Tough couple of weeks for CT

At the risk of stating the obvious, the State of Connecticut has had a rough couple of weeks… OK, maybe a rough couple of months (years?). I had the opportunity to listen to Ben Barnes, Secretary of the State of CT OPM, the other day. In the midst of the announcement of the closing of the Bristol-Meyers Squibb facility in Wallingford (200 jobs lost, 500 relocating to a “new location” in CT), it appeared that Mr. Barnes thought things (including the budget process) were going pretty well.

Going pretty well? UTC selling Sikorsky (not to mention closing Bridgeport and laying off 1,400)…GE selling GE Capital… Colt Defense declaring bankruptcy…GE, Travelers and Aetna threatening to leave the state…IBM joining them?…Hartford Healthcare laying off 335…Need I go on (I could…for a while!)?

We can describe CT’s economic environment a lot of ways…going well is not one of them. Yes, CT has a lot going for it. Thank goodness for our location, our people and our companies. But if our leaders just want to continue to reach to companies and the wealthy for funding their initiatives then, eventually (appearing to be sooner rather than later) there will be no one to reach out to.

What did Margaret Thatcher say…”The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

Keep smiling!

Mark