Showing posts with label Connecticut Taxpayers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Connecticut Taxpayers. Show all posts

Saturday, May 24, 2025

News Flash: Connecticut Has A Bad And Incompetent Government

 Something is very obvious in Connecticut. Connecticut has a bad and incompetent government. Bad in the sense that it no longer represents its constituents. It no longer represents right versus wrong, truth versus lie, and fact versus fiction. It has produced many different incoherent, blabbering pieces of rhetoric to keep up a fictional lie of how well Connecticut is governed by the Connecticut Democrat Party. And the tipping point has been reached for Connecticut Taxpayers who are now seeing through the charade.

Connecticut has had bad government for many years, but ever since the devastation and oppression of the Covid-19 regime, the acceleration from bad to abysmal has become much more acute. Finger pointing has been perfected to an art form in the state by the Democrat Party. But have no fear. The Democrat Party takes no responsibility for the issues that are facing Connecticut in 2025, but of course, it never has.

The Horrors of Bad Government in Connecticut include (but are not limited to),

Excessively high local and state taxes inhibiting economic growth and economic and personal freedoms.

Excessively high insurance costs for auto insurance due to the rampant thefts and hijackings of vehicles, especially by repeat offenders along with the horrific mismanagement of residential crimes and the mishandling of natural disasters.

Excessively prohibitive costs of doing business in the state due to a myriad of complex rules, regulations and laws that increase the costs of doing business in the state and eliminate profitability for small businesses. (And as a tutorial of things to come with respect to the impending and disastrous "bipartisan" mismanagement of Artificial Intelligence for state businesses, please watch my friend Tony De Angelo’ THIRTY WITH TONY show of May 22, 2025, dealing with the horrors of “Senate Bill 2”

THE SHOW STUPID POLITICIAN TRICKS PART 2 THIRTY WITH TONY 5 22 2025 )



 

A constant illegal drug problem further exaggerated by the legalization and taxation of marijuana, while “psychedelic mushrooms” are moving from the on-deck circle to the batter’s box as the next legal drug of choice.

An irrational and sickening excess of the promotion of the harm and exploitation of children through sex changes, boys playing in girls’ sports, pornographic reading materials in libraries in schools, and the condemnation of parents having responsibility of their children. 

This should sicken everyone in the state.

The state's takeover of local zoning laws and regulations. (Communities be damned).

Fiscal guardrails that are shunned and destroyed by the Democrat Party.

No acknowledgement whatsoever of the 100 to 150 Billion Dollars of short- and long-term liabilities and unfunded liabilities weighing on the state. (Hint: The celebrated and oft-repeated Fiscal Guardrails do not even touch this grievous liability).

The state’s complete lack of transparency in how and why it governs and lack of disclosure of whosoever else may be involved.

A state ethics department that one would compliment to call it a joke.

 The continuing saga of the legal and ethical quagmire of Governor Lamont, the self-deals of the Lamont family, and the highly questionable (and non-transparent) dealings of First Lady Ann Lamont in matters of state government.

A bloated state bureaucracy of excessive and overpaid state employees, state commissioners, state assistant to the assistant employees, state departments, state committees and mythical "nonprofits" that are secret from the public view and whose dealings are intentionally exempted from Freedom of Information, (such as ADVANCE CT where state business policy involving Eversource, Yale, and other big players is engineered under shroud of secrecy, citizen be damned).

This is not the way Connecticut should be governed. This is not the way the Grand Duchy of Fenwick should be governed. This is bad government in action. This is worse than "Lord of the Flies". And what can be done about it? Can the Connecticut Taxpayer trust anyone in their government? Why should they? Maybe it is time to start all over in the state.  Connecticut's problems never go away nor does the constant spending of Connecticut Taxpayers monies resolve anything. The passing of greater laws does not resolve anything but create added benefits for the masses to benefit a privileged few. Connecticut has the same problems year in and year out. All of the excessive laws and excessive taxation just further exaggerates the same old problems.  Nothing changes. Why is that difficult to see in plain sight?

Term limits, spending caps, administrative salary reductions, and an overhaul of state laws/regulations and ethical politicians would be a great start in ending Connecticut's bad government. But in a state that has veered this excessively to the socialist left it is not possible. Or is it? Time will tell as the stale incoherent leftists and their incoherent and incompetent rhetoric fall on the deaf ears of the Connecticut Taxpayers and they start to scream loudly about this mockery masquerading as government.

Saturday, March 15, 2025

The Community Investment Fund: Continuing Investments In Failure, Courtesy of Your Elected Officials

Since the beginning of the second Donald J. Trump Administration, we have lived in an era I like to call “The Age of Doge.” Announced in late 2024, this advisory body has been torching waste, fraud, and abuse and the streamlining of government operations, reflecting a cultural shift in how citizens view government. 

The interest in Doge increases every day, especially as more people realize how badly government at all levels has been ripping them off over a protracted period of years. Given the economic horrors of the last four years, no citizen in his or her right mind wants to see more of their scarce dollars going for impractical and superfluous governmental endeavors.

But alas, we have Connecticut.

For many years. Connecticut Taxpayers are taxed for many failed programs in the State of Connecticut. Connecticut continues to rank last or near last in many economic and business friendly categories while ranking as one of the highest taxed states in the country. Connecticut is a state where the governor and the legislature could not develop sound economic, energy and tax policy if their collective lives depended on it. But Connecticut can fund shaky non-profits, “quasi-publics” (whatever “quasi-public” means) and “Funds” with regularity and by using your tax dollars. The Community Investment Fund Board is just one of a series of interesting agencies that gets to spend $875 million tax dollars and has shown little to no result in helping Connecticut out of its 35-year economic quagmire to date.

The Community Investment Fund Board (“CIF”) states the following according to its website: "The CIF will award up to $175 million each fiscal year. It will be awarded over two or more application periods per year. If this catches your attention and you would like to send your local representatives a thank-you note, the fund is a statewide program authorized in Section 32-285a of the Connecticut General Statutes.

