The Fate Of The State

 It is another quintessential election year in Connecticut. In 2026 both legal and illegal voters will be voting for the same five current Socialist Democrat United States Representatives and all of the State offices from Governor down to the General Assembly. And what an election it is going to be! And Connecticut is officially up and running with no man safe as the Legislature has been gaveled into session. In listening to the corrupt Socialist Democrat Governor Ned Lamont's State of the State address, one wonders what state he lives in. It is quite clear to any rational observer that Lamont and his fellow Democrats have done an excellent job in driving Connecticut into economic oblivion, and his current budget will help cement Connecticut into a bottom five lowest ranking economic state in the country for more years to come. And his speech was the usual anti-Trump, anti-ICE rhetoric that defines the Democrat Party in 2026. But no one tied to Lamont seems to care. If you happen to disagree with this Democrat disaster looking for a place to happen you are either 1) racist, 2) white supremacist, 3) hostile, 4) insurrectionist, or 5) any combination of more than one of the items listed above. And in the eyes of the government, you should be rendered inoperative on general principles.

I highly recommend all Connecticut voters read Lamont's speech (https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/read the full text connecticut gov ned lamont gives 2026 state of the state address/?ipid=promo link block2), and draw your own conclusions. (All quotes below are from his speech)

Many will feel it is an insult to Thomas Paine who wrote the revolutionary commentary "Common Sense" back in 1776 when Lamont stated, "He was what we would call today a social influencer. His pamphlets were handed out by the hundreds of thousands. His call to revolution was debated from taverns in Windsor to coffeehouses in Fairfield. By the end of that year, 1776, his optimism was tempered by hard times. Paine concluded, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Two hundred and fifty years later, we find ourselves once again in times that try men’s souls. Masked federal agents have descended on Minneapolis, terrorizing communities, tearing families apart. Two young Americans, a mom and an ICU nurse shot dead. Some of our folks worry that another government shutdown and sudden federal cuts will mean no dinner tonight, no roof over their head, too expensive to take care of a sick child. These are times that try men’s souls." Sorry Ned, but your comparison of Thomas Paine and our American Revolution to today's Anti ICE protests protecting criminal illegal immigrants from deportation is a gross insult to our forefathers of our country.

He added: “Because we have used Connecticut common sense, we have been able to make up for some of the harsh cuts coming out of The White House. We were among the very first to backstop food support for working families. We saw the scared faces and long lines at the food pantries just a few months ago.” So Ned, why does the Head of Connecticut Foodshare Jason Jakubowski make over $400,000 a year? Couldn't that $400,000 feed the many starving people of your economically vibrant state? What about the other bulbous salaries paid to non-job executives in the redundant and covert nonprofits funded by state dollars as the “poor mouth” cries get louder? How does this form of racketeering help the poor and vulnerable? (Rest assured anyone asking the question I just asked is automatically branded to be any one or more of the pejorative epithets mentioned above).

But who are you to question results? Says Ned:  "The Connecticut economy is strong, for now. We have faster economic growth (fourth highest in the country last quarter), more new business startups, and lower unemployment than most of the nation all of which contributes to higher state income, and that allows our 2027 budget to increase investments in education, housing, and nonprofits not to mention our emergency reserve. " ... "Every year we have worked to make life a little less expensive and a little more affordable. Working families earn a little more, surely helps. Remember cheering on the essential workers during COVID? Many of them were earning the minimum wage, which today is almost $17 an hour, up from about $10 since we took office. And after receiving no increase for several years, our state employees have received a wage increase every year we’ve been in office. We appreciate your extraordinary work, and tell your friends we still need more nurses, corrections officers, and state police. We were told by the naysayers that a higher wage would crash the economy, instead a little more money in your pocket is allowing more families to get back on their feet and our economy to prosper." If the economy is so strong then why are there long lines at the food pantries? Why aren’t you crediting President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth for sending short-lived Defense projects to Connecticut? What will you do when that ends? What will you do when the last five or six billionaires leave the state? Does State employee salaries, benefits and pensions account for over 20% of the state budget now? Aren't several of your state "nonprofits" currently under federal investigation for fraud? Have you taken one step towards curbing the myriad governance and out of control spending abuse to these "nonprofits" via the Department of Economic and Community Development? Of course, no steps have been undertaken on any of the above, (and by asking these questions I am sure a race-based pejorative epithet is waiting for me).

