The August 31, 2020 issue of Barron's had an article titled "The $1 Trillion Dollar Hole" (https://www.barrons.com/articles/cities-and-states-are-facing-horrific-budget-holes-there-will-be-more-trouble-ahead-51598638702). The article discusses a growing issue in our country of our fifty states ability to use and get credit due to large budget deficits and loss revenues. Creditworthiness as defined by Investopedia (www.investopedia.com) is "Creditworthiness is how a lender determines that you will default on your debt obligations, or how worthy you are to receive new credit." The article is very interesting when one reads how all the state's rank. Connecticut is ranked 45th out of 50 states (Bottom five) having the distinction of the highest overall debt burden on a per capita and per GDP (Gross Domestic Product) basis. This ranking should not come as a shock to Connecticut Taxpayers as we see how economically inept and irrational our state government operates day in and day out. The Connecticut Democrat Party's political patronage, profits and partisanship are the economic rule with the heck with any concerns about debt.
As one can imagine and an area I have talked about in the past is how far in debt Connecticut is in 2020. Connecticut has $145 billion dollars in short and long term debt along with unfunded liabilities. To look at this debt in perspective it would take seven years of no state spending on anything whatsoever to pay it off. This means that the state would have no more employees, no programs, nothing at all for seven years to pay it off. If Connecticut actually had a plan to address this debt we would have seen major cuts in state spending and or a dedicated fixed amount to retire debt and not incur any new debt. This has never happened for Connecticut in the past 30 years since the State Income Tax has taken effect. Instead state spending and debt has skyrocketed into unmanageable and uncontrollable economic turmoil for both state businesses and taxpayers. Connecticut has turned into a sinkhole state without enough assets to pay off its debts meaning that if Connecticut liquidated all of its assets that have value it still could not pay off its debt. Thus it would have to somehow go bankrupt to pay off its bills. This has to be done on a business or personal level when bankruptcy occurs. Currently roughly 15% of the state budget just goes to debt service (interest) never mind trying to actually paying off any debt. The bulk of the state budget goes to salaries, benefits, pensions and interest on the debt. Little if any money is left to actually run Connecticut in any coherent economic form.
Can Connecticut survive the future with these economic issues now compounded by a rogue consulting group being the policy maker in the state rather than the State elected Legislature and a massive 22% unemployment rate? Why should any incumbent State Senator or State Representative running for re election in November be elected again given these enormous short and long term economic problems (with the exception of a brave few conservative Republicans such as State Senator Rob Sampson)? In my economic opinion Connecticut is on the verge of bankruptcy and that should be the record the Connecticut Democrat Party runs on in November. They have helped to bankrupt the state for their personal gain. Why? Why is this not questioned daily except by the few who dare to speak out against this economic debacle? Real statistics do not lie. Connecticut needs real elected leadership rather than a de facto government ruled by a consulting group and irrational executive orders. And it needs a plan to cut spending, debt and economically unsustainable pensions. Being ranked 45th out of 50 states for creditworthiness is sickening to me and many others. Enough is enough.
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