Brother Can You Spare Me $16.35? -Connecticut's Yet Even Higher Minimum Wage

Can you spare me $16.35? If you are one of the individuals who are working in Connecticut and receiving minimum wage, you received an hourly wage increase from $15.69 to $16.35 on January 1, 2025. This is an increase of sixty-six cents per hour or an increase of roughly 4%. I am sure that if you receive such an increase, you will not feel any more financially empowered than you did at the moment before you received it, but please have no concerns as the people making this law change hold you in the same minimal regard as they did before the increase was signed into law.

Currently the state's minimum wage is the fifth highest in the country. In addition, Connecticut's cost of living is one of the highest in the country, and it is fast coming to the point where even long-time state-aggrandizing publications and organizations can no longer hide the wretched economic damage taking place. With respect to the minimum wage, the state wage ratings are found in a recent report issued by the state- CBIA (https://www.cbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/EAP_CBIA-Foundation_0824.pdf) This very same report ranked Connecticut as the ninth highest cost of living state in the country. This very same report also stated that Connecticut is ranked 47th as one of the worst states in the country in the Business Tax Climate analysis. But let’s not stop there! A fail-safe indicator of positive economic activity is moving van rentals! Here, Connecticut does not disappoint as one of the leading move-out states in another report from the state-supportive Hartford Business Journal. https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/ct-remains-in-bottom-10-of-u-haul-growth-index-in-2024?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Developer%20to%20buy%20downtown%20Waterbury%20building%20for%20apt%20%20conversion%20%7C%20Hospital%20fined%20%24153K%20for%20terminating%20labor%2C%20delivery%20services&utm_campaign=HBJ%20Today%20010225. Suffice it to say that when even the most loyal business bulwarks can no longer hide the effects of excessive state mandated regulations, public sector inefficiency, high taxes, and a needlessly difficult state tax system, it’s evident that the Kingdom of His Royal Con Man, King Ned Lamont The Unaccountable, is deeply in trouble.

But let us return to that poor wage worker we spoke about earlier. Can one live on a minimum wage job of 40 hours a week at $16.35 an hour? How could they, given Connecticut’s excessively high taxes, excessively high housing/rent prices, excessively high electric rates, excessively high transportation/driving costs and excessively high food costs made even higher by patently idiotic energy policies? Your minimum wage job paying the royal sum of net $654 will not go far in the state. Could there possibly be a direct correlation between high state minimum wages and high costs of living? Regardless of the pandering of Connecticut Demo-Communist state legislators who prattle on about higher minimum wages resulting in greater economic prosperity, it never dawns on these taxpayer-dependent souls that those paying these high minimum wages and the consumers who purchase products, goods and or services from these unduly burdened businesses are now forced to pay higher prices across the board.  

And it is a cycle without end. Since economically failing states like Connecticut do their best to nurture a permanently dependent underclass, these businesses must continue to pay even higher wages for decent workers since states like Connecticut place a greater premium on those who are economically nonproductive but politically valuable to ensure political power. But if a Connecticut business is silly enough to continue in operation, it must increase costs to survive since it is in business to make a profit, contrary to what the Connecticut Democrat Party may think. And the workers who the Demo-Communist legislators claim to benefit from the minimum wage increase are now seeing their job options becoming more limited as struggling businesses are turning to robotics, artificial intelligence, and self-service cashiers to help save money. Or, the goods and intellectual capital of productive and valuable business people are in transport in one of those coveted moving vans headed out of state. The real world understands that money is always finite and must be earned and regenerated. And what dumb politicians often fail to realize is that the most powerful voting landslides are made by one's feet. So, if you are a lower-wage worker now confronted with job loss, please do not hesitate to thank Connecticut Demo-Communist legislators who destroyed the economy while claiming to save it.

However, if you are a purposed state Democrat and you want to come full circle in destroying the state economy, why stop with just forced wage increases? Because by now, you have learned the value of handing out “free money” in exchange for instilling fear and defeat and exerting Communistic control upon the masses. The Covid-19 pandemic was a new Gold Standard in “re-imagining” the role of government fostering non productivity by the draconian shutting down of the economy. Businesses collapsed and jobs were forever lost. During this time, many workers decided it was more economically advantageous to stay home and receive handouts from the government rather than go back to work, while an extremely valuable older generation of workers decided that they had enough of the bureaucracy upon the businesses and government decrees and either retired or rented one of the moving vans spoken of earlier to head out of state. Regrettably, the painful reality of what is wrong with the Connecticut economy is simply and brutally evident for those who are willing to see.

In closing, Connecticut should be doing everything it can to make it easier for businesses to operate in the state in 2025. instead, this new legislative session that is upon us will be the same festival of twisted and delusional rhetoric that has been heard for decades.  We will see the usual statements that higher taxes, more regulations, more state run redundancy, more program spending, higher wages and benefits for state taxpayer funded union employees, weak GOP push back, and more failed economic promises will all work to keep Connecticut at the bottom of all economic categories while keeping it at one of the highest taxed states in the country.  Moreover, always be sure to thank your Demo-Communist legislature when you check out at a local fast-food restaurant and your eyes explode at the price of the meal. And please send your state representative a thank you card after waiting in an excessively long store line waiting for a self-service kiosk to open since no more cashiers work in the grocery store anymore. Or send these dear elected official a Christmas card after you spend three hours on the phone to get a plumber to come to your house to fix a water leak. Our economy should be flourishing and vibrant for all people of any color and creed, and not just the ruling self-interested political elite who continue their destruction of both businesses and their workers in their Brave New Failed Democrat Economy they have built for decades. 

