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The latest projection from the Connecticut State Comptroller Natalie Braswell is that our state budget will have a surplus of $2.1 billion. Even more striking is the fact that she is projecting having almost $4.7 billion available to meet pension obligations and/or pay debt. That’s incredible. Jay
Time to start warming up the CT Warn site. The layoffs are coming with market turbulence already. Flimsy, loose Fed money policy will do that. Cards are tumbling
You live in an old mill town that is hardly representative of the entire state. I’m sure that somewhere in your beloved State of Massachusetts they still collect trash by hand father than fork lift. I know here in Connecticut many, if not most towns have switched.
Why would you hear of Avon? Were you even knowledgeable about Connecticut as kid? Most aren’t. I doubt many kids here or in any state know small towns in other state, even your beloved Massachusetts.
I disagree that local governments are weak. Why would you even thing that? They are strong within their jurisdiction. That’s it. That does not make them weak. I don’t care what you or anyone says, bigger is NEVER better. It’s clumsy and unresponsive. Theres little to no accountability. How does that serve people? It doesn’t. I’m all for Some shared services and many Connecticut towns do that. They buy goods through a cooperative. They share services like animal control, emergency communication and health department services. We even have regional school districts gor d as mallee towns but those have been established by local decree, not state mandate. That is much better than forcing sad one thing that may not be appropriate for every community.
I have also heard the predictions of the demise of our country’s military industry for decades now. It hasn’t happened and won’t happen as long as you have countries like Russia attacking innocent democracies like Ukraine. If anything i see our country investing even more in our military and Connecticut will continue to be at the forefront of serving it.
I also we oulfnybe do certain s as bout the demise of workers attached to a central office. Before the pandemic several high tech firms were limiting or even eliminating the option because it failed to promote team building and commitment to a common goal. That certainly could happen again and more likely will. Jay
Because local towns are weak because they failed to organize and accommodate for more people. You cannot have it both ways.
Your Arguments for Connecticut being Diversified ignores a factor that diversity is spread across the whole state and not individual communities you're making the same mistake at Mass did about 50 years ago. They were many communities that would specialize in one thing. For example Quincy had the shipyard, Pittsfield had General Electric, Holyoke had paper, Springfield at the Armory, Totten had Silver, Fall River in New Bedford had whale oil and then fishing. These were all areas that highly developed economies based on one industry. They were considering themselves nearly separate with a strong mentality that only things mattered within their local area like the thoughts that you seem to promote constantly. So when these industries declined it's not as if you could grab somebody that worked at GE and have them teach at a community college in New Bedford.
Most people do not live within the concept of the entire State they live in an individual city or town. Many Industries work on the basis of volume and not margin. Supermarkets for example need to have a certain number of customers in order to justify operations because their margins are so thin.
So while you can make the argument for GDP the fact of the matter is that most businesses and people aren't see the end results of that. When the defense Contracting make jet engines that go on planes that cost tens of millions of dollars that does not translate into spin-off Industries.
I don't think you can make the argument that a small town is accountable for anything given the lack of local media. If something happens in a town what exactly is the incentive if there's hardly any paid positions and there's so many volunteers? So you have a low population which means that you're going to perhaps mhec which is based out of Massachusetts anyway and under Massachusetts law and then you might have some Regional Police and Regional fire and your water and sewer is legally separate so I have to ask if you got a small town government what *exactly* is it doing?
Lower populations ultimately lead to shared services or regionalization of services because the cost of goods in the economy of scale becomes easier in larger groups. For example if I were to go to a large flea market I'm going to go to the Brimfield fair because it's the biggest in New England. If I want to go to Affair I'm going to go to the Big E because it's the biggest in New England. It's perfectly fine to have things being rule as long as there's some manageable accountability. There's much more of a nonprofit sector in Massachusetts than Connecticut. You also have to pick Falls in that you just don't have that much in the way of say homeless shelters in public housing authorities so if somebody does fall on hard Economic Times They pretty much have to leave Connecticut. And I'm not arguing that you need to put some massive complexes next to a mansion in Fairfield County but ultimately this is what some on the left are trying to articulate.
People don't want to technically leave Connecticut but you just don't have things to help people out should hard times happen.
Because local towns are weak because they failed to organize and accommodate for more people. You cannot have it both ways.
Your Arguments for Connecticut being Diversified ignores a factor that diversity is spread across the whole state and not individual communities you're making the same mistake at Mass did about 50 years ago. They were many communities that would specialize in one thing. For example Quincy had the shipyard, Pittsfield had General Electric, Holyoke had paper, Springfield at the Armory, Totten had Silver, Fall River in New Bedford had whale oil and then fishing. These were all areas that highly developed economies based on one industry. They were considering themselves nearly separate with a strong mentality that only things mattered within their local area like the thoughts that you seem to promote constantly. So when these industries declined it's not as if you could grab somebody that worked at GE and have them teach at a community college in New Bedford.
Most people do not live within the concept of the entire State they live in an individual city or town. Many Industries work on the basis of volume and not margin. Supermarkets for example need to have a certain number of customers in order to justify operations because their margins are so thin.
So while you can make the argument for GDP the fact of the matter is that most businesses and people aren't see the end results of that. When the defense Contracting make jet engines that go on planes that cost tens of millions of dollars that does not translate into spin-off Industries.