But this odd and twisted world is takes some funny turns. Lamont, now being influenced by the left-wing part of his party has turned into a Caucasian version of Huey Newton and will now give every school student a "free" breakfast and as always more money for education. Per Ned: “We tried last year, let’s try it again this year our budget provides for free school breakfasts for all of our students. Everybody starts the day right. No shame, no stigma, no empty stomachs. Connecticut has one of the best school systems in the country, but that is not true of all of our schools. In the coming days I will sign an executive order to create the Blue-Ribbon Commission on K-12 Education. A bottoms up look at education with a focus on an updated funding strategy, the foundation grant, and making sure more resources go to the classroom.” So where does the money come from to pay for these "free school breakfast" programs? Your IPO profits from SEMA 4? Some new “Ned Deal” funneled through “Connecticut Innovations?” A new "breakfast tax"? Don't most schools in the state already offer both free breakfast and lunch for needy students? Couldn't the state save money and take out feminine hygiene products out of boys’ bathrooms in state schools? (This last statement now qualifies me to be called pejorative epithets not suitable for a respectable article).

Contrary to the deluded Governor, Connecticut still has $100 to $150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt with interest thereupon, along with massive unfunded liabilities. To help voters forget about these horrors, Ned proposes to give every taxpayer a $200 tax rebate, or a $400 rebate per family. Rough estimates are that this pseudo-feel-good maneuver will cost the state $500 million dollars. But why hasn't Connecticut still recovered from the recession of 1989? As I stated in January 2026; “The true reality is that Connecticut still suffers from many of the same problems it has faced since 1989. The economy in particular is consistently ignored and overlooked, as it has been for more than 35 years. Connecticut has never recovered economically since that recession of 1988-89. According to the September jobs report published in December, Connecticut is losing jobs. The state ranks 50th in payroll growth from 1989 to 2025 and is one of only three states that have failed to fully recover from the Great Recession”. (https://swickspeak.blogspot.com/2026/01/connecticut economy stinks so let’s make.html) 

But as ridiculous and horrible as this all is, one quote from Ned takes the prize for buying the liberal vote: "That young mother shot twice in the head in Minneapolis the White House called her a domestic terrorist; she reminded me of my daughter. " Ned does your daughter protest at anti ICE demonstrations and tries to drive into them with her SUV while they are doing their job? If so, you have a lot of problems with your family that certainly you are not letting on about.

This State of the State speech summarizes the true lies and deceptions that the Connecticut Democrat Party has been so well known for, for many years. Year in and year out, state spending and debt increases. Year in and year out Connecticut's economy ranks last and or in the bottom five in the country in economic growth, development, business friendliness, etc. Year in and year out Connecticut ranks as one of the highest taxed states in the country. Maybe this year Connecticut taxpayers will wake up to see that they are not better off than they were in any year from 1989 to 2026 with a government dominated by an omnipotent and corrupted Connecticut Democrat Party and they will finally see through the false claims, lies and prevarications leading Connecticut to be the economic and social disaster that it now is.

"SNAP" Goes The Government

For many years, I have written about the tax, spend, borrow, and waste death spiral of government, particularly evident in poorly run states such as Connecticut. For many years regardless of sound admonition, government has proceeded in taxing more, spending more, and creating more useless and redundant programs and non-jobs for the politically connected. Meanwhile, legitimate tax-paying businesses asking for no aid but wishing only for low taxes, friendly government and safe and clean communities are driven out of states like Connecticut by experiencing exactly the opposite of that.  When the rate of legitimate business departures increases as the governmental and administrative state monster metastasizes, jobs become scarce, and welfare and dependency need increase. When joblessness continues for a protracted period, people become skillfully obsolete and unemployable. Rather than seeing the problems and righting the ship, visionless politicians with no sense or clue of what is necessary to fix a bad state and a bad economy cry and scream and pound the table concerning man’s inhumanity to man due to some intelligent men and women questioning this constant giant sucking mess that has effectively become the government. But the real man’s inhumanity to man factually rests with these same politicians complaining. Even a high-school graduate in his first apartment knows that he or she must generate enough inflow to exceed outflow. But this lesson is lost on about every politician, especially in places like Connecticut. So, what is the inevitable result? The dire situation becomes worse and continues to mushroom and then, something snaps.