Removal of the dysfunctional, redundant, and inept characters that have played an economically poisonous game of musical chairs must quickly happen in Connecticut. The future of the state depends upon it.

The Debtor Is The Slave To The Creditor, and The Creditor Is The Master Of The Debtor

 Debt is defined as the state of owing money. Debt for many has become a lifestyle. Although there are times in human life where incurring debt may be necessary, vast amounts of personal debt are incurred as the result of bad choices or purchases based on desire and not critical need. The Holy Scriptures tell us that debtors are slaves to their creditors and the creditor becomes the master of the debtor. And this is a terrible situation to be in.

If you do not believe that, just ask any debtor.

The American citizen understands there are several types of debt in our economy. We have consumer debt which can be broken down into various categories such mortgage debt, auto loan debt, credit card debt, higher education loan debt and personal loan and credit line debt. The figures for these types of debts astonish many. Here are some for you to ponder from the third quarter, 2024 (https://www.fool.com/money/research/average-household-debt/?referring_guid=9589b076-6540-4e22-a38f-3645b0110312&utm_campaign=article&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=nasdaq)

Total American Household debt is $17.943 trillion dollars.

Total American Credit Card debt is $1.166 trillion dollars.

Total American Mortgage debt is $12.594 trillion dollars.

Total American Auto Loan debt is $1.644 trillion dollars.

Total American Student Loan debt is $1.606 trillion dollars.

Household debt based as a percentage of disposable income as a debt payment-to-income ratio, from the second quarter of 2024, is 11.5%. Or in other words 11.5 cents of each dollar of disposable income goes to service debt. The other 88.5 cents of each dollar you clear is what you would have to pay all your other expenses.

One may think that a government, with all its collective wisdom, would be able to fund its operations without debt. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. Government at all levels, be it local, state, or national, is massively in debt. The Federal National Debt is $36.2 trillion dollars and rising. For 2024, the Federal Government will spend a mere $892 billion dollars to finance its National Debt. State governments such as Connecticut have $150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt and unfunded liabilities that are never tackled or confronted by the superficial, feel-good “bi-partisan” political Uniparty, and this happens elsewhere, as well. If one were to add the total state debt of all fifty states, you are looking at $1.7 to $2 trillion dollars in debt depending on published figures and unfunded liabilities. Municipal Debt, which is funded by municipal bonds, is roughly $4 trillion dollars. (https://www.usdebtclock.org/)

If one were to add up Total American Household and Government Debt it is approximately $58 trillion dollars in total. Is there any plan to pay off the Government debt at all levels, local, state, and national? Not to my knowledge. In fact, the opposite is true. U.S. Senator Ron Paul released his annual “Festivus” report describing the horrific if not obscene wastes in left-inspired government spending. (https://san.com/media-miss/rand-pauls-annual-festivus-report-highlights-1-trillion-in-government-spending/) The Connecticut of King Governor Ned Lamont The Unaccountable pays no attention to fiscal wreckage and pilfering by state university officials and aides while anti-business capitol city Hartford is watching its tallest office building fall into foreclosure on the way to capitulating into subsidized low-income housing. (https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/hartfords-tallest-office-tower-faces-loan-delinquency)

  The iconic Chrysler Building in midtown Manhattan New York, one of the most historically desirable business locations in days gone by, is facing foreclosure in a rotting and violent New York City (https://www.curbed.com/article/aby-rosens-chrysler-building-saga-a-timeline.html).  Obviously some states and municipalities are in much better shape financially than others especially Democrat led and poorly governed states like Connecticut and New York where commercial taxpaying businesses leave so as not to continue to fund policies of woke nonsense, DEI programs, unchecked illegal immigration, high crime, and higher and higher taxes paid to the inept and illogical Blue State governments burning cash more quickly than their infrastructures and economies are deteriorating.  

But in review of this sordid and sick situation, one has to conclude that if debtors are slaves to creditors, Blue State Democrat politicians love to increase debt and redundancy while increasing the enslavement of citizens by tossing them fictional “bones” and freebies that the fewer remaining legitimate and taxpaying citizens must bear the burdens of paying via increased taxes and fees. The worst examples of this reckless and unregulated spending are in education and medicine, where the philosophy has been that more spending, redundant administration, and taxes will continually solve problems when all of this drives costs and debts to astronomical levels that are impossible for debtors to ever pay. However, in Connecticut and other Blue States, your Democrat politician such as The Unaccountable and his henchmen will create “medical debt forgiveness” causing such egregious debt to magically disappear overnight with a legally questionable program. In Connecticut, it is reported that 23,000 residents (citizenship optional) with have $30 million debt in debt wiped out! My good friend and colleague Tony De Angelo sharply questioned the legality of this program in detail which is apparently run by "Undue Medical Debt"  on his weekly segment on the Lee Elci show 94.9 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgdFNln9OI4) , (https://www.UndueMedicalDebt.org) , this being a strange charitable organization which has been by billionaires for bulbous contributions that can be channeled per its own website to various locales for the ostensible buying of votes and political influence.  This "loan forgiveness" program has several legal questions that need to be answered clearly and transparently for Taxpayers, but we know it will not be. Because, the Democrat Master is calling the shots! (You see? The Master increased your debt. The Master is now coming to relieve your debt with his signature on the debt forgiveness letter! To show your appreciation, always vote for The Master as he creates more bulbous debts to charitably relieve for others. Be advised, The Master, has spoken.).