Of course, failure in Connecticut is often a team effort.
Several state entities work together to award CIF grants: The Department of Economic and Community Development ("DECD") administers the program by overseeing the application process, vetting applications, sending application summaries to the CIF Board, and managing awards and reporting. As my friend and colleague Tony De Angelo often says, the DECD should be abolished for non-performance, (but I digress). In addition, the CIF Board and Office of the Governor review applications and the summaries prepared by DECD and make recommendations to the State Bond Commission. The State Bond Commission drives Connecticut further into debt and ruin as it approves projects for grants. (https://portal.ct.gov/communityinvestmentfund/about-the-fund?language=en_US). 

Below is a description of the applicable projects for funding:

Eligible Projects: Promote economic or community development in the municipality where the project is located and Consistently and systematically advance fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved and marginalized communities such as Black, Latino and indigenous and native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; persons comprising the LGBTQ+ community; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality. (https://portal.ct.gov/communityinvestmentfund/about-the-fund?language=en_US). Query if those working and taxpaying citizens burdened with fuel costs, food costs and electricity costs are “otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality” and are therefore, qualifying. However, my sentiment is they do not.

If you would like to add some cherries and sprinkles to this sundae of failure, the CIF Board is led by "economic expert" co-chairs Matthew Ritter, Speaker of the House and Martin R. Looney, Senate President Pro Tempore. Being Connecticut politicians that could not start an economic fire with a book of matches and a gallon of gas, they did the only thing they knew how to do. Give cash.

On March 11, the Board gave away a lot of cash.

Included in the giveaways were $2 million to help Planned Parenthood of Southern New England renovate a property into a new home for its New London health center. As I stated in a recent blog Planned Parenthood of Southern New England's President and CEO Amanda Skinner earned $434,095 and $18,574 in "other" compensation in fiscal year 2023. This organization also has $57,330,020 in "net assets" in fiscal year 2023. (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/60263565) while also receiving an "emergency" funding of $800,000 from HB 7066 "An Act Concerning Interactions Between School Personnel And Immigration Authorities, The Purchase And Operation Of Certain Drones, Grants To Certain Nonprofit Organizations, And Student Athlete Compensation Through Endorsement Contracts And Revenue Sharing Agreements."  Obviously the $57,330,020 in "net assets" they have is not enough to repair this building in New London, they, being a poor charity and all.

$6.12 million was given to the Greater Dwight Development Corp. in New Haven to help build eleven units of affordable housing and community space. Linda Townsend Maier is the Executive Director of this organization and receives $120,113 along with $3,023 in "other" compensation in fiscal year 2023. This organization also has $2,809,764 in "net assets" in fiscal year 2023. (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/61414605). New Haven keeps rebuilding and has little to show for it except for high taxes and a high crime rate. But it is in the top 10 in the country in defying Federal law in trying to protect illegal aliens from deportation.

We also find that $1.6 million was given to Hartford to acquire and redevelop three properties in its Homestead Redevelopment Corridor. According to its website, this corridor is described as follows "The Homestead Avenue Redevelopment Plan aims to employ a mix of land use strategies to transform this key thoroughfare in the Upper Albany neighborhood. A shared community vision will be developed through community and stakeholder collaboration. This vision will guide actions to accelerate brownfield cleanup, revive vacant properties, facilitate new housing opportunities, and implement placemaking strategies that showcase Homestead Avenue and Upper Albany's distinctive character."  (https://www.activatehomesteadave.com/about). I was unable to find any financials with regards to this project on their website. Meanwhile, it is sad and fair to say that the only thing Hartford has excelled at in the last four decades are crime and economic desertion and decay, so throwing more money at a sinking ship will solve nothing. There are many great game-changing economic ideas such as making Hartford a Qualified Opportunity Zone or a tax-free zone with added police and public safety support. How about funding real merit-based schools with real teachers teaching real skills? (But since all those ideas are from the “Book of Trump,” the Legislature avoids them like the plague regardless of the value they bring to a city desperately needing value).

Unfortunately, the economic redundancy and paralyzed thinking is not just limited to legislative Democrats. As quoted in the March 12, 2025 Hartford Business JournalA roughly $250 million plan to transform Enfield’s dying mall into a mix of apartments, hotels, retail and restaurant space is in line for a $10 million state grant after a state panel included the project among 35 grants tentatively approved for $77.14 million in state bonding. 

“…that could really be transformative for all of our communities as we are seeing malls in general needing to be repurposed,” said House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora (R-North Branford), a member of the Community Investment Fund 2030 board. “A lot of them are dying around the state, and Enfield is sort of leading the way potentially as to what that project should look like. I think we have other malls down the road that might need the same sort of redevelopment.” (https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/community-investment-fund-board-oks-7714m-in-grants-for-enfield-mall-redevelopment-other-ct?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Green%20Hub%20becomes%20major%20player%20in%20Waterbury%20%7C%20Tax%20pros%3A%20Don%20t%20wait%20to%20create%20business%20succession%20plan&utm_campaign=HBJ%20Today%20031225. )Funny how other than borrowing money the question is never asked as to what “repurposing” will mean in the final analysis, if it even gets that far? Stores? People are either afraid to shop and/or shop at home. Housing? Who will live in overpriced apartments in an anti-business state where businesses are leaving left and right? Nonprofits? Great. Let us build more non-taxpaying properties in the State of Connecticut. Funding for building the projects? If you are a banker, would you lend to such a questionable project? I guess is not a worry with the CIF, which can crank up taxpayer money in a heartbeat, can just borrow more, taxpayer again, be damned.

Of course, there were many other organizations receiving funding from the Community Investment Fund. They included the typical non-profit organizations to help feed people, help to community activities, house people, street scapes, etc. What should amaze Connecticut taxpayers is that in a $26.2 billion dollar state budget one should examine how much money is already spent on social welfare services and programs. What is the net result? More funding for the same types of programs with Community Investment Fund spending along with the same results, which are lacking in results. Has there ever been any critical thinking as to whether fewer organizations and personnel could be reorganized to deliver a greater impact on services? The private sector does it all the time. But this of course, is the Connecticut government. (So, perish that thought).

But the beat goes on. Connecticut still has $100 to $150 billion dollars in short- and long-term debt along with unfunded liabilities that just never get addressed with the superficial all-purpose solution of reinstating the  "fiscal guardrails" and repetitive rhetoric on solving Connecticut's massive social and economic problems.  We really should have none of these social and economic problems with the money Connecticut Taxpayers have spent over the years. Yet we do. Connecticut has state agency after state agency with catchy, feel good “SomethingCT” type names and political nepotism continues as the norm with little results since the advent of the 1991 "cure-all" state income tax slammed on Connecticut Taxpayers, and such tax was the narcotic starting the state on the road to fiscal ruin.

For now. 34 years and counting Connecticut's decline is on view for all to see both economically and socially. The old/new funding by the Community Investment Fund Board is just more of the same. Throw good money after bad, drink to excess in the Legislative garage, and cheer about it all the way to bankruptcy.

 

Saturday, March 08, 2025

Connecticut! A Train Wreck In The Making

 Connecticut! It is home to an estimated 3.6 million souls. This same Connecticut has spent the last 35 years playing demographic musical chairs in its continual mission to destroy itself from within.

Connecticut! Let us start with illegal immigration. For the last few years, Connecticut’s Fearless Leader King Governor Ned Lamont The Unaccountable told us via his state-run mouthpieces that Connecticut did not have an illegal immigration problem, while anyone with any knowledge of facts rather than fiction found that statement to be laughable. Today, we see Illegal immigrants continually pouring in, while the state’s higher-educated, higher-income, and downright wealthier citizens tired of carrying the costs of this destructive foolishness, transition to saner, safer, and lower-taxed jurisdictions. Who can blame them? Connecticut boasts some of the nation’s most punishing property, state, and business taxes, not to mention sky-high housing, insurance, transportation, and electricity costs. Living in this liberal paradise does not come cheap. Just ask your wallet, or your neighbor.
 
Connecticut! If you want to be insulated from the plight of being a battered taxpaying legitimate citizen in Connecticut, there is another way! Join the government, or better still, the Connecticut State Legislature and become a member of the patrician class! Because if you are a member of the Legislature, you can go through life being a part of the most impractical, nonsensical and citizen crushing legislation ever known to mankind. But you need not care. Reality, and the burdens of the citizens you purport to represent are simply not your problem. You barrel forward in this current session, hell-bent on spending taxpayer cash with the restraint of a drunk at bar closing time and equivalent respect for the rule of law. After all, you are entitled.
 
Connecticut and governance? I really wonder as to how many legislators of any political stripe even understand this most critical concept in the least. As just one example, nonprofit governance in Connecticut is an overflowing out of control fiscal sewer. As you may recall, I recently shone a spotlight on the state’s nonprofit glut—24,195 active tax-exempt outfits as of 2025, according to ProPublica (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/states/CT)—a tangled web of political cronies and taxpayer-funded freeloaders, toadies, lackeys and hangers-on. Between 2019 and 2023, my analysis indicates that roughly 1,500 to 2,500 unique nonprofits consumed state funds, with annual recipient counts swinging from 600 to a bloated 1,200 in 2022, courtesy of budget dumps of your taxpayer money. Being in the Legislature, you may have heard about the Federal DOGE effort to root out fiscal waste, fraud, and abuse where a dilution in federal funding can severely impact the funding of your inept, illogical, and redundant pet causes, but you really do not care. Because, you see an inexhaustible resource in continually reaching into the pockets of state taxpayers. But in your mind that is fine, as who the hell cares about the average citizen, anyway?
 
Connecticut! Where the mind of most Democrat legislators treats their “causes” to be more important than life and reality. Take the Scholars Strategy Network (SSN), a Boston-based outfit with suspiciously cozy ties to the Connecticut Democratic Party and the University of Connecticut (UConn). Its Executive Director, Paola Maynard Moll, rakes in $158,403 plus a tidy $30,532 in "other" compensation—nice work if you can get it, right? (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/270480740). House Democrats gush over its "Collaborative Effort" with such groups, conveniently forgetting to invite the minority party to the party. They wax poetic: "Using objectivity and scientific methods, they analyze the effects of policies or interventions. Their training allows them to synthesize knowledge across studies, determine policy effects, interpret nuance, and understand implementation challenges" (https://www.housedems.ct.gov/legislation-collaborative-effort). SSN even runs a sanctimonious "Help Others To Vote" gig at UConn (https://voting.socialwork.uconn.edu/help-others-to-vote/), which sounds noble until you recall Connecticut’s voter fraud debacles and the state’s nonprofit messes. Does any legislator ever question the propriety, redundancy, and usefulness of these myriad nonprofit cash cows? Why would they? Because governance may mean that the well will run dry at the time of your next glad-hand and photo op and your time to throw taxpayer cash around.

 

Connecticut! Where if this seems bad, unbelievably, things even get worse. We saw the taxpayer-gouging masterpiece Senate Bill 1453, "An Act Concerning Emergency Nonprofit Assistance," rammed through the House on Wednesday March 5, with the sole purpose of bankrolling Democratic pet causes. In typical Connecticut fashion, the language is so vague you would think it was intentionally designed to dodge questions.  

The delusional and self-interested haul is divided up as follows:

 (1) 45.3 percent to nonprofits coddling the LGBTQ+ community.


(2) 26.7 percent to reproductive health care squads like Planned Parenthood.


(3) 22.1 percent to refugee and immigration assistance—because Connecticut is a sanctuary state.


(4) 2.1 percent to community and youth empowerment (whatever that means); and


(5) 3.8 percent skimmed by the Judicial Department for “administration, whatever “administration” may mean:

 

(https://fastdemocracy.com/bill-search/ct/2025/bills/CTB00032774/).

