One need only to look at Wisconsin, to understand how serious a problem Connecticut's budget woes are. While Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker offers real leadership in closing a budget gap, Connecticut's Democrat Governor Dannel Malloy is falling back on tried and true liberal tenets; tax, tax and tax more, to keep the public employee unions prosperous and a dependable voting base. So stark are the contrasts, that one can only dream Connecticut had such leadership.
How is it for example, that a state larger in land mass and nearly double Connecticut's population, has 33 state senators compared to our 36? Why is it, Wisconsin has a two-year $3.6B deficit and is cutting spending, while Connecticut faces a two-year $6B deficit and is increasing spending, underwriting it with the largest tax hike in state history?
Gov. Walker says what he is proposing to implement in a renowned blue-collar state, are budget cuts, while asking public employee unions -except for police and firefighters - to make more contributions to their health care and pensions, which would still be decidedly lower than what one in the private sector pays.
Gov. Malloy is hoping for union concessions, while raising the sales tax, imposing another retail tax on top of the sales tax, raising the income tax, gasoline tax, alcohol tax, adding a generation tax to our electric bill, and removing tax exemptions on goods and property. Meanwhile, the Democrat controlled General Assembly, while hailing the governor's budget, also talks about adding tolls, raising fees and imposing a five-cent tax on shoppers, who dare use plastic or paper bags.
Gov. Walker digs in his heals against a small, vocal minority - despite what the mainstream media claims is overwhelming opposition. Gov. Malloy, reminds us of what a leader he is, then protects his voter base at the expense of the remaining blue-collar electorate.
Gov. Malloy says we must sit down and negotiate with the unions. Gov. Walker says there is no room to negotiate, "We (Wisconsin) are broke." And their two-year deficit is $3.6B. What does that make Connecticut with a two-year $6B deficit?
Gov. Walker's financial aid to municipalities is to remove unfunded mandates. Gov. Malloy's financial aid to municipalities is to add the retail tax to the sales tax, while increasing the conveyance tax, with no plan to remove unfunded mandates.
Gov. Walker proposes to shrink government, getting it off the backs of the people. Gov. Malloy purports to reduce government, while increasing spending, taxes, continuing to borrow and use taxpayer money to experiment, underwriting the first vestiges of universal preschool.
Gov. Malloy says Connecticut is "open for business," then supports one of the worst anti-business bills in the country, paid sick leave. Gov. Walker takes real steps to cut government spending, taxes and over regulation, then says Wisconsin is open for business. You tell me to which state business will locate?
On and on it goes. Two new governors, facing the same problem, but offering different solutions. Gov. Walker pandering to his largest voting base, the people of Wisconsin. Gov. Malloy pandering to his, the public employee unions and liberal causes, at the expense of the people of Connecticut. One could only hope that some day, a Scott Walker will emerge in Connecticut. It is our only hope, as we sinking into oblivion, under our own financial duress.
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Good job.
ReplyDeleteGov. Walker pandering to his largest voting base, corporations and billionaires at the expense of the people of Wisconsin. Gov. Malloy pandering to his largest voting base the people of Connecticut.
ReplyDeleteSee how easy that is?
It seems to me that Malloy won his election as well, therefore he is representing the people of Connecticut who elected him and doing what he said he was going to do.
The Wisconsin unions agreed to the concessions!...the protest is about Walker wanting to take away employees collective bargaining rights.
ReplyDeleteNorth Carolina doesn't have collective bargaining and it has one of the worst financial crises going...Idaho has collective bargaining and is in good financial shape.The unions didn't cause State budget problems...WallStreet and the recession did....State Employee unions have little to do with it!When you compare apples to apples (including age and level of education) ...State employees still make 4% less than the comparable employee in the private sector ...see below
http://www.thenation.com/article/158647/betrayal-public-workers?page=0,0
State and Local Government Workers Are Not Overpaid
Even if state and local government employees are not responsible for the budgetary problems that emerged out of the recession, are they nevertheless receiving bloated wage and benefits packages that are holding back the recovery? Since the recession began, there has been a steady stream of media stories making such claims. One widely cited 2009 Forbes cover article reported, “State and local government workers get paid an average of $25.30 an hour, which is 33 percent higher than the private sector’s $19…. Throw in pensions and other benefits and the gap widens to 42 percent.”
What figures such as these fail to reflect is that state and local government workers are older and substantially better educated than private-sector workers. Forbes is therefore comparing apples and oranges. As John Schmitt of the Center for Economic Policy Research recently showed, when state and local government employees are matched against private sector workers of the same age and educational levels, the public workers earn, on average, about 4 percent less than their private counterparts. Moreover, the results of Schmitt’s apples-to-apples comparison are fully consistent with numerous studies examining this same question over the past twenty years. One has to suspect that the pundits who have overlooked these basic findings have chosen not to look