Contrary to what our elected officials tell us, and credit companies tell us our current collective level of debt is not sustainable. It will be quite painful to see what economic damages consumers and governments will be dealing with in 2025, especially with the amount of interest that will be paid to finance $58 trillion dollars in debt. Where does this money come from? Just more and higher taxes on a government level? On a personal level the elimination of one meal a day and or homelessness or broken families or foreclosure? Perhaps our economy, especially our government, could learn to do much more with less and pay down this sickening economic albatross that strangles our economic system for generations to come.  Then again maybe they could care less about it since political power means economic power in our not so brave new world as more slaves are created for their avaricious and corrupt masters.

Happy New Year.

Why Taxpayers Have Stopped Believing In The Government

 Why have Taxpayers stopped believing in what the federal government says? There are many reasons including the years of economic and social misery of the Biden Administration foisted upon the public. Perhaps such mistrust is rooted in a 1,547-page United States “stop gap” budget bill that was to keep the country operating until March 2025. Included in that unread bill was all sorts of "pork"-related funding that would help to keep our National Debt at over $36.2 trillion dollars and growing by the second or a mere $271,790 owed per American Taxpayer. But ignorant taxpayer who are you? You are not supposed to question line items in that bill such as "essential" "funding of $8 billion for a new football stadium in Washington, D.C., $50 million to be spent annually for an extended drinking water program, five years' worth of funding for a healthcare education program, a re-authorization of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, the manufacture of more dangerous and exploding electric buses for the continued satisfaction of Kamala Harris, and a future pay raise for members of Congress" (https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_f86669c0-bd72-11ef-8ec1-6b8ff665afb6.html). You are also not to question "a one-year extension of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which funded an advertisers’ “blacklist” of The New York Post and other outlets to purportedly crack down on “misinformation.”(https://nypost.com/2024/12/18/us-news/musk-and-ramaswamy-press-house-gop-to-kill-federal-funding-bill-ever-seen-a-bigger-piece-of-pork/).

I am curious if any of the United States Representatives in Connecticut bothered to read any part of this 1,547-page bill loaded with payouts and payoffs? Of course not, and Taxpayers know it does not work this way. As just one horrific example of the putrid state of government, we watched an embarrassing and unhinged Connecticut United States Representative Democrat/Socialist Rosa DeLauro storm to the speaker’s podium on December 19 and rant the following: “Yesterday a multi-billionaire, with apparently no working knowledge of government or of appropriations — a self-appointed president of the United States, Elon Musk — issued a marching order for House Republicans to go against their own elected leadership and shut down the government,” (https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/12/19/congress/government-shutdown-house-vote-00195479). It is ironic that DeLauro, whose net worth is well over $20 million dollars, is jealous of Elon Musk's wealth given that in her 34-plus years in Congress she has done little actually "representing" the people of her district. It is ironic that one who has made her living being bought by the whims of monied people was now shrieking about a monied person espousing a contrary view to her own. One could not help but laugh at her speech, purple hair, and statements this week on the floor of Congress that were carried to millions on “X”. This is an excellent example of why Taxpayers stopped believing what their government says. In fact, if I were writing a dictionary of terms, I would not attempt to define “mistrust of government”, but rather would just insert a video of this horrific and embarrassing spectacle in its place. It really was that wretched of a performance, shameful even for the State of Connecticut.

Why have Taxpayers stopped believing what their state government says especially in such Democrat led states like Connecticut? There are many reasons. King Governor Ned Lamont The Unaccountable has been the beneficiary of a masterwork in the utilization of millions of state tax dollars to craft stories obfuscating any mention of his continual pattern of leveraging state resources and funding for the benefit of his wife's hedge fund Oak HC/FT through numerous, questionable deals, no bid contracts, and specious transactions. [I have written numerous times about the Lamont associated companies relating to the Covid-19 crisis include "Thermo Fisher Scientific", "Sema 4", " Core Infomatics", "Ocrulus", "Urjanet", "1life Healthcare", "Galileo Health", "Castlight Health", "Paladina Health", and "VillageMD" to name some that have found a way to deal with state-connected entities). But the state is also a great business bank to the Lamont family as well. My good friend and colleague Tony De Angelo first broke the real facts of the $15,000,000, 2% (two percent) “disappearing sweetheart” Connecticut loan to Lamont-family connected Sema-4 using state investments with no collateral or guarantee of repayment on his weekly segment on the Lee Elci radio program 94.9FM, along with the $5 million dollars directed to Lamont family-connected Digital Currency Group to (in theory) "move" 300 jobs to Stamford, CT. But if you did nothing other than watch local state-run media, you would be told that The Unaccountable is the economic, health and well-being, and governance Champion of the state. You will be told that The Unaccountable is "the most popular governor in the country", "saved us all from dying of Covid" and "single-handedly engineered the "Connecticut Comeback". You will never be told that The Unaccountable’s wife’s partnership holds multi-million-dollar capital investments in the Cayman Islands (or more accurately, the secret, tax-free haven, anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage Cayman Islands). But why do you need to know that? Its contrary to the narrative about The Unaccountable. The narrative costs millions of dollars to prop up by means of fictional stories. You are sinful and a conspiracy theorist if you do not believe it! This is why citizens who are the least bit sane have absolutely no trust in the Connecticut government anymore. (Why should they?)