 

Connecticut! Where in the face of DOGE and citizens pleading for spending restraint and fiscal governance, Connecticut Democrats laugh in their faces, plowing ahead with an agenda that spits on citizens while showering special interests with cash. The League of Women Voters of Connecticut snagged $200,000 in 2019 from the Democracy Fund—part of a $650,000 handout to 25 groups—because nothing screams "democracy" like state-subsidized voter drives in a fraud-riddled state. Meanwhile, Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) pocketed $150,000 that year via the Immigrant Integration Pilot Program, one slice of a $300,000 pie for immigrant “resettlement”. Add in the NAACP of Connecticut ($100,000) and Lutheran Refugee Services ($100,000), and you have gotten a cool $700,000 to $950,000 annually from 2019 to 2023 for these niche crusades—totaling $3.5 million to $4.75 million over five years. That is miniscule next to the $1.4 billion in annual state contracts propping up 500-700 nonprofits yearly, a gravy train so lavish it would make Frank Nitti and John Gotti blush. But this of course is Connecticut, where self-dealing, fraud, drunk driving (and drunk law making) legislators, hidden business in state nonprofits and gargantuan un-ascertainable deficits are just normal operating procedure in the land of all things Nutmeg. 
 
Meanwhile, Connecticut government continues its duplicitous and carpetbagging ways, ostensibly undeterred by a nation and a large part of the state that finds this conduct reprehensible. This will lead to a collision course. Either the continued crushing taxation and spending will drive the last of productive capacities out of state, or the impending cuts in Federal funding will cause a different type of destruction from within. Neither scenario bodes well for the once proud and now teetering governance-less State of Connecticut.

Saturday, March 01, 2025

Connecticut's Pork of HB 7066-To the Victims: You Will Be Spoiled

 As we discussed last week (and in drawing on the great Mark Twain) Connecticut Taxpayers are never, ever safe with the Democrat State legislature in session. Needless to say, there are no checks and balances to state government since Connecticut is ruled and driven with a hard, liberal fist of Connecticut Democrat Party socialism.  More evidence of this citizen-be-damned rule can be seen in one of the most incoherent bills seen in a long time: HB 7066 "An Act Concerning Interactions Between School Personnel And Immigration Authorities, The Purchase And Operation Of Certain Drones, Grants To Certain Nonprofit Organizations, And Student Athlete Compensation Through Endorsement Contracts And Revenue Sharing Agreements."  This catchy, feel good, political glad-handing and payoff bill is an excellent example of why both the Connecticut State Legislature and Connecticut's State Government is broken beyond repair. (https://legiscan.com/CT/text/HB07066/2025)

This bill (“bill”) spends over $2.88 million dollars of Connecticut Taxpayers monies on a variety of "feel good" and "politically correct" nonprofits and organizations having no benefit to the hardworking and taxpaying legitimate citizen. In a note of hope for the future, the bill's funding was somehow cut/reduced by DOGE or the "evil" Republicans such as Republican President Trump. The bill makes a stew of incoherent issues such as making foreign made drones illegal, procedures to ignore Federal laws regarding illegal immigration, and making sure student athletes especially at the University of Connecticut, (aka “U-Conned”) can get paid ridiculous amounts of money for playing a college sport. The bill itself is a gourmet feast of pork, political art, and incoherence at its worst.

As just one example, $800,000 is included in this bill for “Planned Parenthood of Southern New England”.  Planned Parenthood of Southern New England's President and CEO Amanda Skinner earned $434,095 and $18,574 in "other" compensation in fiscal year 2023. This organization also has $57,330,020 in "net assets" in fiscal year 2023. (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/60263565). Thus, one may assume that without this $800,000 from Connecticut Taxpayers that Planned Parenthood of Southern New England will either go out of business and or President and CEO Amanda Skinner would have to take a pay cut or have her position eliminated. Why is this $800,000 so critical to the operation of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England? Did any of the “talented public servants” in the Connecticut State Legislature bother to perform the simple five-minute analysis that I just did that would reflect this money is simply not needed? Did any of these same people question the salary paid to Amanda Skinner prior to the grant from the bill? Or does anyone there even care as to how they spend your tax money? (Why should we even bother to ask such a nonsensical question)

But wait! There is more!! Adding further insult to the Connecticut Taxpayer are grants to more than twenty nonprofit organizations. These include $62,500 to the “Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants, Inc.” The President and CEO of the “Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants, Inc.,” Susan Schnitzer, made $108,355 in salary and $12,130 in "other" compensation for fiscal year 2023.  This organization also has $1,684,033 in "net assets" in fiscal year 2023. (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/60669118). Thus, one may assume that without this $62,500 from Connecticut Taxpayers that they either will go out of business and or President and CEO Susan Schnitzer would have to take a pay cut. Why is this $62,500 so critical to their operation? Is any part of this funding to be expended in support of illegal immigration? Are you curious about this? (If you are, do not bother asking a legislator, as we can be absolutely sure none of them asked this question when the grant was contemplated or thereafter).

Also included for free cash is the “Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, Inc.” which will receive $225,000. Then-Executive Director Chris George of the Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, Inc. made $122,987 in salary and $11,033 in "other" compensation for fiscal year 2023. This organization also has $4,864,659 in "net assets" in fiscal year 2023. (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/60653044). Thus, one may assume that without this $225,000 from Connecticut Taxpayers, Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, Inc. will either go out of business and/or the successor of Executive Director Chris George would have to take a pay cut. Why is this $225,000 so critical to their operation? Will any part of this funding be used in the encouragement of illegal alien voting? It is known that in 2023, Chris George wrote on the site about his post-retirement plans being the “strengthening our democracy by working on voter registration and voter turnout.” Does this not provoke your curiosity? Does Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, Inc. have any involvement with illegal voter registration? Are they working on the up-and-up, or to the contrary? Will anyone in the Legislature ever ask the right questions or exercise fiscal governance in the least?

