Ned Lamont, the new governor, has continued the patronage or political welfare system practiced by his Democratic predecessor, Dannel Malloy. In his first month in office Lamont has taken at least five members of the state legislature into high paying jobs in his administration. He is still a piker compared to Malloy who elevated about a dozen Democratic legislators to such jobs.
Francis P. DeStefano
Posted inCT Viewpoints
A Trump Administration progress report
Shortly after President Trump’s inauguration I thought that the true test of the Trump administration will be on how much it could deliver. If President Trump could just deliver on a third of his promises, it would be a successful presidency. Batting .333 is good in any league. I hoped that commentators would begin to focus on what the Trump administration actually does, and not what Donald Trump had done in his past or what they fear he will do in the future. Little did I realize how hard it would be to find out what the Trump administration has actually accomplished.
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Income equality, not inequality, that won out in 2016
I have long suspected that the statistics used by progressive advocates to complain about income inequality in America were either flawed or misrepresented. In the June 25 edition of the Wall Street Journal an opinion piece co-authored by Phil Gramm, a former chairman of the Senate banking committee, and Robert B. Ekelund, Jr., a professor emeritus in economics at Auburn University, bore out my suspicions.
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On the new HUD subsidy calculation — check the math
The headline “HUD plan raises rents on poor” covered the entire width of the front page of the April 28 edition of the Connecticut Post. The story began with the following alarming lead: “A plan by the Trump administration to triple rents for the nation’s poorest families is running into a wall of opposition from fair housing advocates and members of Connecticut’s Congressional delegation.”
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Equal Pay Day ignores some statistical truths
Equal Pay Day arrived for women this week. According to gender rights advocates, a woman must add to her 2017 income almost three and a half months of work in 2018 to make as much as a white man made in 2017. In other words, a woman in Connecticut only makes 79 percent of what a white man makes in income. Black and Latina women are even more disadvantaged. Black women make only 58 percent, and Latina women come in last at 47 percent. For some inexplicable reason black men don’t seem to be counted.
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The difference between raising tax rates and raising taxes
There is a difference between raising tax rates and raising taxes. An increase in tax rates on the rich or anyone else does not always lead to increased government revenues. Historically, almost the opposite has occurred. Over 50 years ago, President Kennedy lowered tax rates and Federal revenues grew dramatically. President Reagan did the same thing with a similar result after he took office.
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UConn should try a 5-10-15 salary reduction plan
The Republican budget plan vetoed by Gov. Dannel Malloy nevertheless stirred up a hornet’s nest at the state’s flagship university. The usual suspects at the University of Connecticut rose up in arms at the proposed cuts.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
State should look at freezing pensions to ease budget crisis
There are steps that the governor could have taken over the past seven years that would have made a start in reducing pension liability without violating any union contracts.
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On Independence Day, a lesson in local governance
Although the Declaration of Independence depicted him as a despot, the real conflict between England and her American colonies was not between King George III and Democracy but between the rights of the British people represented as they were by their own Parliament, and the rights of the American colonists represented as they were by their own colonial assemblies. In this conflict no one was a greater supporter of the rights and authority of the British Parliament than the King.
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‘Pension spiking’ bleeding Connecticut’s budget — bigtime
“Pension Spiking” is the term used to describe the common practice whereby state and government employees contrive to boost their pensions in the last years of their employment. Pension spiking has been going on for years throughout the country, but it has been raised to a new level in Connecticut during Gov. Dannel Malloy’s two terms. By appointing a number of loyal Democrat legislators to judgeships or other high ranking positions in his administration, he has “spiked” their retirement benefits.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Free tuition would be a disaster for private colleges
When Hillary Clinton was struggling to win the Democrat party nomination against upstart Bernie Sanders, she co-opted his idea of free college tuition for all. To appease Sanders supporters, she allowed the idea to become part of the Democrat Party platform on which she is now running. If she really attempts to promote this idea, it will be a disaster for higher education in the country. Connecticut with its longstanding private school tradition will be especially hard hit.
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Connecticut pension reform: Step one
How will it be possible to reform the state’s pension system when the people who are supposed to be representing the public share in all the benefits they confer on the unions? A first step would be to freeze benefits for all participants in the plans who are not covered by union contracts, and offer them 401k-type defined contribution plans for future service.
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Op-Ed: Reform the costly, overly generous, state pension system
The enormous unfunded pension liabilities of the State of Connecticut have hardly been discussed so far in the run up to the November gubernatorial election. Nevertheless, the question needs to be raised, for whoever is governor after the November election will inevitably have to reform the state’s employee pension plan or face the possibility of […]
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-Ed: Reform the costly, overly generous, state pension system
The enormous unfunded pension liabilities of the State of Connecticut have hardly been discussed so far in the run up to the November gubernatorial election. Nevertheless, the question needs to be raised, for whoever is governor after the November election will inevitably have to reform the state’s employee pension plan or face the possibility of […]