However, the parade of Connecticut mistrust is long and wide. Decent mortgage and taxpaying homeowners battle with un-elected imperious bureaucrats and inane and delusional legislators pressuring local towns and cities to cede control of local zoning laws for the sake of "affordable" housing and "public" transportation, all for the sake of “the public good”. Or, how about the Connecticut comptroller's college system audit reveals 'systematic' misuse of state funds where the perpetrators are encouraged to stay on the job rather than be prosecuted? Democrat Comptroller Sean Scanlon wanders in water over his head with the problems that have been exposed with this audit. However, he gladly follows the Connecticut Democrat Party narrative of expressing surprise at the corruption and vows to address it even though the problems have been known for many months. But let's not stop there. How about the highest electric rates in the country thanks to an incoherent Democrat "green" energy manifesto? Connecticut still has $150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt and unfunded liabilities. It is a bottom feeder state with high taxes, poor infrastructure, horrible reputation, economically incoherent state union labor agreements, legislative Communist aspirants in-training, high crime, theft and murders, rampant illegal drug trafficking, state-enabled drug abuse, and a lack of any ethics or accountability from its Governor's office. But turn to state-run television and print media! You will be reassured that never happens in Connecticut and the Lamont cash trough is the blueprint for all Democrat elected officials. And you will never hear one word of any of these mentioned. Its just more in a myriad of reasons that Connecticut taxpayers cannot and do not trust their government anymore. (How could they?) 

Why have Taxpayers stopped believing what their local government says especially in Democrat led cities such as Bridgeport, Connecticut? There are many reasons. Take Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim as one. After being convicted of racketeering, extortion, and other crimes and serving prison time, Marse Joe gets elected back into office. He spent seven years in prison beginning in 2003 before he was voted back as Mayor of Bridgeport in 2015. His current legacy is the total corruption of the election process following the findings of voter and ballot fraud by loyal Democrat official Wanda Geter-Pataky on several occasions in at least several elections. In real terms your vote really does not count in Bridgeport nor can a functional two-party system exist in the city given the corruption of elections. Nor do they care. The establishment of Bridgeport, CT will see to that. This is why the citizens of Bridgeport do not trust their government anymore. (Why should they?)

So why have Taxpayers stopped believing what their government says? They have stopped for many reasons, and many more than I have mentioned above. We as Taxpayers are tired of the incoherent gibberish that we are force fed daily by the state-run media and our supposedly "elected" officials along with their elitist non-elected political appointees. They lie to us, wanting us to somehow transcend and transform their lies as truths and know truths to be lies. And their experiment has failed miserably for years as your state tax dollars go to continually prop us this farcical Uniparty of media and government. Taxpayer, once again, be damned.

The Attorney General. An Advocate For The People. (But, For Which People?)

 Willam Tong (commonly known as “Bill Tong” before he assumed office in 2019), is the Attorney General of the State of Connecticut.

Many people often inquire about the role of the Attorney General, and in this connection, State of Connecticut manuals provide a clear description of his role.

 “The Attorney General is the chief civil legal officer of the State of Connecticut. The Attorney General's Office (“AGO”) serves as legal counsel to all state agencies and acts to protect the public interest for the people of the State of Connecticut. Among the critical missions of the AGO are to represent and advocate the interests of the state and its citizens as vigorously as possible, to ensure that state government acts within the letter and spirit of the law, to ensure that public resources are protected for present and future generations, to ensure that the quality of life of all our citizens is preserved and enhanced, and to ensure that the rights of our most vulnerable citizens are safeguarded.

The Attorney General represents the state government, its elected officers, and state boards, commissions, and agencies in suits and other civil proceedings in which the state has an interest. The Attorney General also provides opinions to the agencies of state government, state officers, and the General Assembly upon questions of law submitted to him by such parties. The Attorney General also acts as counsel for state officials in matters pertaining to their official duties. The Attorney General has a role in screening regulations of state agencies, state contracts, and extradition papers.

By virtue of this statutory responsibility to provide legal direction to state government, the Attorney General is in a critical position to advise all segments of the government so that they can carry out their responsibilities in accordance with the law.

In addition, the Attorney General possesses extensive statutory powers that enable him to represent the public interest more generally.

The Attorney General is elected by the people to a term of four years, is committed by law to serving full-time, and must be an attorney-at-law who has been admitted to practice in Connecticut for at least ten years. The Attorney General receives an annual salary of $110,000."

(https://portal.ct.gov/sots/register-manual/section-i/attorneys-general)

However, like the Ford Motor Company said in advertisements of days long past, William Tong “Has a Better Idea” as to what the Attorney General’s role should be. At a December 5, 2024 anti-Donald Trump meeting at the Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services ("IRIS") meeting in New Haven, CT, William Tong tossed out the policy manual of the State of Connecticut and provided the following statements regarding his official function when it comes to defending the priority of rights of illegal aliens:

"But look, America runs on Dunkin and undocumented workers," said AG Tong. "And we need to remind everybody, okay, they're coming. Right? And one of the ways we can stop them as best we can is to speak out... and to remind everybody if you like strawberries and avocados, or hamburgers, right? Then, likely those strawberries, avocados and hamburger meat likely was packed not just by immigrant workers, but undocumented immigrant workers."