HB 7066 was deemed as an "Emergency Certification” bill. This legislative maneuver (which should deemed illegal) is used to fast-track legislation without vetting by legislative process, such as public hearings. The legislative process is made deliberately difficult to research and to understand by Connecticut Taxpayers to facilitate the repeated financial rape of them. Most certainly it is meant to be that way, and it is made excessively complex to push through junk bills like HB7066 that give the distinct appearance of payoffs and show an arrogant disagreement with Federal policies that Connecticut must now follow. For we know, garbage legislation  suits the political needs of the Connecticut Democrat Party and its sycophants’ supplicants, toadies, flunkies, and lackeys, (and who gives a rip-roaring red apple about you, anyway?)  

Moreover, how does this over $2.88 million dollars in "emergency certification” apply to Connecticut's venerated and celebrated "fiscal guardrails"? This is just another lie circulating in Connecticut's corrupt Legislature. The fiscal horrors of Connecticut are not discussed by either party. Connecticut's short- and long-term debt along with its unfunded liabilities is roughly $100 to $150 billion dollars. There is no plan whatsoever to resolve this fiscal tsunami and nightmare for Connecticut Taxpayers which deficit the "guardrails" do not touch. But holding on to false or incomplete fiscal ideals while blithely handing out money to cronies and twisted idealist and secretive projects is a Connecticut hallmark. And one really must question the amount of money given to "non-profits" especially in Connecticut.  Connecticut taxpayers seem to have no say in their government that they pay for nor are they allowed public comment especially for spending bills such as HB7066. 

And as usual Connecticut Taxpayers keep getting financially raped. The Connecticut of dodgy and questionable nonprofits and pilfering college leaders inter-alia continues unabated with the only hope of curtailing the same will be cutoffs in Federal funding. 

But rest assured, Connecticut will continue to soldier on to fiscal Armageddon with new heights in citizen disregard and crony-feeding. The Connecticut Democrat Party will make sure of that premise, ad infinitum, and forevermore.

 

Saturday, February 22, 2025

Constitutional Crisis? The Democrat Party IS The Constitutional Crisis

It is an amazement to listen to the new Democrat Party experts on the United States Constitution as to what constitutes a "Constitutional Crisis". Of course, this is the same incompetent and sordid cast of characters that locked us down in 2020 “following the science” of Covid-19 while at least three Constitutional rights of Americans were violated. But you are supposed to forget about those abuses and losses of lives and livelihoods as The Democrats are the party that is always out to protect you and shield you from all manners of harm and disinformation, as its leaders such as Connecticut's King Governor Ned Lamont the Unaccountable find ways to profit from citizen pain and misfortune.

Lest you think I digress, I find that as I listen to the daily noise echoed by these same Democrat Party elites one would think that America has fallen off the face of the earth and or was taken over by foreign enemies or fascists. And it is shocking as to how little Democrat elected officials understand our sacred document known as the United States Constitution. Read the Preamble: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

This grand-scale mental and emotional meltdown is due to the beginnings of the dismantling of a bureaucracy via the new Department of Government Efficiency known as DOGE. I personally do not see any references to DOGE in the Constitution. Looking at some of DOGE's findings which I discussed in my blog last week, the storm continues in intensity. Listening to Connecticut's Socialist/Democrat/Unhinged Lunatic United States Senator Chris Murphy raging against DOGE was comical. He stated: "that President Donald Trump and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk's actions constitute "illegal seizures of power," sparking a "constitutional crisis.". He further stated: "Democrats should not support "a single nominee" appointed by Trump and "should not grant expedited process to any nominees until this crisis passes."     As for USAID, the senator said Trump "has gone as far to essentially shutter the entire agency, laying off 60% of the people in many bureaus, telling employees yesterday that none of them should show up for work." "That is unconstitutional" the senator said, speculating that Trump "may be making a guess" that the U.S. Supreme Court will give him the power to shutter agencies. (https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-senator-says-trump-seizures-power-have-sparked-constitutional-crisis-calls-block-all-nominees). So much for this Democrat Secretary of State wannabe working with his peers for the betterment of our country.  A $36 Trillion-dollar National Debt can be damned according to Socialist/Democrat/Unhinged Lunatic United States Senator Murphy, as the man baby continually cries out to do it his way or visit the highway so you can be run over. Murphy might consider becoming an actor as he is suited for that rather than governing.

Why haven't all of the Country's problems been solved yet? But we have spent trillions so far with little result? Murphy and his Democrat Political Elite avoid this question. This past Tuesday, I was interviewed by my good friend Tony De Angelo who was the guest Host for Lee Elci on his show 94.9FM. To paraphrase part of what I stated on the show that it is simplistic yet complex for our government to understand. Let us just think about the trillions of dollars we have spent over 60 years reaching all of the way back to “The Great Society” of President Lyndon B. Johnson. But we still have wars, we still have homeless, we still have people starving, we still have crime, we still have a drug crisis, we still have human trafficking, we still have dead people collecting social security, we still have pathetic rotting cities, and we still have fraud/waste and theft going on in our government.  There are never any solutions offered by the Democrat Party on these issues except to throw more money at these same agencies, studies, reports, committees, and programs and get the same failed results, only with greater failure. We really should have none of these problems with the money American Taxpayers have spent over the years.

It is funny that America’s forerunners knew more about 2025 America than today’s politicians. Mark Twain was an American writer, humorist, and lecturer, widely regarded as one of the greatest literary figures in U.S. history. He blended sharp social commentary with humor and vivid storytelling. Twain was a master of satire, often critiquing human nature, politics, and institutions with a biting wit. At one point, Mr. Twain famously stated that “No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session” Unfortunately for the poor taxpaying citizen of Connecticut, this must be the most accurate description of the Connecticut State Legislature ever made. For rather than take heed of the will of citizens to tax less, increase government transparency and accountability, reduce utility costs, and strip out bureaucracy, the fervor of what has driven Connecticut to the gutter driven by the imperious and arrogant Democrat-driven representative body continues at a frantic pace. Be it an electricity cost that will increase with no critical action when solutions are easy and obvious, more reckless spending in education-just because, the veneration and protection of illegal aliens over citizens and veterans, increased spending on climate change, and uncontrolled grants to non-profits, money is never an object to the delusional and inept legislator. In these cases, the legitimate taxpaying citizen prays for federal funding to be discontinued to the state so that further damage will be starved out at the source.