And this is where we are on November 1, 2025. Our stupid and inept government, has finally, “snapped.”Apropos of this great “snap” it is time to bring up a discussion of the national nutritional assistance program. 

The “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” better known as “SNAP,” has apparently snapped as of this writing of this column for this week. To show the sick and decrepit state of the American economy, over 42 million people in America use this program, or roughly 12% of the population of our country. This program provides additional benefits to those individuals and families in the form of EBT payments for certain "healthy" food items in stores. "SNAP households are expected to spend about 30 percent of their own resources on food, and your allotment is calculated by multiplying your household’s net monthly income by 0.3, and subtracting the result from the maximum monthly allotment for your household size." Therefore, a family of four can receive up to $994 a month maximum. (https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/recipient/eligibility). For Fiscal Year 2024 Taxpayers spent over $100 billion dollars on SNAP benefits. This accounts for over 1.5% of US Federal spending. It is expected to go up over the next few years. (https://usafacts.org). 

To add to the pitiful nature of the Connecticut economy having  over 25% of its population on Medicaid, over 360,000 Connecticut residents receive SNAP benefits (or roughly 11% of the state’s population). But if you read and believe the state-run propaganda that passes for reporting you are led to believe that President Donald J. Trump is cruel and inhumane for insisting that government finally clean itself out of waste, fraud, inefficiency and fiscal abuse, and that Connecticut is a state with a heart for the poor and downtrodden that its own political system has created. As one example, Governor Ned Lamont recently gave “Connecticut Foodshare” $3 million dollars to help offset the loss of SNAP benefits as cries of Trumpian cruelty reverberated across social media in the background. “This $3 million investment will make a real difference for families across Connecticut who are facing an impossible choice between paying rent and putting food on the table,” Connecticut Foodshare CEO Jason Jakubowski said. “While we recognize this funding cannot replace the full scale of federal SNAP benefits, it will help us to buy more food for agency partners and mobile pantries across the state over the next two weeks. We are grateful for the state’s leadership and commitment to protecting Connecticut’s most vulnerable residents.”  (https://portal.ct.gov/governor/news/press-releases/2025/10-2025/governor-lamont-announces-emergency-funding-for-connecticut-foodshare?language=en_US).

Such a gesture on its face seems selfless and noble until one digs more at the ugly backside of the tax and spend economy, being multiple highly compensated and redundant nonprofit managers sitting in well-paid state-supported non-jobs consuming the resources intended for the poor. So, let’s examine Mr. Jason Jakubowski, a politically-connected former Barack Obama delegate and a man with no particular experience in either the private sector nor in the food industry. For Fiscal Year 2024, Jason Jakubowski received Compensation of $292,739 and Other Compensation of $53,514 for a total of $346,253 a year. (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/61063025). This is inexplicably double his first-year salary as covered by my friend Tony De Angelo on his October 30 THIRTY WITH TONY show. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERBrM_zue1A)   Due to the circulation of truthful information, many have asked if Jacob Jakubowski would refuse his pay so that money would go to feeding these hungry people during this crisis? But charity need not end at home! How about Ned and Annie Lamont picking up the tab for these benefits as a charitable donation? Forbes magazine has recently estimated their net family worth as $650 million dollars. Or in going National, Senator Richard Blumenthal and his family's net worth of a mere $85 million cam certainly kick in a few shekels. (https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-politicians/democrats/richard-blumenthal-net-worth/) . Actually, many liberal Democrat politicians could start to compassion for their treasured poor folk by giving their money to help fund this cause until their party would vote for either a budget and or a continuing resolution to reopen Washington. They could also refuse their salaries since many people in government are working without pay and what better way to show your solidarity with the unwashed masses?

But even so, more questions come to mind regarding SNAP benefits. Why are so many individuals in need of these benefits costing our country over $100 billion dollars- plus a year? Is there fraud and non-legal citizens receiving these benefits? In a country as wealthy as the United States why are so many individuals this much in need?