"Fifty percent. Fully half of farm workers and meat packing workers in this country are undocumented," continued AG Tong. "If you won't eat anything touched by an immigrant or undocumented workers' hand, you'll be pretty hungry." (https://connecticutcentinal.com/ct-ag-tong-says-america-runs-on-dunkin-and-undocumented-immigrants-claims-ct-would-be-toast-without-illegals-at-eye-opening-iris-event/).

Now to be fair, William Tong was joined at this meeting by several other like-minded officials such as Dr. Madeline Negron, Superintendent of New Haven Public Schools, Mayor Justin Elicker, and Chief of Police Kurt Jacobsen all promoting a sense of wariness, false hope, and comfort to those within the city illegally. But of particular interest is the Attorney General who tosses off a “fifty percent” of farm workers figure for justifying his support for lawbreaking. I wonder where he got the fifty percent figure? It is published somewhere that the Connecticut and American Taxpayers can read about it? Does this figure include also food produced and harvested in Connecticut? Does this publicly-funded employee or his family have financial interests in Dunkin Donuts? My good friend Tony De Angelo also discussed this meeting at length this past Tuesday 12/9 on the Lee Elci Show (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2k-3zjT34Y) and on the 12/11 THIRTY WITH TONY video show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUaEO7ZKTw0&ab_channel=TonyDeAngelo%27sP.M.CoasttoCoast

In Tony’s segments, he asks the following question (in paraphrase): “I thought the job of the Attorney General was to protect tax compliant dopes like me from people operating illegally, paying no taxes, and abusing their workers.” And good question, indeed. Many are wondering how does this "defense" of illegal immigrants fit into the legality of Tong’s office according to his job description?  Doesn't Attorney General Tong have more pressing problems in the state? But his attacks echo the spirit of a liberal activist Democrat Attorney General who somehow creates new law expositions and evaluations that will coincide with the twisted and wretched Democrat Party narrative. 

Another such episode can be seen in Tong's absurd and inane lawsuit  where in 2020, he filed a lawsuit against Exxon/Mobil alleging that "ExxonMobil has orchestrated an ongoing, systematic campaign of lies and deception” to hide from the public that burning fossil fuels contributes to climate change. (https://www.manifest.co.uk/exxonmobil-to-go-to-court-over-climate-deception-lawsuit/). From that same article he also stated: ExxonMobil “knew decades ago that the release of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, when fossil fuels are combusted, was a substantial factor in causing global warming.” Tong claimed ExxonMobil knew as early as the 1950s and 1960s that the company’s activities were contributing to climate change and said by the early 1980s it was able to predict “the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the corresponding temperature increase for the year 2020”.

I am curious that Attorney General Tong knew that much about "global warming" before he was born and where his facts came from? But tossing unsupported statistics is how he rolls, much like many of his state peers. He is merely following the blueprint as to how to financially shake down a company for political purposes (just like Senator Blumenthal did for almost 20 years as Attorney General). I wonder what would happen if Exxon/Mobil agreed to close their over 40 gas/diesel stations in Connecticut to settle this malicious suit?  What would the economic impact to the state in lost taxes, jobs and the like be? Could people shop for groceries, go to medical appointments, and go to school and to work to pay exorbitant Connecticut taxes without using these evil fossil fuels? And why does Attorney General Tong since his birth continue to use these evil fossil fuels?  But of course, there is zero-accountability in Connecticut where its not about what is compliant and coherent, but rather it is about what is convenient and confused at this moment in order to establish an Alinsky-esque twisted political goal.

But wait! There's More! Another critical issue that Connecticut Taxpayers will be funding thanks to Attorney General Tong is an "abortion hotline". This was created with no public consent by the State legislature with the Reproductive Equity Now Foundation. "Connecticut has seen firsthand what happens when we mobilize and organize at the state level: electing pro-choice majorities in the State House and State Senate, passing laws that expand access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care, and most recently, implementing the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act, one of the first shield laws successfully passed post-Dobbs to protect providers and those seeking care in Connecticut. Reproductive Equity Now is excited to expand the capacity of advocates in Connecticut and build a regional powerhouse for abortion access. We strongly believe that Connecticut is key to making New England a regional block for abortion access. With protection for providers on the books, in addition to digital privacy laws to protect the location and information of people accessing care in the state, Connecticut is a place where people can feel safe and protected when traveling to access compassionate care. But there is still work to do to break down barriers to reproductive health care, especially for Black, brown, LGBTQ+, and young people. We’re growing our team and we’re expanding our capacity to think even bigger and bolder when it comes to passing reproductive equity legislation in the state. (https://reproequitynow.org/connecticut)

If you read this organizations legislative agenda, it falls into line with what the liberal Connecticut Democrat Party agenda on abortion on demand, health care for immigrants through the "Husky 4 Immigrants Coalition and more. (https://reproequitynow.org/connecticut-legislative-agenda)

