The Yankee Institute is out with a reminder for those of you who think life is getting better. In full-page newspaper ads, the libertarian leaning think tank says that “years of irresponsible spending and tax increases have caused the state’s fiscal health to plummet.”
The Yankee Institute urges new the General Assembly “to take action.”
Yankee also provides a few reminders to convince you to call the movers with its “List of Lasts:”
- Barron’s rated Connecticut’s debt situation as the worst in the country in 2012
- TopRetirements.com ranked Connecticut as the 2012 worst state for retirement
- The Institute for Truth in Accounting ranked Connecticut’s financial status as the worst in the nation with a debt burden of $49,000 per taxpayer
- Connecticut’s credit quality was ranked 50th in the nation by Conning Inc.’s State of the States Municipal Credit Research Report in 2012
- Connecticut’s Tax Freedom Day of May 5, 2012 was the latest in the nation according to the Tax Foundation
- Connecticut’s Achievement Gap is the worst in the nation according to the Connecticut Council for Education Reform
- The Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors by the Cato Institute gave Malloy an “F”
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23 Responses to From The Life-In-CT Stinks Crowd: Yankee Institute’s ‘List of Lasts’
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We’re number 50! We’re number 50!
How’s the one party rule workin’ out for ya? Is everyone enjoying our liberal utopia? An unsustainable state union workforce, exploding entitlement spending, corporate welfare giveaways, illegal sanctuary cities, and more taxes are all awesome, aren’t they?
We get the Government we vote for. Last one out turn off the lights.
PS,
“Life-in-Connecticut stinks” are your words. “Paying for life in Connecticut stinks” is more appropriate. Connecticut citizens and businesses are fast being priced out of this state by bad policy decisions.
You liberals just love to rip people who want their Government to be as accountable as we all must be as individuals. That logic will bring a very unpleasant end to our spending spree and the ensuing pain will know no economic or political boundary. But for now, keep ripping groups like the Yankee Institute if it makes you feel better.
So, Da Troof, are you trying to hint that you are unhappy with Connecticut?
Actually, Mike, I like living here, but I don’t like being used like an ATM card to support the our entitlement state and unsustainable state government. So, when the time comes, you’ll just have to make do without a few more of us taxpayers. Good luck with the liberal utopia thing.
I think you mentioned your “liberal utopia” issue before. I’ll keep it in mind.
Connecticut in particular it’s political leaders are laughed at in the national view. Ultra liberal and incompetent, Connecticut Socialists, I mean Democrats, and Malloy in particular are known for crazy decision making, cronyism, and poor results.
Can you spell ‘bankrupt’….the public sector unions will turn Hartford into Athens in a hurry……
Sharpshooter,
2012 Debt to GDP
7.9% Connecticut
170.6% Greece
Don’t worry so much about Connecticut. Greece has more than 20 times the debt.
CNNMoney 2012 Top 100 Best Places to Live
28 – Greenwich
53 – Hamden
64 – Fairfield
And, wait for it…
72 – West Hartford!
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/best-places/2012/top100/index.html
Gee Mike, that’s special. I imagine I can find nice places to live in Detroit also.
Are you arguing with the collective premise of the sources listed in the article or are you cherry-picking selected articles?
You do exactly this all the time. A story shows the least little nice thing about Connecticut and here comes Da Troof reminding us that Connecticut is actually horrible and we are circling the drain, in a death spiral, last one out turn off the lights, pray for Connecticut.
Mike, once again I’m not saying Connecticut is a horrible place to live. Quite the contrary actually. What I’m saying is that the political and economic policies of this state make it more and more difficult for businesses and individuals to live and prosper. Its a shame that on a purely economic basis even Connecticut’s neighbors have a lower cost of living than Connecticut. I believe the comparative statistics are bearing this out as are the population and unemployment statistics.
Da Troof,
RE: Comparison with our neighbors on a purely economic basis. From the first story link (Barrons) given above:
“Once known as a low-tax alternative to neighboring New York, Connecticut now has the third highest state and local tax burden in the country at 12% of per capita income, behind New York and New Jersey, according to the Tax Foundation.”
Connecticut has lower taxes than even the “miracle” of New Jersey under Saint Chris Christie.
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424053111904881404577603301566976464.html#articleTabs_article%3D2
that must be a trick question, Da Troof. We have been reading Mike’s posts long enough to know the answer to that. Cherry-picking and demagoguery are the two legs of his arguments
This list appears to be heavily biased against small to medium sized towns, especially if they don’t border a city.
As far as the Connecticut towns listed, they seem to have benefitted from extraordinarily high median income from the “financial” category.
And while Hamden does not have the high income of the other towns, they were also highly inaccurate when describing Hamden. For example, Hamden borders New Haven in a crime infested ghetto. It is not 30 minutes away as the story states. Also, the rapid expansion of Quinnipiac University has led to students moving into formerly middle and upper middle class neighborhoods and crushing home values.
Not trying to bash CT, I just really hate when the media fails to be honest. Which means I really hate the media.
Hypocrite detector,
It sure looks like you are trying to bash Connecticut after 3 paragraphs trying to disqualify a positive evaluation.
Hypocrisy – a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, that one does not really possess.
Poor reasoning skills there Mike.
I am bashing the poll and the media.
Paragraph 1 indicates that I feel the poll is skewed against small towns.
Paragraph 2 indicates that I feel the poll heavily weights income.
Paragraph 3 is pointing out that Hamden is misrepresented in this poll.
I voluntarily live in CT. While I will bash the ignorance of our legislature and the grotesque bias of our newspapers, I have no reason to bash the State itself.
Mike – Please provide definitions for the following -
Willful ignorance
Cherry picking your data
Intentionally misreading a post
‘Spin’ as truth
Gotta love how you want us to believe that your lies trump others’ truths (or even lies for that matter).
According to The Tax Foundation mentioned above, Connecticut has lower state tax costs on business than any of its neighbors in the two major tax categories shown on the map.
http://taxfoundation.org/sites/taxfoundation.org/files/docs/location_matters_connecticut.pdf
21st for overall for mature operations
30th for newly established operations
Mike, if you’re trying to ‘spin’ 21st and 30th place into positives, it isn’t working.
Perhaps, instead of comparing CT to fellow liberal States that border ours, a more insightful study would compare us to a Conservative State like Texas, or other Conservative States where business is exploding with growth.
Better yet, why not publish a study that compares all business taxation instead of 2 categories.
For example, this one:
http://taxfoundation.org/article/2013-state-business-tax-climate-index
#40 out of 50 does not seem favorable. But I am not a statistician.
Using your link, and your suggested state of Texas, I find that Connecticut is better than Texas in
Corporate Tax Rank
Sales Tax Rank
So what? The sum total of taxes a business or individual pays is all that matters.
Was that post an actual attempt to compare CT’s tax climate favorably with that of Texas? I need to know so I can decide if you have any degree of footing in reality which would make it worthwhile to debate you on any future issues.