The eight years of the fantasy reign of King Ned Lamont the Unaccountable as Governor of the State of Connecticut can best be summed up by this dialogue from the 1939 classic film “The Wizard Of Oz”
The Wizard (booming voice, as the giant head):
“Do not arouse the wrath of the great and powerful Oz! I said come back tomorrow!”
Dorothy:
“If you were really great and powerful, you’d keep your promises!”
The Wizard (still booming):
“Do
you presume to criticize the great Oz? You ungrateful creatures! Think
yourselves lucky that I’m giving you audience tomorrow instead of 20
years from now!”
(Toto pulls back the green curtain, revealing the ordinary man working the levers and speaking into a microphone.)
The Wizard (startled, still trying to maintain the booming voice):
“Oh! … The great Oz has spoken!”
(He tries to close the curtain.)
“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! The great Oz has spoken!”
(Dorothy pulls the curtain fully open.)
Dorothy:
“Who are you?”
The Wizard (first booming, then dropping to his normal voice):
“I am the great and powerful… Wizard of Oz.”
Dorothy:
“You are? I don’t believe you!”
The Wizard:
“I’m afraid it’s true. There’s no other Wizard except me.”
Scarecrow:
“You humbug!”
Cowardly Lion:
“Yeah!”
The Wizard:
“Yes, that’s exactly so. I’m a humbug.”
“Yes, that’s exactly so. I’m a humbug.”
Dorothy:
“Oh, you’re a very bad man!”
The Wizard:
“Oh, no, my dear. I’m a very good man. I’m just a very bad wizard.”
This
90-year old classic snippet of dialogue from "The Wizard Of Oz"
describes the reign of King Governor Ned Lamont The Unaccountable
perfectly, but for one item: While “Most Popular” Governor Ned Lamont
may get an A+ in the categories of wonder and achievement courtesy of
his state-run hack media stable, he differs from The Wizard in that in
actuality, he is both a bad man and a bad governor.
Pick
any sycophantic state-run media outlet or print publication in
Connecticut, and you will get the same tale concerning Ned Lamont. There
is economic magic in Connecticut! It is due to an amazing run of all
sorts of the Democrat Party pulling economic rabbits out of their hats
by the one and only, King Ned Lamont, the Unaccountable! In a recent
news article that read like a campaign press release written by the
Connecticut Democrat Party, somehow there is no longer any unfunded
liabilities to the Connecticut State Pension System. This is due to the
magic of King Ned and his over taxation of Connecticut Taxpayers to
create fiscal balloon surpluses.
From the article: https://www.courant.com/2026/08/03/a-look-at-cts-recent-fiscal-matters-pensions-debt-revenue-surpluses-taxing-the-wealthy/?lctg=64C6443F951205741532846538&utm_email=64C6443F951205741532846538&active=yesP&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.courant.com%2f2026%2f08%2f03%2fa-look-at-cts-recent-fiscal-matters-pensions-debt-revenue-surpluses-taxing-the-wealthy%2f&utm_campaign=trib-hartford_courant-five_things_you_need_to_know-nl&utm_content=hybrid “Central
to Gov. Ned Lamont’s political brand and his run for a rare third term
is a fiscal discipline that has contributed to Connecticut’s
extraordinary run of budget surpluses. He’s wrapped seven consecutive
years in the black, using $11 billion of those unspent funds to wipe out
pension debt. No other governor in modern history has made one such
payment. And Lamont, a Democrat who has served with strong Democratic
legislative majorities, cut state income tax rates in 2023, something
done only once before in the 35-year history of the levy, while still
building a record-setting budget reserve that tops $4.4 billion.”
This
particular version of sycophantic blather was never parroted until the
Lamont versus Socialist/Communist Josh Elliott primary. As someone who
has studied the and written about the Connecticut State Debt for
decades, I am truly amazed by these farcical statements. When one tries
to understand Connecticut State's Debt, one may be overwhelmed by the
spider web of deceptions and untruths that have been force fed to
Connecticut Taxpayers over the years. For to even get at what the real
state debt is truly a challenge.
One
thing the sycophants and lackeys will never tell you is that there are
many aspects to Connecticut's debt that include long term and short-term
bonding of different debts along with billions in unfunded liabilities
that state taxpayers are liable for. This chorus of magpies would never
tell you that Connecticut has one of the highest ratios of debt
functions in the country along with one of the highest local and state
tax burdens simultaneously. Few even understand this is happening.
Connecticut State workers have one of the highest wage, benefit, and
pension structures in the country accounting for over $11 billion
dollars this past year out of state budget or roughly $27 billion
dollars. This is roughly 41% of Connecticut's state budget. Other
examples include a 17.15% Debt to Gross Domestic Product ratio. This is a
ratio calculated by dividing total debt by annual economic output,
reflecting Connecticut's ability to pay back what it owes. And business
development and economic opportunity? Connecticut has a population of
roughly 3.6 million people of which over 380,000 are on Food Stamps
which is over 10% of the state's population (https://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-clocks/state-of-connecticut-debt-clock.html).
Of course if you can make your own way, you do not need government food
subsidies. But! (but) isn't the Connecticut Department of Economic and
Community Development leading the charge into the Mojo-driven Lamont
universe? Roughly two billion dollars has been siphoned from state
coffers into varying socialistic scam spending during the Reign of
Lamont. But one wonders for what purpose have these funds been allocated
for reasons other than serial waste, fraud, nepotism, cronyism, and
abuse? https://wp.cga.ct.gov/apa/wp-content/cgacustom/reports/FullReports/Economic%20and%20Community%20Development,%20Department%20of%20FULL_20260729_FY2023,2024.pdf .