Speaking of great men of history, there is a quote that has been attributed to President Abraham Lincoln that was paraphrased from the historical Lincoln Douglas Debates. This quote is appropriate for 2025 and what we are now seeing with the Democrat Party and their cries of a Constitutional Crisis, stating that “You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” President Lincoln also stated: “It is the eternal struggle between these two principles — right and wrong — throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, "You toil and work and earn bread, and I'll eat it." No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.” (https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/403565-the-lincoln-douglas-debates)

The American and Connecticut Taxpayer is tired of being fooled by an out-of-control government who shows no respect for them. They are tied of the whining of the political elitists who know so much more than they, but actually, know nothing.  The Democrat Party has created their own crisis of destruction, incompetence, and lies into a macabre and horrific art form. They own it. President Trump is leading our country. The Democrat Party is leading in their own slum of deceit, incompetency, and corruption.

Society will be much better off if the Democrat Party goes the way of the Whig Party. This would be a fitting tribute for sixty years of failure reaching back all the way to Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society.

Saturday, November 30, 2024

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.

Saturday, November 23, 2024

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.



Saturday, June 17, 2023

Connecticut's Constant and Continual Debt Crisis

Democrat Connecticut's euphoria of its recently passed $51.1 billion dollar "we cut taxes!" biennial budget is endemic of the 33 year political tango of fiscal denial where the state will certainly face fiscal Armageddon in the near future.  Contrary to the shouts of joy from Ned Lamont and his Connecticut Democrat Party, Connecticut has a massive spending and debt problem.  This economic downward spiral started with the advent of the Utopian state income tax in 1990-91 in the opinion of many. Debts continue to pile up for Connecticut to a point of no return.

How does a state as small as Connecticut and with as small a population of legal citizens as Connecticut, spend as much as it does?  Yearly,  the state spends a massive amount of money each year on state employee salaries, benefits and pensions for both its management and non management employees along with interest on its' debt.  It also has borrowed and bonded enormous sums of money.  Bonds get paid off and then are immediately renewed into new bonds.  It is fascinating to see that Connecticut will spend a mere $823.3 million dollars of Connecticut taxpayers monies in its new budget for "economic development". Much of this bulbous sum will be uselessly paid to a failed and non-transparent "quasi-public" entity oxymoronically known as the "Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development". Even with this massive amount of money that is spent for such "economic development", Connecticut continues to rank at the bottom or near the bottom in most business and economic categories in the country, and still can not pull itself out of the 2008 recession level of job formation, since so many businesses have closed and or moved out of state.

What is Connecticut's actual debt?  I can only estimate it since hard figures seem to be in short supply when analyzing this debt.   In this year's budget (https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/OPM/Budget/2024_2025_Biennial_Budget/Budget_WebPage/GovBudget_2024-25_Final-Web-Version.pdf-A18,19)  the summary of principal and interest that the state has outstanding through 2043 for bonding functions is a mere $24,174,979,627 billion dollars.  There is also outstanding principal and interest on this fiscal nut through 2043 for special tax obligations is $9,935,799,580 billion dollars.  It is difficult to find more figures from the state budget as to a "true" amount of how much actual short and long term debt along with unfunded liabilities exist.  Estimates may range from $100 to $150 billion dollars.  Here, the major problem is the actual amount of unfunded state pension debt.  How much is it?  Does anyone know? This was magically resolved by an economically irrational and fiscally illiterate Democrat Party plan to lower current payments and have future generations figure out how to pay for it.  State pension reform seems to be an issue that one is forbidden to discuss in the state legislature by either political party, as both parties are on record for cheering this faux "pension reform", neither willing to bite the bullet necessary to change this drastically bad course.

What is the plan (if any) to pay off this debt?  I have seen nothing mentioned about it over the years.  Connecticut spends a massive amount of money each year.  There would seem to be a great deal of wasted spending in the budget each year also since there is an excessive amount of debt in the state.  The state budget is also unexamined at any real length since the Connecticut Democrat Party introduces it with little time to even read the hundreds of pages of accounting information and check for accurate figures at the last minutes of the legislative session.  The marching orders are simple: Just vote on it and make sure the politically connected of Connecticut are rewarded and have their palms greased by grants, subsidies and other types of goodies funded by Connecticut Taxpayers with no oversight or accountability.  These are the same taxpayers who have absolutely no say whatsoever in where their hard earned monies go.   Taxpayer- be-damned seems to have been the common theme of the Democrat Party controlled State Legislature for years now.  It is truly taxation without representation and the identical reason as to why the Colonists threw the tea in the river in Boston some years ago.  It is 1776 all over again.

Saturday, May 13, 2023

As 700 Bills Are Introduced In The Connecticut Legislature, State Policy Cripples The State

 The "Constitution State" of Connecticut has thousands upon thousands of legislative bills that are on its legal records.  In the course of your lifetime, you could not actually read them all and digest what their implications are and  their collective impact on Connecticut.  There have been bills signed into law that pretty much control all aspects of your day to day lives.  There have been bills that have been signed into law that pretty much tax everything and anything in the state.  There have been bills that have been signed into law that pretty much were vehemently opposed by Connecticut Taxpayers but were rammed down our throats by the Connecticut Democrat Party (think, the state income tax).  There have been bills that have been signed into law that pretty much have over-regulated business and industry in the state, to the extent it has moved out of the state.  There have been bills that have been signed into law that pretty much picked the winners and losers in the state economy. And there have been bills that have been signed into law that pretty much keep Connecticut as one of the highest taxed states and one of the lowest economically performing states in the country year in and year out, thereby making economic weakness the predominant "steady habit" in the land of Nutmeg.


