Connecticut: "Penny-wise(?), pound-foolish"

8/2/09 update re Wall Street excessive payouts: Article by Zeke Miller And Eric Gershon, The Hartford Courant: http://www.courant.com/business/hc-wall-street-bonuses-connecti.artaug02,0,6464390.story

(Original post follows:)

Link to today's (7/31) story in the New York Times, about huge bonuses being paid to thousands of Wall Street bankers and traders in 2008: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/business/31pay.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

And here's another link to an 7/30/09 AP article about states cutting important health care programs for budget reasons. (Connecticut is prominently featured.) http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5isFa8Z14ZU7_1FdxV0gzofRplSOgD99OAHFO6

It so happens that my recalcitrant Republican Connecticut state representative wrote to constituents yesterday. Our area's compassionate-less conservative, in part wrote subjects the following:

(Your Party of No state rep.) "....today voted against the largest proposed tax hike in state history, contending that another Democratic spending spree will only further cripple any economic recovery." (BTW: No one anywhere expected the budget versions voted upon on Thursday would become law. So this would pretty much (again) be my "Party of No New Revenue Ideas" state rep. posturing on the issue, for those willing and able to swallow it.)

CT's "Party of No" current plan: Tax "Joe Six-pack"'s sins to death, cut his health care options at the time he'll be needing it most, cut state economic development agencies, let greedy, Fairfield County-residing Wall Street "masters of the universe" 'walk' on state taxes (on top of Bush fed. tax cuts) - in some cases after they/their firms helped manufacture a worldwide credit/financial crisis (and then got shored up/bailed out by taxpayers); and be sure to look the other way as state businesses continue to exploit tax loopholes, slash employee benefits, lay off resident workers, ship in foreign "consultants", and re-locate key operations overseas.



"Earth to Recalcitrant CT Republicans": If they want to continue to work in Manhattan (or Stamford), where are these "Wall Street wizards" going to "run away" to live? A modest increase in high-earner taxes here still leaves us below nearby New York and New Jersey in this respect, from what I've read. So, the "geniuses" will (instead) make their principal residence in Florida....and "commute"? Good luck with sustaining that family arrangement over time.....(Quality of life: It's (even more) hot and rainy down in Florida. Plus the mansions there are more likely to get blown away by the annual hurricanes. Try looking at Sun Belt crime statistics some time, too.)

Please wake up. Get real. And have the courage to seriously consider the following:

Revenue for state roads and bridges (beyond federal help and beyond the gas tax): Reinstitute highway tolls at state borders. Give every driver/trucking firm you can find an electronic toll transponder (i.e., mass-distribute at low cost).

Make numerous out-of-staters pay something back for use, just as Mass., N.Y., N.J., and 30 other states do now.

Fuel efficient vehicles are coming. Already-raided gas tax revenue can't do it all.

Also, why wouldn't a sales tax rate reduction/coverage expansion proposed by these two individuals be worth considering? Link to Courant 7/12/09 opinion article:

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-commentaryjepsen0712.artjul12,0,5849137.story