this as a political issue. That's definitely welcoming to hear. So switching I apologize I'm kind of jumping around a bit but I'm trying to get through the 10d questions and do my due diligence on behalf of the business leaders who are here today. Claudia also asked the question about the feasibility of electric commuter buses running on the length of 89 so kind of, you know, outside of just Washington and Chittenden County. And then we had an additional question from Kyle Clark from beta technologies on what is being done at the federal level to support EV charging infrastructure, especially dual use aircraft car truck charging systems. Yes, to kind of roll that all into one question. And this is Senator for you or your staff. As far as electric infrastructure and transportation whether it be air or ground. What, what are you hopeful about and what can Vermont potentially expect. Sometimes we have to look at the fact sometimes you have long distances to drive but this is not the, those of us who talked about electric cars and buses. Two years ago we were like, was this some kind of crunchy granola. Now when you see major car manufacturers say they'll make only electric cars or electric vehicles in the next decade to decade and a half. I look at a charging station by the red hand and little sex where I go for soup and sandwich often when I'm home. And there's always somebody plugged in there. But I think there's an, it's not a chicken egg thing. I mean you got to be doing this all together. I think that the pressure is going to be there with the manufacturers for and others, some of the Japanese manufacturers in going electric. The pressure is going to be there. We are going to be hurt badly. As a state. If we don't have fast and easy charging everywhere on our interstate on outside by our businesses. And there is going to be money that can be used by the states that they want to have. I don't know each step is going to be I think it's going to be an evolution, but I think it's going to be a much, much faster evolution that anybody thought of just a few years ago. I don't want to Chris or Jeff if you want to add anything to that. I would say that the, I think we're, we've been working closely with the state. And there's probably a time in the future where every new bus the state buys has the potential to be an electric bus. And we're not quite at that point but the senator's been making sure the resources are there through a program called the low or no program at USD OT to fund those buses and we have some as was noted by Claudia in Burlington and other places. So we're getting there. And then to Kyle's question about electric aviation I think I think that's been a piece that's been missing the administration I think is still working to understand what electric aviation is all about. And how to fit it into to their proposals and I think Senator you when you were talking with transportation secretary Buddha judge you mentioned beta the other day. So, I would hand it back to you because you're the one that's that's having those conversations. What they're doing in Burlington, and with the electric helicopters and how they're saying UPS contract. And I wish I could say more of it than that I can't because I made a plan to go there. Not this week. I mean it's coming week but the next time I'm home to get a full briefing. Also point out that they are hiring Charles I think they're hiring about as much percentage just by any company around people in building that. And what I'm finding more and more people to say not not electric they'll say oh, tell us more. How do we do it. And that's a good side. It's definitely exciting and beta is certainly a really forward thinking company that we're happy to have here in Vermont. Going to jump around yet again. Beth Kennett from Liberty Hill Farm, it asks, is there any upcoming support for agricultural infrastructure in Vermont either in this infrastructure plan or in other bills that are in the works. And one of the comments come through as we were talking about how cold weather batteries can lose so much of their power and that's obviously one of the things that we have to. We have to face because we for mothers know we do have cold weather. Now on this. I think the question of agriculture was that again. So Beth Kennett from Liberty Hill Farm Senator asks, if we can expect any upcoming supports for agricultural infrastructure either in the infrastructure bill or other moving pieces in the, in the Congress. Well, I think it's pretty clear we're not going to leave out agriculture. We also know the agriculture is evolving the way we do it in updating. We're on just second. Yeah. Tom will take me a couple of minutes, but I'll be there. Thank you. The floor is calling back but but yes we're going to have to. It's not the. It's not farming as I saw when I was a kid walking around farms and my pair over in South Friday with grandparents or anywhere else. It's much different. But again, I say this is if we're at all wise. If we use this money. Here, here's a check, here's a check, but actually target it. We can so dramatically improve for the next generation, just by any kind of business we have, or how we do our lodging is our tourism industry, every single aspect of that. I can stay for one more than I am going to have to leave or I apologize. Well, I'll give you another infrastructure related, I guess more focused on higher ed. Robin Gillian of Vermont technical college asks how higher education will be supported post pandemic. So many is referring to, from a congressional standpoint, what you see impacting higher education, especially in rural areas like Vermont where we kind of have unique challenges with higher ed. Well, I think I think that's a that's a two way street, I mean we get the money but higher ed is going to respond to it I