Sadly in 2023, it has been no different in Connecticut's latest incoherent Legislative session with over 700 bills being introduced.  Many bills are just feel good liberal gibberish and incoherency conforming to the omnipotent Democrat one-party rule in the state.  These bills range from more taxation without representation, to the elimination of freedom of speech, to the far reaching consequences of eliminating male and female words from the state vocabulary.  Any opposing viewpoints coming from the opposing party or from constituents are greeted with a vile hatred, and are automatically voted down by the pompous ruling elites.  Thus Connecticut Taxpayers are disregarded and have not been heard by their supposed "elected" leaders for many years. This year is the same as it has been for over 30 years.  There is some talk of an actual tax break for the remaining working class but it is pitifully minimal given the runaway Democrat inflation that is ruining the economy at this time.  And it will not help overtaxed Connecticut Taxpayers since legal spending caps will be ignored and worked around by the Connecticut Democrat Party.  Connecticut has over $150 billion dollars in long and short term debt, along with its unfunded liabilities.  Unfunded pension liabilities were recently configured differently to push state payments down the road for future payments  by economics expert, Comptroller Sean Scanlon to the applause of political leaders. The effect of this act of financial genius will create a bigger fiscal bomb to be thrown on the backs of taxpayers in years to come. With economic vision such as this instance, we might as well toss "fiscal ignorance" in the same steady habit category as "economic futility", when we speak of all policies Nutmeg. 


Meanwhile, back in the Capitol Building, I really do not know what can be done to eliminate the illogical amount of legislative bills being introduced every year.  State legislators apparently are showing the Connecticut Taxpayers what a great job they are doing with all the ridiculous bills they sponsor.  However the grim reality for Connecticut is that most of these bills do little to improve the state other than to suffice and pad the pockets of the lobbyists, special interest groups, and political hangers-on that control the state hand-in-hand with the Ned Lamont Democrat Party. 

Thus another legislative year will be closing soon.  Connecticut Taxpayers have once again been forgotten about, and will once again see more personal freedoms removed from them and pay higher taxes of some sort so that the ruling Connecticut political elite and its public unions benefits.  Connecticut Taxpayers will also be told that this group and that group along with state universities, unions and public schools are in desperate need of more money and more sources of funding.  Connecticut Taxpayers be damned once again.  In a state filled with rampant crime, corruption, an unsustainable debt and a failed economy, over 700 bills offered, will once again do little to improve the state.  How could it not be 1776 all over again with a failed state government oozing distress and despair and fiscal ineptitude, while promoting a spoils system, all while Connecticut burns daily?

Saturday, December 31, 2022

Ned Lamont's "No Salary" For His Second Term. But He Made $54 Million Dollars in 2021?

Democrat Governor Ned Lamont is once again not taking a salary for being the ruling by decree Governor of Connecticut for his second term.  Connecticut Taxpayers paying one of the highest amounts of state and local taxes in the country can all rest easy tonight knowing their Governor has once again declined his salary for 2023-2026.  Lamont was scheduled to earn $226,711 next year but once again has declined it.  Lamont made $54,000,000 in income for 2021 according to his feeble and disguised representation of his income taxes.  One has to wonder how Lamont made so much money since Connecticut Taxpayers were not allowed to view his tax return, but were told most of his income was made through investments. 

Connecticut Taxpayers do not know how much Lamont paid in federal and state income taxes on this $54 million dollars in income for 2021 if any taxes were paid at all, since he has SEC documented ties to offshore tax havens.  A question that has to be asked by Connecticut Taxpayers since neither the Connecticut State run media nor the Legislature will ask, is through what investments is Ned Lamont earning this money, and where are these investments located?

Was this investment income made through the basically now worthless stock of Sema-4?  Was the investment income made through the multi-million dollar state loans given to Sema-4 that were forgiven by the state?  Was the investment income made through the loans and/or sweetheart deals made by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development to Lamont family hedge fund companies?  Was the investment income made through cryptocurrency companies such as Digital Currency group and its affiliates that were subsidized by the state?  Was the investment income made through the all new "non profit" ADVANCECT?  Was it made through the selling of citizen data via Boston Consulting Group, Mt. Sinai Genomics and/or McKinsey? Was the investment income made through the Lamont-based shell companies that were formed in the Cayman Islands and other tax havens? 

As usual it is business as usual for Democrat Governor Ned Lamont's various investments and companies that are just too plain hard and economically complex to be questioned or digested in any manner  by Connecticut's State run media.  Yet, we have seen a constant condemnation of all of Republican President Trump's companies and investments even though he has been audited yearly since 2009 with no issues found from these audits resulting in additional tax assessments.  So much for transparency in the Democrat Ned Lamont profit making Administration.  Will Democrat Governor Ned Lamont ever be audited?  Will Democrat Governor Ned Lamont come clean on his investments?   It is also comical to note that Connecticut still has $125 to $150 billion dollars in short and long term debt along with unfunded liabilities.  It is also comical to note that there is no plan whatsoever to pay down this debt.  I guess that $226,711 in salary saved by Lamont will go a long way in paying down $125 to $150 billion dollars in debt and unfunded liabilities.
 
Democrat Governor Ned Lamont may now enjoy four more years of unchecked and non-audited investment profits and income beginning on Sunday, January 1, 2023.  Democrat Governor Ned Lamont can use Connecticut Taxpayers for four more years as his personal piggy bank for complex, secretive financial companies, and byzantine schemes throughout the world for his personal financial gain with no oversight whatsoever.  Connecticut taxpayers of all political persuasions should take note of that, as they struggle to survive and live in the corrupted, inept, incompetent economic wasteland known as the "Constitution State" Connecticut. Some do realize that is truly is 1776 all over again.


Saturday, August 20, 2022

The $45,150,000 Ned Lamont Sema-4 Debacle For Connecticut Taxpayers

 What's another $45,150,000 to Connecticut Taxpayers who are already in debt for roughly $150 billion dollars of short and long term debt along with unfunded liabilities at this time?  The $45,150,000 is what Sema 4 has been able to obtain with little to no oversight in Covid-19 and Genomics testing from the State of Connecticut.  Loans and unknown billings and payments that in many cases continue not to be reconciled nor disclosed as of today.  This is all public information as found on the website: (/opencheckbook.ct.gov/#!/year/All%20Years/explore/0-/vendor/SEMA4+GENOMICS/1/service).  My good friend Tony De Angelo on his weekly segment on the Lee Elci radio show on 94.9 WJJF New London, CT has been talking about these payments for over two years now and I have written about them on several occasions.  Incredibly Sema 4 is now laying people off.  250 Connecticut employees were laid off and the Branford location will be closing at the end of the year.  They apparently are moving to Maryland.