In review of the three stated crusades above, the operative question then becomes: who does Connecticut's Democrat Attorney General William Tong really represent and work for? Illegals? Tax cheating businesses? Irrational Green New Deal idealogues? Pro-abortion advocates wanting innocent taxpayers to consistently pay for their bad choices? In review of the above, William Tong certainly does not represent the legal Connecticut Citizens and Taxpayers who are forced to foot the bill for his liberal, self-driven, narrow-minded and twisted political agenda. He threw away the mission statement in his approach to the OAG. He seems to a big part of the Omnipotent One-Party Connecticut Democrat Party rule which is vital to propping up the last gasps of socialism that have made Connecticut an economic failure and disaster over the past thirty years. Connecticut's Democrat Attorney General William Tong is yet another extreme failure in his misguided gibberish that defines a political manifesto that does not work or is wanted any more. Once again, honest, compliant, and taxpaying citizen, be damned.

Lying. The Life Blood of The Biden Family And Other Democrats.

Joe Biden is a pathetic and criminal President in the opinion of many Americans. He is an insult to the American Taxpayer. The United States Taxpayer has seen the President and his son deceive the country through chronic lies. Lies that summarize and are the context of Joe Biden's political career. Lies dating all the way back to 1965 at the Syracuse law School. Lies when he plagiarized campaign speeches by British politician Neil Kinnock, Robert, and John F. Kennedy during the time when he was running for President in 1987. And now, Joe Biden lies one more time to save himself and his son Hunter by pardoning him for all his crimes since 2014, even though he said he wasn't going to do that. One can argue that the numerous times that Biden denied he was going to pardon his son was just the usual gibberish spewing from the President's deranged mouth. More and greater lies as has been the currency of the life and times of Joe Biden.

How much money did the President's family earn from the Hunter shakedowns and the selling of Joe Biden's political influence during this ten-year time frame of the pardon? And how do we as American Taxpayers feel about the total disregard for the rule of law shown by this Democrat President and his party? The rule of law obviously does not apply to the President, his family, and/or the Democrat Party. They are allowed to sell out of our country for their personal gain. The rule of law obviously does not apply to the testimonies of the brave IRS whistleblowers who called out the family for their egregious illegal actions. Everything somehow did not exist, the laptop, the Russian hoax cover-up, the “big guy,” the gun, the drugs, Bobulinski, Jimmy Biden, Valerie Biden, the tax evasion. All gone in a second with the Big Daddy pardon of all time. And while this was happening, we saw the daily torture and suffering that President Trump was put through via false and incoherent legal challenges that were made up by Democrat hit men who we made to believe were unbiased Attorney Generals and humble public servants that were far above reproach or criticism if any one of us had questioned their specious actions.

Americans have just spent the past four years listening in disbelief as the Department of Justice, the FBI, the IRS, and other governmental agencies all lied and covered up for Joe and Hunter Biden crimes. Americans clearly see a two-tier justice system and a justice system that really does not work for the common man, but only for the political elite. And don't forget the state-run media who has done an incredible job along with the Democrat Party propping up the failed Biden- Harris Administration along with the Biden crime family. It has been truly amazing to watch. You and I would both be in jail for what this family did for the past ten years, but Team Biden walks off of the political field scot-free.

However, let us always keep in mind that lying, malfeasance, unanswered questions, and a total lack of responsibility are the Gold Standards for Democrat run cities, systems, and officials in states like Connecticut and in many other places. Convicted Felon Mayor Joe Ganim and his accomplice Wanda Geter-Pataky of Bridgeport, CT have yet to face the least bit of accountability for the Bridgeport Ballot Scandal. The past two United State Senate races in Connecticut were both called either before, or, at the very minute the polls closed. And King Governor Ned Lamont The Unaccountable continually escapes any inquiry or investigation regarding his myriad shaded dealings and scams during Covid-19, among a multiple of other things. But this kind of unmerited favor is expected by Democrats at all levels of government. Because why should they receive any less courtesy than Paterfamilias Joe Biden?

But let us be clear. We have just lived through a historic moment in our nation's history with this pardon. The pardon sickens many hard working, law abiding American Taxpayers that it happened. And guess what? We are truly powerless to do anything about it. Just the way the Democrat Party has envisioned it. Rip off the country, bring it to its knees, make a profit from it, suck taxpayer blood and treasure, and then walk away. Just like the Biden family is doing today. Crime does pay for the Biden family. Crime pays for other Democrats.

Do not forget that. It is a mockery of the rules and laws that govern us, but not them, in our country and state.

Connecticut 236 Years Later. The Long Road to Fiscal and Social Disaster

The time of Disaster has finally come, being long in the making. The bell now tolls for Connecticut, being the fifth state in our country since 1788. Ironically bearing the moniker of "The Constitution State," Connecticut seems to be gasping its' last breaths of its 236-year existence. 

The trip along the highway to disaster accelerated since the advent of the "cure-all" Utopian State Income Tax that was passed in 1991. Since that time, the state budget has increased from $7.9 billion dollars in 1991 to over $26 billion dollars in 2024. That is an increase of over 270%, far exceeding the rate of inflation. But has there been a great influx of new residents over thirty-five years? Hardly not. Connecticut's population has increased in the same period since 1991 by only 300,000 people from 3.2 million to 3.6 million in 2024. This is a 12% increase in 33 years, being far below the population increase in our country. So, using pure simple mathematics, there is no “population boom” nor teeming attraction for people to move into Connecticut. This realization is truly sickening, especially after the lies the Democrats and state-run media sources have fed to us to the contrary.