mean we've had. I mean one example I helped Norwich University get money a few years ago for their cyber center, and they were aiming for that now. The only problem they have is that people are trying to hire the kids even before they graduate because of what they're learning. You're going to have to find those things that reflect the needs of today. Champlain College did the same with theirs. We're fortunate to have the University of Vermont is I think so. Superb. We have to. We have to give them the money they're going through some evolutions and I think the new president UVM has had to face. There are more challenges and in two years time the most would have in a, in a 20 year period there. And so we'll do it. We, but the, I don't pretend to be an expert but I've talked to governments knows it's not going to be education. As it's always been there are going to be changes in their direction and the nature of what they do. Otherwise it's not going to work. I understand that if we're not going to be doing education that will allow people who graduate to be effectively in the workforce and then to have the jobs there so they can. It does not work. But I am more optimistic than pessimistic. That's definitely nice to hear and completely agree it's an evolving landscape, higher education. We need to get to the floor we won't keep you any longer. We certainly appreciate your time and if you can hang out that's great. But I know that you indicated you only had time for one left so I am going to have to go but I'm glad you're doing this and Chris and Jeff thank you for your work on it. I think a whole lot of things done at once in the, in the Senate I juggled three different major committees in trying to do that. Fortunately, some good people working with me so thank you all very much and I may see some of you and Vermont next week I hope. I hope to see you senator. Thank you so much. Take care. I just wanted to add to what I made to add on to what the center said about with a little more specifics is that the higher education investments are expected to be included within the American family plan, which would be really the as I said is supposedly is going to be released this week. So we'll know more in the coming days. Well, that's exciting stuff. Thank you. Thanks Jeff and Chris this might be a question for you. I know we discussed immigration as it relates to workforce and childcare as it relates to workforce. But generally speaking, we've had a lot of folks that have left the workforce, and there are a lot of folks are still out of the workforce right now as a result of the pandemic, which is extremely challenging for our small businesses but it also presents an opportunity in some instances for those workers to be reskilled to re enter the workforce in other ways, maybe in a career change or something of that nature. What, what sort of programs can Berman expect to be able to access coming down from the federal level to kind of augment our workforce and improve our workforce, be it reskilling or otherwise. So that's a question Charles and a key point of the kind of the workforce issues that that I think the senator is thinking about. There, there's a subset of us DOL the employment and training administration that's a good partner for Vermont DOL and they have programs and resources that speak to exactly that topic. And I think we're expecting to see both through their normal course of work as well as some of what the administration is going to propose investments in ETA that would fund initiatives in Vermont, you know, a recent one. That that did come to the state the supporting working families program that that offered Vermonters supports for folks that are existing currently in the workforce but looking to enter the manufacturing field offered them support for their tuition as well as wrap around services for finding childcare for for their kids and some funding costs. I think we expect to see innovative programs like that. Coming from the administration. I think we were looking for programs that that come from the health side of things, looking that that would help those with substance abuse disorder, find pathways from from those afflictions and finding ways to enter the workforce so I think we expect a number of different initiatives, and then certainly the immigration piece that the senator is looking for a change you know we have many different types of immigration to the state through various visa programs. The one that's gotten the most attention recently is is the asylum program, and I think we expect that that the administration will keep its commitments to to bringing folks in through the asylum program. And for months programs really depend on those levels being where they have been historically so if 300 folks are going to come into the chinning County region through the refugee resettlement program. We need the historic levels, historic not exceeding but but kind of where they were prior prior to the previous administration for the supports to be there for for our Vermont programs to welcome those those new Americans so I think we see multiple multiple avenues to that to that question. It's definitely something we hear constantly at the chamber I'd say outside of coven 19 this is workforce, generally speaking and workforce shortages. It's kind of Vermont's economic crisis, you know if we weren't in a pandemic and I expected to continue to be coming out of the pandemic so we appreciate all the work on that and look forward to working with you on it. So this is more of a general question maybe one that's good to close with. In your opinion, Janet Lombra from Mobile Medical International Corporation asked this. What do you feel is a realistic timeline for Vermont's economic recovery. I'm considering the after effects the pandemic when I know this is one of those