But wait! What about the State of Connecticut loan of $15 million dollars to this politically connected company?  Will that be repaid?  Or was it a typical Connecticut Democrat Party loan that does not need to be paid back nor accounted for in the corrupted political world of Connecticut since it apparently was approved in secret?   Why are many of the invoices that Sema 4 was paid for still not reconciled in the state ledger?  What did Sema 4 do with the State of Connecticut loan money?  What was the role of the Lamont's family hedge fund with Sema 4 and how was there no conflict of interest seen between the Governor and this company?  Is there any accountability for it and or questioning by any state oversight agency as to the money spent?  We still do not have answers from two years ago as to the companies that have had investments made in them by Oak HC/FT Partners 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 a few.   They seem to all have ties to Connecticut also in the form of contracts to do business with the State of Connecticut, its non profits, or surrounding states via no bid contracts.  Connecticut Taxpayers still do not how much profit was made by Oak HC/FT Partners and the Lamont family  from these contracts and or companies.  What about a securities fraud law firm, asking for an investigation of Sema4 Holdings Corp. on behalf of its investors this past week?  Again why is this not an issue in the current campaign for Governor?  Why can't Connecticut Taxpayers get answers?

Why does corporate welfare continue in Connecticut?  Do Connecticut Taxpayers and the economy gain anything other than lies and smoke screens from corporate welfare?  What purpose and economic value did the $45,150,000 worth of payments provide Connecticut Taxpayers?  Why was Sema 4 given a $15, 000,000 loan only to have their business decline, lay workers off and basically move out of state?  No questions asked by any elected official in the state about this.  

Truth continues to be in short supply with Ned Lamont, his family's hedge fund and the Connecticut Democrat Party.  Ned Lamont really needs to come clean with the secret web he has woven around his financial interests financed by the Connecticut Taxpayers.  The Connecticut Democrat party lead by  Ned Lamont apparently feels that Connecticut Taxpayers need to be enslaved by them and their financial interests.  The Connecticut Democrat party led by Ned Lamont created a great deal  of economic damage because of their Covid-19 restrictions, decrees and ruthless shutdowns of the states economy.  They decided  it was OK for for those elderly and ill trapped in homes and rehab centers due to their incoherent "health and safety" guidelines to die a slow death from Covid-19.  It is sickening what this state has gone through because of these policies.  The failures of Ned Lamont can not be seen nor spoken about by the state run media as his only concern has been making a buck off Connecticut Taxpayers.  Enough is enough.

And it is 1776 all over again




Saturday, September 25, 2021

Ned Lamont And The Connecticut Democrat Party Love To Create A Crisis To Benefit Themselves

Ned Lamont and his Connecticut Democrat Party love to manufacture a crisis.  A crisis that will hopefully brings profits to Ned Lamont's family hedge fund and other Connecticut Democrat Party members and their families.   A crisis that has no need to end and or needs to be resolved.  A Covid-19 manufactured crisis that has trapped Connecticut taxpayers in perpetual servitude of Ned Lamont and his Connecticut Democrat Party.  A manufactured Covid-19 crisis that is unique to all other states in our country.  Why does Ned Lamont needs his Executive Orders Governorship to be extended until next February, 2022? Is it that he can continue his supreme reign over the Connecticut Taxpayer for his own personal gain? To continue to force a narrative of fear down the throats of the Connecticut Taxpayer.  To force a sense of gloom and doom and destruction and death upon the Connecticut Taxpayers if they do not obey his senseless vaccine and mask orders.  To avoid the real issues of issues in Connecticut that are fiscal incompetency and unchecked, unstoppable crime and murder.  To avoid the real issue in Connecticut that there is no public health crisis due to Covid-19.  To extended Ned Lamont's Executive Orders at this time of a manufactured Covid-19 crisis is both unethical and morally corrupt.  To force the children of Connecticut to be forced to wear masks is both unhealthy and contributing to the destruction of our future generations.  Future generations of children who will be suffering excessive mental and physical disorders along with social adjustment problems.  Also why are they forcing students to accept critical race theory and other nonsense in their masked up classrooms?  What happened to all the small businesses that were forced to close down and never to reopen again?  All for the sake of personal financial gain for the Lamont Administration and the Connecticut Democrat Party.

But who really cares since it seems that the only issue in Connecticut is to continue to prop up the lies and deceptions of the Lamont Administration and the Connecticut Democrat Party in conjunction with a paid off state run media.  The brazen nature that the Lamont Administration and the Connecticut Democrat Party have destroyed Connecticut should sicken Connecticut Taxpayers.  And I believe Connecticut Taxpayers have reached their breaking point and have had enough of the rhetoric of the Lamont Administration and the Connecticut Democrat Party.

The Covid-19 crisis 19 months later never seems to end.  Just keep flattening the curve of what? There seems to be a constant narrative being shoved down the throats of Connecticut Taxpayers and the children of the state which is fear and death from Covid-19.  The narrative of do as the Lamont Administration and the Connecticut Democrat Party says or face the consequences of the losses of personal freedom since you refuse to follow its illegal mandates.   And forget about crime, theft, murders, suicides and drug abuse in the state, that is completely ignored by he Lamont Administration and the Connecticut Democrat Party.

Is this really Connecticut?   I guess it is as the Lamont Administration and the Connecticut Democrat Party love to manufacture a crisis for their personal gain.  The time is long overdue to stop this rape of both personal freedom, Connecticut's children, and Connecticut Taxpayers.   There is no longer a crisis.  The crisis is in Connecticut's government and their total disregard for ethics and the Constitution of the state they supposedly govern.  It is 1776 all over again.