But that is just one symptom of the trip on the road to ruin. What was the cause? In recent history, we can start with Connecticut's Governor in 1991. The Governor was the liberal Republican turned Independent multi-millionaire Lowell Weicker, who was hailed at the time of enactment of the state income tax as saving the state from bankruptcy and cuts from essential services in the state. When looking back at some of the articles written during this debate, we heard that children would be starving, the homeless would have no place to go, and drug addicts would no longer be cared for if we did not enact the tax. The elderly would also become homeless with little to no social welfare programs for them, and anyone else would be in grave difficulty especially those most in need. Pedestrians would be shot and killed. Drug addicts would roam, rob, and pillage the streets! Women would be raped! Roads and bridges would be collapsing! Kids would come out of school stupid with no marketable skills whatsoever! Of course, these were all classic Connecticut Democrat Party talking points which have now turned into realities in Democrat Connecticut and are more solid realities after 35 years of separating Connecticut from their wallets and purses via tax money.

But on the road to the fiscal disaster Connecticut has a pattern of repeating its greatest hits. In 2024, Connecticut's Governor is the liberal Democrat vapid multi-millionaire King Ned Lamont, "The Unaccountable" who has helped to nurture massive increases in state spending, profited personally through questionable, unethical business dealings with no-bid state contracts going to firms such as Sema4  that were heavily invested in his wife's hedge fund Oak HC/FT, and has veto proof power in the State Legislature with an omnipotent one-party Democrat ruled majority.  As my friend and colleague Tony De Angelo pointed out this past week, SEC documents show that the Lamont-related interests made upwards of $77,000,000 in one day at the Sema4 public offering to a chorus of silence from anyone in the political sphere or corporate state-run media interests. But that egregious rape of ethics pales in comparison to the fact that any piece of liberal, socialist, or communist legislation can be rammed through and signed with ease by Lamont over the next two years. But what about that thing called Ethics? It is common knowledge that the Connecticut State Ethics Department could not find an elephant in the snow, and this has been made much more clear since the Lamont-related pillagings. The time for disaster has arrived for a true dictatorship and treasury leveraging never seen before anywhere in 236 years.

But despite the incredibly obscene and bulbous amounts of tax money collected by Connecticut over thirty-five years, it is ironic that in 2024 we see the same issues that the state prophesied in 1991. Children are not being cared for except for things such as gender change. There is still a homeless crisis. There is a massive illegal drug crisis. There is now massive crime and theft in the state. There are still massive infrastructure problems with constant road and bridge repair needed. Yet the state budget increased by over 270% with the state income tax. And Connecticut has $125 to $150 Billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities that just never get mentioned, as the prevailing ideology is that saving the “fiscal guardrails” will save us all. Regrettably, nothing can be farther from the truth. As one cause, it is rarely discussed in 2024 that the bulk of the state's spending goes to state employee salaries, benefits, and pensions along with interest on the state debt. There is little to spend elsewhere. Read the state budget for this economic reality for yourself (https://portal.ct.gov/opm/bud-budgets/2024-2025-biennial-budget/fy-2024-2025-biennial-budget).

Connecticut’s 236-year road to disaster accelerated into the freeway fast lane since 1991. Since that time, the state has evolved into a cesspool of political nepotism, crime, serial incompetence, debt, and incoherent socialistic gibberish. Connecticut's state government caters to the well-connected and has little impetus to make life easier for those who are the indentured servants, the Connecticut Taxpayers who must fund this economic debacle. Could you run a company and earn a profit if the bulk of your business’s funds just paid for salaries, benefits, pensions, and debt service benefiting the old cronies on the top floor? But Connecticut's Democrat Party has no problem doing this. Why? How does it benefit Connecticut Taxpayers? In what way? Can anyone explain that to Connecticut Taxpayers?

Thus, Connecticut slogs along with high state taxes, high property taxes, high state debt, high homelessness, high crime, excessively high electric rates, high cost of living, massive unfunded liabilities, massive illegal drug problems, massive infrastructure problems and more.  It is not what our founders envisioned in 1788. Personal and economic freedoms should be flourishing in a state like Connecticut. Instead look forward to two more dismal years economically and socially in "The Constitution State" a state that its political class feel is theirs and theirs only. Citizen once again, be damned.

We’re Number 50! - The Democrat Victory Of Making Connecticut The Most Financially Troubled State In The Union

There seems to be no limit to the gutters that Connecticut continually falls into. Rampant corruption. Condoned (if not coddled) illegal immigration. Free tuition and healthcare for these same illegals. State senators destroy public property without a demand for prosecution from either political party. Other legislators drive drunk, flip cars and/or abuse substances, even while making laws. However, if that is not wretched enough for you, there is worse news for Connecticut Taxpayers. The State of Connecticut is pretty much broke. Yes, you read that correctly. Broke. Tapped out. Busted. On the Breadline.

Again, I repeat: The State of Connecticut is pretty much broke.