reading the tea leave questions and given how crazy the last year is that it's a difficult one to answer but when do you see economic normalcy occurring or kind of what indicators are you looking for to know that that's occurred. That's a big question. Because everybody everybody's answer to that is different and I think the senator alluded to that in some of his remarks of noting that we have different groups of Vermonters that have impacted this pandemic been impacted by the pandemic differently and so that might be true for somebody who's just looking to go back to the office and be able to go out to dinner and do the things of their normal life and be supporting their local economy in that way, maybe very different from the the one that has been forced to leave the workforce and, you know, their their child program, even with the state aid or other resources wasn't able to stay open and so they they are now having to find as you as you noted a new job or be trained for a new job. So, I think we feel like there's differing avenues for differing people, and it could be a while. You know, I think, I think we're share the optimism of the governor, and those that have been participating in the forward program and seeing the reopen of the economy and welcome tourists back to the state. But that that it's probably a longer a longer path for for Vermonters that have had a deeper impact and, you know, whether they've become homeless or whether they whatever that has challenged them during the pandemic. For those Vermonters, it's probably going to be a longer road. So I think that was a great answer and we definitely agree it varies wildly depending on what industry or what walk of life you're from. Certainly, but I think you you frame that well. Could I follow the senator's lead and just notice there have been a couple of good questions in the chat about broadband that while I think we we had hoped the senator was going to touch on more kind of glossed over Michael's and others have raised the question of how is money going to be distributed and I think, you know, this is the challenge of offering a briefing for you all at a time when when there isn't really a legislative text to accompany the proposal. There there's kind of big dollar figures and I think this goes across all the topics we've discussed today, whether they be electrification of transportation or childcare or housing and higher ed is that you know the details really aren't there for us to tell you this is how it's going to happen. But one of the proposals that's been out there that that I think the senator has some concerns about is the proposal from Mr. Clyburn in the house which which is kind of been the general bill that most House members if they're interested in broadband have added their name to, and it would be a small amount of the money to each state and then distribute the rest of it through a reverse auction where tell ISPs would say here is the subsidy we'd be willing to accept to provide service in this area and the math gets much easier in that dynamic if you perhaps provide internet via satellite, or if you're able to cover a large geographic area with a wireless signal, then if you're laying fiber and I think the senator sees that there are room for for multiple solutions to delivering high speed broadband to folks in Vermont but we have we've tried wireless internet and it hasn't been a resounding success for our state. And so I think he's particularly interested in making sure the playing field is open for the communications union districts to get resources, I think there's a lot of resources that are going to be available through the money that's already come to the state, but but in terms of this next plan, making a bit of a more level playing field is something that he's certainly focused on to ensure the CDs can compete with the star links and the others of the world that are in the space. Thank you for touching on that. I know that folks always want to hear about broadband and at the Chamber, we certainly support whatever gets reminders properly connected and connected quickly. So, it's kind of been our stance. Chris, and Jeff, do you have anything to add or to close with. The last piece that we would touch on is kind of the topic to sure. And I don't know if the Senate, Senator made the announcement already today Jeff or or not, but we with with his ascendancy to the chairman of appropriations the Senate made a decision to bring earmarks back to to Vermont, or well to the country and therefore Vermont. And so in the coming weeks, we're going to be working with organizations around the state we have no shortage of ideas that we've already received. He's going to be looking for ways to invest public dollars wisely in the state so that that we can, you know, as he said, build back stronger and really advance the economy of the state. And so we're looking for good community projects infrastructure projects, all sorts of things so likely in the coming days we'll have a forum on our website or Jeff and I put our contact information in the chat. If anybody's got a project that they are working on that they want to make sure it's on the senator's radar. We would love to hear about it and see if there's a way to to single out funding for that initiative. It tells me you're not going to have a shortage of people who take you up on ideas. That's really tremendously exciting. And we certainly look forward to hearing more about that. So that concludes today's event. I want to reiterate how thankful we are for the senator taking some time out of working on the floor to chat with us all and Jeff and Chris we so appreciate you joining us as well. Thank you Charles and thank you to the Chamber for hosting this great event. And thank you to all the attendees who are asking great questions today. Thanks guys.