Continuing from the above news article/press release: “I
think people are taking a second look at Connecticut” because of this
fiscal dedication, Lamont said this week. “They say, ‘They’ve got their
act together.’”
How
did Connecticut ever get its act together with crushingly high state
debt and 41% of the budget just going to salaries, benefits, and
pensions, coupled with Wizard of Oz-like budget surpluses caused by
Democrat Party over taxation?
However,
no state-produced lie is ever complete without a benchmark reference to
the failed leaders of the past. Here, the reference is to good old
Former Governor Dan Malloy, who ran on a platform of “no new taxes. When
elected that lie was forgotten about. Again, from the “above news
article/press release: “(Malloy)
took an issue that was [behind] closed doors … and really put it out
there for people to understand the level of the problem,” said Joe
Aresimowicz, the House speaker during the last two years of Malloy’s
tenure and first two of Lamont’s. “It takes a different kind of human
being to stand up in front of hundreds of people night after night,
knowing that they disagree with you, knowing that they’re angry, knowing
that they’re going to yell at you, and you keep doing it anyway,” said
Roy Occhiogrosso, a senior adviser and campaign strategist for Malloy.
“And it was because he believed deeply that you cannot fix the massive
problems that he inherited unless you educate people about them first.”
“In Dan Malloy’s defense, he was the first guy to at least make the
current [pension] payments,” the governor said, “and I respect him for
that.” Malloy’s tax hikes forced high earners to pay more..."Lamont
ultimately closed his deficit by raising some business taxes and by
canceling some sales tax exemptions and previously approved tax cuts
that hadn’t taken effect yet. He was spared from increasing the state
income tax, which carried the biggest political risk."
None
of these characters of the state’s storied past will ever tell you that
Malloy's legacy was one of making Connecticut's State Income Tax one of
the most progressive in the country to fuel much higher state spending
under the guise of paying down state debt. For such a destructive reign
of fiscal irresponsibility. Malloy's payoff was getting a political
nonjob in Maine via his financial glad-handing of Maine-based Jackson
Labs. And when the state pays the freight, no news article is complete
without painting Lamont as a discernable improvement over the failures
of the past.
But
wait! Here’s More! More confirmation of the Lamont economic brilliance
is a recent report from Reason Foundation
(https://reason.org/commentary/cts-pre-k-endowment-diverts-pension-dollars/).
From this report, Connecticut’s Early
Childhood Education Endowment (ECEE) was created to further the state’s
efforts to subsidize early childhood education. The goal is
commendable. Childcare is expensive, and surely many families in
Connecticut could benefit from additional support.
But
the financing structure of this endowment is troubling. It redirects
surplus dollars that would otherwise have gone toward paying down
Connecticut’s severely underfunded public pension systems, setting up
the state for future problems.
Connecticut
already funds early childhood education through its operating budget.
The state approved $418 million for fiscal year 2026 and $443 million
for fiscal year 2027, separate from the endowment. These funds are part
of the regular budget process, where spending is debated, appropriated,
and subject to the state’s fiscal guardrails.
The
endowment is different. Starting in fiscal year 2026, it is set to
receive any unappropriated General Fund surpluses once the Budget
Reserve Fund is at its statutory cap. Before the endowment was created,
those surpluses would have continued to support additional contributions
to pay the state’s massive pension system debt that is owed to public
workers.
Connecticut’s State Employees Retirement System and State Teachers’ Retirement System have a combined unfunded liability of $31.5 billion. These
are not optional obligations. These are pension benefits already earned
by public employees that are legally binding claims on future state
revenues.
Unfunded
pension obligations are among the state’s most expensive fiscal risks.
When pension funding falls short, the state forgoes investment earnings
that would have accrued on contributed assets, increasing long-term
costs, and shifting a larger burden to future taxpayers. For decades,
Connecticut did exactly that, using funding practices that lowered
near-term budget pressure while pushing debts and costs into the future.
But
didn’t the above news article/press release tell us Lamont wiped out
debt? If that is the case, how is it possible that a mere $31 billion
dollars plus in unfunded pension liabilities exists in one place alone?
Who is telling the truth? Who is lying? I highly doubt it is Democrat
Governor Ned Lamont through his state-run media.
True
money does not lie. Connecticut, depending on your periscope, still has
$100,000,000,000 to $150,000,000,000 billion dollars in short- and
long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities. It has moved billions
over dollars off budget over the years and hidden that from public view
and comment. Connecticut gives away your tax dollars freely and without
oversight through nontransparent agencies such as the Department of
Economic and Community Development, which really should be eliminated
and via myriad non-profits that no one in elected government wants to
stop funding. Connecticut remains a fiscal mess with high debt, high
taxes, and a poor business climate.
If
you do not mind being ripped off daily, by all means keep voting for
incompetent Democrats who are running in November. If you do not mind
living in an economic and unaffordable economic sewer where there are
few places you can grow and advance, keep voting for incompetent
Democrats who are running in November. If you like busting your rear-end
to feed the masses, illegal aliens and the entitled, keep voting for
incompetent Democrats who are running in November. If you like all the
daycare opportunities in-state but have no idea as to how much grift and
fraud you are supporting since no politician anywhere cares, keep
voting for incompetent Democrats who are running in November. If you
want a genuine growing economy that attracts winners rather than a
state-supported morass that attracts only politicians, keep voting for
incompetent Democrats that are running in November. If you like serial
crime and mere lip-service by police agencies to stop the crime as
lip-service is all that is allowed, keep voting for incompetent
Democrats who are running in November.
Maybe, just maybe this election could finally be different if voters see the economic light of darkness that is Ned Lamont and his political hacks who rule Connecticut with an iron fist.
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