[EUPL]

Originally Posted by ctguy87

General Electric will announce tomorrow that it has selected Boston for global headquarters, according to an official familiar with the process - The Boston Globe

Thank You Malloy and his cronies.

[Mike 75]

Originally Posted by EUPL

Thank You Malloy and his cronies.

He's to blame for sure, but the morons in the legislature deserve the bulk of it. Looney and Sharkey and the rest of the Democratic leadership couldn't have done a better job driving them to Boston.

[JayCT]

Let's keep the GE discussion to the thread that is discussing it. All others will be deleted. JayCT, Moderator

[Beeker2211]

Mlassoff, there are a whole heap of rapidly expanding companies near me. Datto is prime, but Bluesky and Two Roads are making huge employment jumps. Green energy, CT is top ten nationally, and even "green financing" for companies and consumers in CT and beyond. A number of marketing firms have popped up. Private investment firms also have been making small, low key headway. Maybe not 250k/pa jobs but not really much to scoff at because the firms have been profitable.

Jay, IIRC there are arcane rules about parking from the state (but could be wrong, remembering CTpost articles about Finch suing the state), but the big thing is that if a municipality tries to get any state funding for a capital improvements always has a key portion of it. Might as well directly dictate what happens at that point.

[Mr_250]

[quote=JayCT;42612647]

Originally Posted by Mr_250

Have you forgotten that 10 story building at 100 College Street that is going to be home to Alexicon? That is a company coming out of Yale. It employs hundreds. Not sure what you expect. Also take a look at the expanding Science Park or the conversion of Bayer Labs in West Haven. The signs are there you just need to look. Jay

I think in our little world in Connecticut this seems huge but compared to other parts of the country this is really small. I know even in Iowa they are building facilities that trump this. Harvard is building city blocks worth of new technology buildings.

It's all good to say "look at new haven, they are doing so much" but in reality it's a couple buildings here and there. I know this new development with Alexian is supposed to become something bigger. Meanwhile, CT paid Alexian $51m to move from Cheshire to new haven and they in turn buy an Ireland company and expand over there.

Also, I don't understand Jackson labs and maybe others feel this way but what makes them so great? I mean I haven't heard anything they have come up with in terms of medicines. Everything i see with them in the news is that they keep a"landing" grants. Are they just a charity case? If they were more in the public eye and at least explained what they do it might make it easier to stomach.

[BobNJ1960]

A pro business government can change things, and in the NE, Massachusetts is alone in vastly improving in that regard. Once called Taxachusetts, its top personal income tax rate is >20% lower than Ct, its corp top rate < Ct's, and Ma now ranks 25th nationally in business climate, and was high 40s decades ago also.


That means though both a pro business legislature and governor.

[Mr_250]

No.

CT is doing great and always will. We don't have huge swings because we are a more stable and mature economy.

[NewJeffCT]

I remember growing up in the 1970s and hearing CT was going down the drain because all the jobs were moving to low cost/right to work states.

40 years later,CT still has the highest wages in the country and those right to work states like Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, etc all still are near the bottom in wages.

Can things be better - certainly, they can. While I'm not a big fan of Malloy, I do think upgrading the transportation infrastructure is great for the long term. Maybe if Metro North was 40-50 minutes from New Haven to Grand Central instead of 90-100 minutes or more, the issue of access to airports would have been greatly lessened? (Didn't somebody post on here several months back that Metro North's timetable is worse now than it was in the late 70s - that's crazy!)

[HumpDay]

I think people compare CT to other states too much and notice how good other states are doing. All in all, Connecticut is located in the heart of the Northeastern Market and since the Northeast is considered to be the oldest region in the country, it has been over-taxed and over-regulated for the past 150 years. Parts of rural New England aren't doing well at all because it lacks job opportunities and overall blue collar jobs that once dominated rural areas are no where near the levels they were in back in the 50's and 60's. Our tax base is not as nearly as strong as it could be because we are losing more and more residents every year. The baby boomers of the 50's are now starting to retire and move down south. People have been doing for decades but since the recession hit back in 2008, many people put retiring on hold. Since the economy has improved you are seeing more people retire. Not only retirees and leaving but you're noticing a lot of young people leave. IMO I think this generation is more interesting in living near large cities in NYC and Boston. There's not a lot of people who are interested in living in a mansion in the middle of nowhere. Even if they'd want too, a lot of young people can't afford to live here because not only are their student debts high but the taxes are MUCH higher here than 20-30 years ago. The state also expanded its social welfare system without having adequate controls to combat fraud and mismanagement. There's a lot to blame into why we are falling short. Every state has its issues but CT fails to be more competitive to states around us. If we lower taxes (which probably won't happen) and make this state more pro business...we can't turn this state around.

Though IMO I think it would be in CT's best interest to NOT be a NIMBY state...your town can't stay 1720's colonial forever....

[Wilton2ParkAve]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

A pro business government can change things, and in the NE, Massachusetts is alone in vastly improving in that regard. Once called Taxachusetts, its top personal income tax rate is >20% lower than Ct, its corp top rate < Ct's, and Ma now ranks 25th nationally in business climate, and was high 40s decades ago also.


That means though both a pro business legislature and governor.

Should we pivot to NJ which is in far more dire straights? Top income tax bracket is 47% above CT, Essex/Bergen property taxes can be 2-4x above FFC. New Jersey has the second worst job growth rate in the nation. Hertz, Pfizer/Wyeth, Merck and Roche packed up over the last few years.