This is a clever tactic to turn nonprofit workers into a sympathetic de facto lobbying group for Connecticut’s dominant special interest — the government unions.

The fiscal guardrails are helping the private sector consider Connecticut as a place to do business again, giving us a chance to shake off the economic malaise that’s plagued us since the Great Recession.

The ongoing debate over the definition of a recession can be comical at times, but the effect of Connecticut’s last decade of economic decline is no laughing matter.