But once again, the poor slob taxpayer in places like Connecticut has no luxuries such as a shutdown. Please note that we are still paying Federal Taxes to our unopened government during this crisis but are not getting all the services we are paying for. That is fine with the minority Democrat Party in Congress and pitiful and ineffective bodies such as the Democrat-controlled Connecticut State Legislature. We are still hearing the daily bashing of all things President Trump by the state-run media. And we still see waste and fraud going unchecked at all levels of government as it arrogantly continues as a God-given right. Maybe those truly in need should continue to receive these benefits via a tougher litmus test while those using them fraudulently should flush out. Maybe nonprofit organizations feeding hungry people should not have paid employees nor politically connected executives. Maybe charities falling above the 25% of operating expenses-to-income ratio benchmark of “Charity Navigator” should not be able to bid for funding until they get their fiscal houses in order. Maybe charities that perform well should be expanded while others failing to meet the mark be disbanded. But the biggest “maybe” in enacting reforms would be to find politicians with enough courage to suggest even one such improvement and reform. Hope is not great in that regard, regardless of party label.

However, it is now November 1, 2025. The Government has snapped. And SNAP has snapped. It is yet another excellent example as to why a complete overhaul of our Federal Government from top to bottom is necessary as DOGE attempted to accomplish and must now complete in DOGE 2.0.  But then if this mission were successful, it would reduce the unskilled Democrat-controlled political class to turn into the supplicants that they now pretend to care so much about. Because, people need skills and trades to work in a genuine and true society and economy.

Connecticut. The Crisis-Driven Disaster.

Well-run states and organizations govern objectives and goals. However, Connecticut continually governs by crisis. There just has to be one. There is always a crisis in Connecticut. No matter which party controls Washington, the continual omnipotent Democrat iron-fist one party rule in Hartford always makes sure that there is some self-perpetuated failure, somewhere, where a Democrat can stand on as a soap box to remind us as to how badly we need Democrats. Take any time, place, or date and just change the crisis, and there is always one present. The pathetic state government could have an infinite amount of cash flow and would still need more money and never touch the $100-$150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities looming over the state like a tarpaulin. For a crisis must be created. It never ends.

As the 47^th President of the United States Donald J. Trump is causing a whirlwind of national opportunity and enthusiasm in word, action, thought and vision, you can set your watch to Connecticut Democrats manufacturing yet another crisis in response to that . A new and continuing crisis is the supposed lack of "affordable" food in the state. Due to the cratered Connecticut economy and the lack of industry and leadership, many families with school aged children can't afford food, thus the state and town must provide free/low-cost breakfasts/snacks/lunches. The food in theory should be "nutritional" and be healthy. Apparently Connecticut has been receiving federal funds through a Biden-era program; the “Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program” and the “Local Food for Schools Program” which paid schools and food banks to buy "healthier" food options from local farmers (https://www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food-to-usda/lfs). This program apparently has its roots from Covid-19 funding and is being cut by the Trump Administration since the pandemic is over and the economy should be able to function without it given normal circumstances. This is normal thinking. But when you are a beggarly, welfare-dependent state like Connecticut, you depend on government assistance as a way of life. You know nothing different and you do not care to learn anything different.

Connecticut is typically the lead participant of free money programs and its never-ending giving/redistribution of Taxpayers monies. Connecticut's Covid-19 crisis was intentionally prolonged in order to receive more "free" money to get and spend. But what happens when that money gets cut off as in this case? It is the usual rhetoric and disgust as far as the cuts are concerned. Senator Chris Murphy stated: "most people who depend on food assistance in Connecticut work, adding that stagnant wages are not high enough to help them pay the bills...By ending these two programs, all you’re doing is hurting farmers and jeopardizing the food security of our families,” Murphy said. “These programs don’t save big amounts of money for the federal government; they don’t balance the budget.”  (https://ctmirror.org/2025/03/17/ct-schools-food-banks-local-farms/) It is inarguable that any savings would help balance the budget and lower the country’s $36 Trillion-dollar National Debt. Not to be outdone in crying the poor mouth, Senator Richard Blumenthal chimed in: "And while the pandemic exacerbated food insecurity across the U.S., (multi-millionaire Vietnam Combat Veteran) Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., argued that the White House is “taking the food off the table from working families so that the ultra-wealthy can have tax cuts.” (https://ctmirror.org/2025/03/17/ct-schools-food-banks-local-farms/) Can Senator Blumenthal directly trace the cuts in this program's funding with "Wealthy...tax cuts"? I find it hard to draw this correlation between the two, especially with a $36 Trillion-dollar National Debt. And wouldn’t job creation be the result of lowered taxes providing more free cash for spending? But again, these two fiscally incoherent Senators have been huffing and puffing for years and offer no solutions to our $36 Trillion-dollar National Debt and or the massive problems of the people they supposedly represent with affording food in Connecticut, other than to continually begging Washington.