How has this happened, do you ask? Easy. It has been the usual “what, me worry?” posture in the land of Nutmeg for any semblance of fiscal governance. The election that took place a few weeks ago rewarded the fiscally illiterate Connecticut Democrat Party even more power for their inept fiscal mismanagement of the state. But how can this be possible in light of easy to find public sources? A recent “2024 Financial State of the States Report” (“report”) issued by the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, ranked Connecticut at the complete bottom of their report at #50 out of 50 states giving the state a "F" for their finances based on 2023 results. The report which I urge all to read can be found at https://www.truthinaccounting.org/library/doclib/Financial-State-of-the-States-2024.pdf.
To make a dire situation even worse, Connecticut is ranked at the bottom of all "Sinkhole" states. This reference to a “Sinkhole" means that all state taxpayers will owe a certain dollar amount to pay off the state's debt. The state does not have enough revenue and assets to pay its bills. For Connecticut it is a mere $44,300 each person (p.17 report). I have written for many years the issues of Connecticut's short- and long-term debt along with its unfunded liabilities at being $100 to $150 billion dollars, an astronomical amount for the state as small as Connecticut, only for me to be continually derided by many feel-good politicians. However, to show how deluded these politicians are, the report clearly breaks out the following grave issues concerning Connecticut: Unfunded Pension Benefits: $38,010,340,000. Unfunded Retiree Health Care Benefits: $17,091,549,000 (p.51 report). The mind-numbing figure of $64,897,085,000 is the actual debt that the state reports from its fiscal report, however over the years several budget items were taken off budget and as such are not counted towards this figure (p.51 report). That to me is called creative (if not fraudulent) accounting. It also may be noted that the "Government Finance Officers Association (“GFOA”), the standard for states to publish their annual reports is 180 days after the end of the fiscal year." (p.28 report) Connecticut took 271 days to file their report thus disregarding the GFOA guidelines that they are supposed to adhere to by law. But hey, it's Connecticut, where rules and laws do not matter anymore, if at all).

Unfortunately, the lack of fiscal acuity on the part of the Republican party has not provided any moments of consideration or pause over time thus making a bad situation even worse. As just one example, in this past election I heard no candidate on either side discussing the grievous state debt or this report. And this fiscally negligent attitude has gone on for years. For example, in 2023, Democrat State Comptroller (and fiscal genius) Sean Scanlon magically “saved millions of dollars” by re-amortizing the unfunded liability of the municipal pension fund from 17 to 25 years as both political parties cheered. But what did Mr. Scanlon do? He simply increased the amount of debt by deferring payment on the same, showing no conceptual understanding of present-value finance and the concept that a dollar will never be worth any more than it is today in the future. For, how does one save money when your debt is the same but now will take an additional eight years to pay off as it continues to accrue interest? Isn't the debt financed by interest paid? Or has that mysteriously been eliminated? How is this simply thoughtless move any different than continually making the minimum payment on your credit card and believing your debt will be paid off faster? But perhaps I am wrong, and Mr. Scanlon has the right idea! That said, why don’t we go about re-amortizing all of Connecticut's debt into 100-year notes? That way generation upon generation of Connecticut Taxpayers get to live their lives as indentured servants to the Connecticut Democrat Party and their fiscal inefficiencies and maladroitness. This idea might work so well that the Connecticut Democrat Party could then reinvent a modern-day system of serfdom and or a new form of economic slavery to the state's master political ruling elite by the issuing of these 100-year debt bonds. This new financial plan would work well with the party that wants unchecked illegal immigration, state-run media, controls on social media and free speech, redundant and functionally useless bureaucracies, and the encouragement of party “leaders” that harass and shame ordinary citizens while the opposing party never cries out for the censure or removal of these evil individuals. This is life as we know it in the nearly broke, vision-less, and morally bankrupt State of Connecticut.

Thus in 2024, Connecticut is no more resolving its debt crisis than in years passed. Thus in 2024, no one wearing a political uniform seems to care. This new report issued reconfirms many of the same problems that the state has had for years. Excessive state spending coupled with excessive state debt, fueled by “feel-good” politics at every turn. Connecticut continues to rank as a top five taxed state in the country. It continues to have massive financial issues no matter how King Governor Ned Lamont the Unaccountable, his should-be-abolished Department of Economic Development, and his faux-prop economic spokespeople such as Sean Scanlon try to spin it. For Connecticut to survive it must address its out-of-control spending and unchecked fiscal corruption that offer little in either comfort or results other than to those directly involved. Connecticut has massive problems with criminals and crime is running rampant. Connecticut has massive problems with illegal drug use and trafficking. Connecticut still has massive problems with its public schools that are more interested in indoctrination rather than teaching life skills and functional knowledge. Connecticut still has massive problems due to a skewed political system that is ripe with corruption as seen with the never-ending voter fraud in Bridgeport. Connecticut fiscal economic incentives are nothing more than the throwing of bribes to the politically connected. Moreover, Connecticut still has massive problems that truly need to be addressed for the last time.
But not the least of sorrows is that albatross of never-ending debt hanging on the shoulders of innocent Connecticut Taxpayers who toil daily in a dysfunctional state economy while the Connecticut Democrat Party moves blindly ahead without even the least criticism of this debt. But the solutions are simple. Cut spending and cut taxes. Learn the spelling of the word "governance" But that concept is always ignored in the wasteland of debt, in the state known as Connecticut, which is the paradise of unchecked and enabled Democrat Party led economic gibberish leading to ultimate collapse.