[Henry10]

Student/teacher ratio - TN is 15.5. CT is 13.5. Which means that CT has more teachers per 100 students.

CT is 19th lowest, TN is 39th. This is however a smaller spread than tax burden between the states for example.

[JayCT]

According to this article, Governor Malloy's new budget holds the line on Business taxes. Will be interesting to see what comes of this. Jay

Malloy holds line on business taxes; maintains tax credits, incentives | HartfordBusiness.com

[East of the River]

Originally Posted by JayCT

According to this article, Governor Malloy's new budget holds the line on Business taxes. Will be interesting to see what comes of this. Jay

Malloy holds line on business taxes; maintains tax credits, incentives | HartfordBusiness.com

Seems like a fair idea other then the sales tax. Given our neighbors are mostly higher, I think we could increase it to 6.5 or 6.75% with little impact to business but a little extra cash to pay down debt. But keeping the other business taxes in the same place is a good idea.

[Sigequinox]

Originally Posted by Henry10

CT has some of the best roads in the region. However, I toured some areas of TN a a couple of months ago, and TN roads are no worse than CT's. In some ways they seemed better kept.

I was wondering -- I am sure TN spends a lot less than CT on roads -- how do they manage?

I'll speculate -- TN gets better bang for the buck from public spending.

If this premise were true, then since CT is smarter, better educated, and healthier than TN, shouldn't CT have figured out how to be better than TN is public spending?

The smarter and better educated is such a sham. Who cares if it doesn't translate into anything meaningful for the state? We are so smart, yet can only propose 1-dimensional solutions to complex problems. We are so smart that we find ourselves collectively paralyzed by emotional warm fuzzies and can't engage in thoughtful, "big boy" issues. Yes, our chart topping IQs have elevated us to the intellectually stimulating round table discussions on "penises" and "bathrooms" and mental disorders like "gender identity dysmorphia". Bravo.

All it means to me when I hear CT is "smarter and more well educated" is that we are more "pompous, entitled and larger contributors to the student debt crisis".

I recently found out through an industry publication that directors in my field actually make MORE money TN, with mean income of ~135k vs ~120k in New England. Supply and demand. CT continues to produce way more graduates than it can dream of employing. We are essentially paying for the educational pre-requisites of OTHER states labor force. Recipes for success from our educated elite? Fix the economy stupid (talk to you Malloy).

FUDM

[East of the River]

Originally Posted by Sigequinox

The smarter and better educated is such a sham. Who cares if it doesn't translate into anything meaningful for the state? We are so smart, yet can only propose 1-dimensional solutions to complex problems. We are so smart that we find ourselves collectively paralyzed by emotional warm fuzzies and can't engage in thoughtful, "big boy" issues. Yes, our chart topping IQs have elevated us to the intellectually stimulating round table discussions on "penises" and "bathrooms" and mental disorders like "gender identity dysmorphia". Bravo.

All it means to me when I hear CT is "smarter and more well educated" is that we are more "pompous, entitled and larger contributors to the student debt crisis".

I recently found out through an industry publication that directors in my field actually make MORE money TN, with mean income of ~135k vs ~120k in New England. Supply and demand. CT continues to produce way more graduates than it can dream of employing. We are essentially paying for the educational pre-requisites of OTHER states labor force. Recipes for success from our educated elite? Fix the economy stupid (talk to you Malloy).

FUDM

Yes where you make more money depends on industry. I know a lot of engineers who have moved out of CT as the pay is similar in lower cost states for instance. You do bring up a point about graduates leaving. There are many reasons for that. But to you point making it easier for some of those graduates to set up business in this state would be a good idea. Small business regulation is a bit much in CT. They need to reduce barriers to entry.
As much as people hate to here this on the forum we also need reasonably affordable housing in areas people actually want to live. Graduates leave for more interesting places (Boston NY Seattle) yes but they also leave for lower cost places. (TN, TX, FL) CT needs to be a place where you find a balance of both if it wants to get ahead.

[ayoskillz]

Originally Posted by Sigequinox

I recently found out through an industry publication that directors in my field actually make MORE money TN, with mean income of ~135k vs ~120k in New England. Supply and demand. FUDM

Ive been said this. I moved from ct because my job feild paid 12k more in sc working only 16 days a month.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by East of the River

Yes where you make more money depends on industry. I know a lot of engineers who have moved out of CT as the pay is similar in lower cost states for instance. You do bring up a point about graduates leaving. There are many reasons for that. But to you point making it easier for some of those graduates to set up business in this state would be a good idea. Small business regulation is a bit much in CT. They need to reduce barriers to entry.
As much as people hate to here this on the forum we also need reasonably affordable housing in areas people actually want to live. Graduates leave for more interesting places (Boston NY Seattle) yes but they also leave for lower cost places. (TN, TX, FL) CT needs to be a place where you find a balance of both if it wants to get ahead.

And I know Connecticut engineers that were asked to take pay cuts when they were looking to move to lower priced areas. The kicker for one guy was that the area was hardly cheaper because for them to live in an area with schools that were comparable to where they lived, the home prices and taxes were not a lot less. They of course declined the move. Jay

[hartford_renter]

Originally Posted by JayCT

According to this article, Governor Malloy's new budget holds the line on Business taxes. Will be interesting to see what comes of this. Jay

Malloy holds line on business taxes; maintains tax credits, incentives | HartfordBusiness.com

Malloy is raising 400 Million in new taxes, how is this a good thing?

Why can't he get it into his head that what we need is spending cuts.

NOW!

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by hartford_renter

Malloy is raising 400 Million in new taxes, how is this a good thing?

Why can't he get it into his head that what we need is spending cuts.

NOW!

In case you did not notice he has been cutting spending. Jay

[East of the River]

Originally Posted by hartford_renter

Malloy is raising 400 Million in new taxes, how is this a good thing?

Why can't he get it into his head that what we need is spending cuts.

NOW!

Um the budget includes 800 million in cuts to state employee funding
236 million cut to social services
11 million cut to small hospital funding
several hundred thousand in Resident state trooper funding
17 million in cuts to higher education
1-2 million from corrections department
And several cuts to medicaid with unknown budgeting.

In general he is cutting a lot. We have so much debt and unfunded obligations that it also requires a revenue increase.