I don't think you can make the argument that a small town is accountable for anything given the lack of local media. If something happens in a town what exactly is the incentive if there's hardly any paid positions and there's so many volunteers? So you have a low population which means that you're going to perhaps mhec which is based out of Massachusetts anyway and under Massachusetts law and then you might have some Regional Police and Regional fire and your water and sewer is legally separate so I have to ask if you got a small town government what *exactly* is it doing?
Lower populations ultimately lead to shared services or regionalization of services because the cost of goods in the economy of scale becomes easier in larger groups. For example if I were to go to a large flea market I'm going to go to the Brimfield fair because it's the biggest in New England. If I want to go to Affair I'm going to go to the Big E because it's the biggest in New England. It's perfectly fine to have things being rule as long as there's some manageable accountability. There's much more of a nonprofit sector in Massachusetts than Connecticut. You also have to pick Falls in that you just don't have that much in the way of say homeless shelters in public housing authorities so if somebody does fall on hard Economic Times They pretty much have to leave Connecticut. And I'm not arguing that you need to put some massive complexes next to a mansion in Fairfield County but ultimately this is what some on the left are trying to articulate.
People don't want to technically leave Connecticut but you just don't have things to help people out should hard times happen.
Once again, you are wrong. First local governments are not weak. You keep saying this but with little proof to support that.
You also seem to not understand how local economies were formed or why they did not grow beyond their community. Usually a local resident started a small company that grew to be that towns main business. It’s not a choice really so how can you discredit it? And even worse, how can you admonish just Connecticut and Massachusetts for this? It’s pretty the same story in thousands of towns across the country.
Also I’m not sure what makes you think that Massachusetts has “much more” of a non profit sector than Connecticut. I’d have to see proof of that claim. Massachusetts is bigger than Connecticut but relative to size I doubt there’s any difference.
Also you don’t seem to be aware of the thousands of subcontractors that Pratt & Whitney and Electric Boat use to build their engines abs submarines. Those businesses employ thousands in our state. They add to our GDP, tax base and economy. Not sure why you don’t know that.
You also really need to get over your Massachusetts superiority complex already and realized there is much more beyond the Bay State. The Big E and Brimfield are great but not everyone goes to them, nor wants to. I haven’t been to either in years. They are overcrowded and difficult to get to. There are many great local fairs that are as fun, if not more enjoyable because you aren’t fighting traffic and parking or paying a high price to attend.
I love the smaller local fairs because they are just that, small and local. The food is better. The booths are more interesting because you can actually chat with the owner and the rides are more fun because you aren’t waiting an hour to get on them. I strongly suggest you try some of these. You are missing something special. Try the Berlin Fair, the Durham Fair, the Glastonbury Apple Fest, the Wapping Fair, or any of the dozens of fairs that we have here. They’re wonderful. Jay
Right but you keep on moving these goal post. I drive around the state and I see CVS which is not based in Connecticut I see Stop and Shop and Big Y again not based in Connecticut. I don't see a whole lot of Connecticut based businesses expanding significantly. Your defense contractors that you named are both owned by out-of-state entities. You can't have it both ways you can't say that you've got all these businesses here when they're actually from out of state and simply bought companies here.
That's for nonprofits there's actually more in Providence than there is in Hartford here's a list of major Metro areas with a number of nonprofits and nonprofits per capita..
I am not sure I am following this. I thought the argument was local, i.e. town control vs "regional" or state control. And ofc we cannot draw on a blanket. It is case by case.
Right but you keep on moving these goal post. I drive around the state and I see CVS which is not based in Connecticut I see Stop and Shop and Big Y again not based in Connecticut. I don't see a whole lot of Connecticut based businesses expanding significantly. Your defense contractors that you named are both owned by out-of-state entities. You can't have it both ways you can't say that you've got all these businesses here when they're actually from out of state and simply bought companies here.
That's for nonprofits there's actually more in Providence than there is in Hartford here's a list of major Metro areas with a number of nonprofits and nonprofits per capita..
What does it matter where the headquarters are located for these businesses. I’m sure your Massachusetts has as many stores and factories owned by out of state companies as Connecticut does. It’s very common and has been for decades if not longer. Also many companies headquartered here have facilities in other states. I fail to see the point.
Providence is the one major city in Rhode Island. It’s the only one with over 100,000 people in it. Connecticut has five (Bridgeport, Stamford, New Haven, Hartford and Waterbury) so of course there are less nonprofits based in Hartford. They are spread out in other cities. As usual I fail to see the point you are trying to make. Jay
Right but you keep on moving these goal post. I drive around the state and I see CVS which is not based in Connecticut I see Stop and Shop and Big Y again not based in Connecticut. I don't see a whole lot of Connecticut based businesses expanding significantly. Your defense contractors that you named are both owned by out-of-state entities. You can't have it both ways you can't say that you've got all these businesses here when they're actually from out of state and simply bought companies here.
That's for nonprofits there's actually more in Providence than there is in Hartford here's a list of major Metro areas with a number of nonprofits and nonprofits per capita..
Plenty CT businesses expand beyondvthe state. Subway is the second largest restaurant by locations, many of which are not in CT. ESPN has greatly expanded their operations in NYC and other non CT cities. Looking forva place to park out of CT? Try one of the many Laz lots. Ethan Allen stores all over too
Last edited by Johnho771; 05-12-2022 at 08:05 PM..
Reason: Addition
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Jay