Perhaps we can find some hope and perspective from the nonprofit and agency heads across the state! Like Jason Jakubowski, President and CEO of Connecticut Foodshare, whose last known salary was $291,114, other compensation of $54,529 and total compensation is $345,643 (https://givefreely.com/charity-directory/nonprofit/ein-061063025/)."Connecticut Foodshare was one of the largest participants in the program that had received about $3 million over the past few years. The group was set to receive another $1 million before the (pandemic) initiative was terminated." (https://ctmirror.org/2025/03/17/ct-schools-food-banks-local-farms/). One may wonder why Jakubowski is paid so much to "run" this nonprofit? Comparable private-sector executives with much greater responsibility and managerial accountability can look forward to half of his salary. His salary and those of his administrative staff if decreased, could be used to help feed people. But why do so many people in Connecticut need food assistance? Is it the excessively inflated cost of living due to high state and local taxes, high housing costs, high transportation costs, high insurance costs due to high crime rates and high electric costs? Does the bloated and politically connected state-run government contribute to the nanny state that distorts and destroys Connecticut's free market economy along with the state's affordability to live? Wasn't the above equilibrium minimum wage and state paid health/family leave insurance passed by Democrat legislative geniuses going to solve most of the state's affordability issues? And wasn’t taxing/taxing more the "rich" through the Utopian state income tax going to resolve once and for all the state's affordability issues so people could buy food on their own?  Why is this not happening? And why has the economic gap between the Connecticut state government, its state employees, and its programs fail year-in and year-out to resolve these pressing economic and social problems over the past 35 years? Just look at the costs of Connecticut's state government for salaries, benefits and pensions compared to the rest of the population that is not connected to government.

But to be fair, Connecticut does have a vision for economic growth and job development! There is a Connecticut Department of Economic Development! (“DECD”). The DECD serves officially as the state's primary agency for fostering economic growth and community development and is supposedly tasked with a broad mandate that includes economic development, housing, community development, transportation, education, and arts and culture. Its mission is supposedly to strengthen Connecticut’s economy by supporting businesses, promoting tourism, and fostering vibrant communities. The DECD employs approximately 100 full-time staff members. Daniel H. O'Keefe has been the commissioner of DECD since November 2023, earns more than his predecessor's $215,000 annual salary. However regardless of the bulbous spending of the DECD, Connecticut continually ranks last or near last in any reputable state poll comparing economic viability between states. A real economic development agency would be creating a business-favorable and job creating environment as opposed to consuming and wasting taxpayer dollars with little to no aggregate results. In fact, it is certainly a safe statement to say that the economic ranking of Connecticut would not be changed by one percentage point should the entire failed DECD model be dissolved and the funding expended be used to feed the hungry. This of course would not be the right answer. But neither is the continued wasting of tax dollars by crisis-driven leaders for little reason along with no vision or plan for real economic incentive and job growth.

Connecticut Taxpayers are now seeing through the stale, lost rhetoric of Connecticut's ruling political class. Connecticut Taxpayers should not have to forage to survive in a state that has no leadership, no ethics, no vision, and no results. Elected officials bellow at all times, and rant and rave against all of the injustices that they have helped to create in all of their never ending years of elected power and conquest.  The cut of the food aid program is just another example in the extensive line of economic failures pointing to the sad fact of there is never enough to be able to live a normal life in this once "Constitution" state that helped to found our country back in 1776. 

The Democrat-driven political cabal has never been the solution but is part of the fabric of the problem. Enough, is indeed, enough.