I’ve got some bad news. My prognosis for budget negotiations is fairly dire. It is not because the legislature is lazy, or because of political posturing. It is because we do not agree on the problem. Of our tentative $2.6 billion budget deficit, over half is a result of past lawmakers abdicating their responsibility of fully funding the pension obligations. The remainder comes from anticipating significantly more revenue from the income tax than we actually received. While, many of my peers are determining ways to punish the middle class and our state workers, I would like to direct our attention to the wealthy. The ones who have direct access to politicians. Who pay half or less, as a percentage of income, than what the rest of us pay. This, while the top 1 percent of Connecticut income earners obtained 84 percent of the income gains over the last few decades, while the rest of our wages stagnate or decline.
The budget problem is that we can’t agree on the problem
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The irrational inequity of ECS administration continues
Whether viewed through the lenses of wealth, District Reference Groups, or student achievement, Gov. Dannel Malloy’s recently announced distribution of Education Cost Sharing grant money has obvious flaws and inconsistencies that defy logic and lead one to the conclusion that this is just an extension of the arbitrary and capricious administration of the program that has plagued it in the past.
Posted inNews
With UConn’s campus now open, Hartford asks, ‘What’s next?’
While plenty of smaller projects are still underway, the grand opening of the University of Connecticut’s new Hartford branch campus means for the first time in more than a decade there is a lull in major redevelopment downtown.
Posted inHealth
State asks Anthem, ConnectiCare, to file new rates
WASHINGTON – The Connecticut Insurance Department on Wednesday asked Anthem and ConnectiCare to submit new rate filings for 2018 based on the possibility the federal government would stop “cost-sharing reduction” payments to the insurers that subsidize lower co-payment and deductibles for low-income Americans.
Posted inEducation, Money
See how your town fares under House Democrats’ proposed budget
House Democrats’ proposed budget takes a more restrained approach than the governor’s to dramatically redistribute state education aid to struggling school districts. Both plans essentially flat-fund overall aid for education.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Coalition presses officials to reconsider taxing the rich
Advocates for social services, labor and municipalities appealed Wednesday for legislators and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to consider higher income taxes on the wealthy, tolls, a sales tax expansion and other revenue hikes to avert deep budget cuts.
Posted inPolitics
To some in Connecticut, Trump can do no wrong
In an angry speech in Phoenix, Ariz., President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his reaction to the violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., and was met with cheers from his followers. Despite overall low job approval numbers, polls show he can count on a significant number of loyal supporters in every state, including Connecticut.
Posted inEducation, Money
House Democrats offer modest town aid shift in new budget
Majority House Democrats unveiled a new budget Wednesday that matches the town aid proposed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy while redistributing education funds more modestly from wealthy and middle-income towns and into poorer communities.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
In praise of mongrels
Before the wedding, my mother’ parents, who were high (albeit lax) Episcopalians, came a calling on my father’s parents, who were staunch Irish Catholics. As a safety precaution, my paternal grandmother hid all the sharp knives.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
For history’s sake, save some of New Britain’s ‘Stanley Nine’
I’m increasingly upset by coverage of the total demolition permit for New Britain’s ‘Stanley Nine’ area east of Curtis Street and South of Myrtle Street. The mayor and one octogenarian factory worker are the primary sources, articles lean heavily toward “let’s get rid of it, it’s an eyesore.”
Posted inEducation, Politics
As UConn returns, a chapter in Hartford’s history is completed
HARTFORD — For nearly a half-century, the University of Connecticut has had no place to call its own in the state’s capital city. Today that changes as Connecticut’s flagship university opens the doors of its new $140-million downtown branch campus on Prospect Street.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Legislators to propose new budget plans to break gridlock
With the state budget standoff nearing two months, Democrats and Republican legislative leaders announced plans Tuesday to unveil revised budget proposals soon.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Larson, Courtney: Fix ACA by letting 50 to 64-year-olds join Medicare
After passing the eight-year mark since passing the Affordable Care Act, nonpartisan data from sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau have confirmed the real-life benefits the ACA has brought to the state of Connecticut. As the Bureau reported, the uninsured rate in our state has fallen from 9.2 to 3.8 percent, patients can no longer be cut off from medical treatment due to lifetime limits on coverage, and Americans have the peace of mind in knowing that a childhood illness or chronic disease will not prohibit them from purchasing health insurance later in life. However, in the seven years since its passage, the ACA has not solved every problem in the healthcare system and serious challenges remain even today.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Chief States Attorney’s views on juvenile justice are ‘out of date’
In an Op-ed published recently, juvenile justice-involved teenagers were referred to as “enterprising and energetic, wild and out of control.” While you’d expect to hear that from a member of Jeff Sessions’ Department of Justice, this came from Connecticut Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane in the Hartford Courant.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The racial malware running our culture
It isn’t the theatrical of white supremacy that worries me. It’s the practical. While we are outraged about the blatant racism in Charlottesville, we can and should ask ourselves, where is both racism and sexism subtly embedded in and enacted by our laws? Here are just a few easy-to-find examples if we look: