[Serious Conversation]

There is a lot of discussion on this board about how CT's economy is faring and there are also a lot of personal stories about CT. There is a lot of, I believe, undue negativity. As someone who has only been TO CT and not lived there, I've seen lots of high-paying jobs in many fields, relative safety, affluence, good schools overall, etc. Connecticut is always up around the top of positive metrics of many kinds. Being from TN, most of the things I mentioned are unavailable except in a handful of wealthy enclaves. In CT and New England overall, they seem to be more available to the public at large.

If things are as bad as some imply, why is CT still doing so well?

[cynic1]

Its all about Fairfield County.... take Fairfield out of the computations .... and Ct's numbers come out about average .. if not slightly lower .. especially if you consider cost of living. Since Ct doesn't have county governments... if you took Bridgeport's numbers out of the Fairfield computation ... it becomes overwhelmingly obvious.

[HumpDay]

Honestly people complain about their state all the time. CT should change its motto from Land of Steady Habits to Land of Steady Complaining. I, myself actually complain a lot about this state because not only do many of us hate how our state is being run but the lies and mistrust we feel about the current administration. CT has had decades of bad governance. People find it frustrating how we are paying such high taxes and yet we are slow in job growth and economic growth. Wouldn't you be frustrated if we pay the highest gas tax and one of the highest car tax in the country and not have a state of the art infrastructure and roads? We are near the bottom when it comes to growth but at the top when it comes to quality of life. I also think many people complain because they lack knowledge of politics and inhale every little bit of media coverage on certain topics. If you live in the state you have to admit that the media is quite biased and constantly covers the situation of the state. If we hear it enough we will believe it. I guess less people do their own research and instead believe every word that comes out of someone's mouth.

I actually don't mind paying a little more for a higher quality of life. But with spending cuts coming to Medicaid it has people talking. Unfortunately I might move out of state because my company is against the new taxes. I don't want to move but my wife is excited that we might leave.

[mlassoff]

Hartford County and New Haven counties are still quite well off.

A number of those complaining-- and the most vocal among them-- don't even live here. That's not to say everyone who lives here is happy.

Like many states, Connecticut is behind the eight ball on employee pensions and retired employee health care. These obligations have not been fully funded and there is sure to be continued economic strife in the state budget because of it.

That having been said, there is no mass exodus. Property values are strong. Crime continues to be low.

I think some who complain really do feel screwed by the taxes here, and others feel screwed by having a governor who's not a Republican... If you can live in NJ and go on and on about our governor, while giving Chris Christie a pass, there really is no reasoning with you.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by cynic1

Its all about Fairfield County.... take Fairfield out of the computations .... and Ct's numbers come out about average .. if not slightly lower .. especially if you consider cost of living. Since Ct doesn't have county governments... if you took Bridgeport's numbers out of the Fairfield computation ... it becomes overwhelmingly obvious.

You could say the same thing with Illinois being all about Cook County, but Illinois is nowhere near as wealthy as CT.

[Mr_250]

I think CT is stagnant. By that I mean, FFC is doing well but the eastern portion of the State is not doing well in terms of development or job creation. You take the average of the two and you get stagnant. Recently, EB gained some nice contracts so that might kick start some development out that way. Is that happens, CT could see huge increases in population, growth and monetary sectors.

Connecticut almost has little micro-economies. Hartford County is doing ok not booming, but not sinking either. The rich areas of the State will continue to be rich, the poor areas will continue to be poor. Places like Glastonbury, for example, seem to be doing well in terms of homes sales and price of homes, just using this as a baseline. In Hartford there is development going on so maybe that is what the area needs to jump start businesses.

I would like to see more jobs being created that pay above average wages. The creation of what I call mall jobs only take a state so far. I would love to see more private investments from bio science, technology companies and some manufacturing jobs.

[ctguy87]

Originally Posted by Mr_250

I think CT is stagnant. By that I mean, FFC is doing well but the eastern portion of the State is not doing well in terms of development or job creation. You take the average of the two and you get stagnant. Recently, EB gained some nice contracts so that might kick start some development out that way. Is that happens, CT could see huge increases in population, growth and monetary sectors.

Connecticut almost has little micro-economies. Hartford County is doing ok not booming, but not sinking either. The rich areas of the State will continue to be rich, the poor areas will continue to be poor. Places like Glastonbury, for example, seem to be doing well in terms of homes sales and price of homes, just using this as a baseline. In Hartford there is development going on so maybe that is what the area needs to jump start businesses.

I would like to see more jobs being created that pay above average wages. The creation of what I call mall jobs only take a state so far. I would love to see more private investments from bio science, technology companies and some manufacturing jobs.

This. CT is a state of wild extremes. If you're doing well, it's a great place to live. If you are looking for public assistance, it's a great place to live. If you're making a modest salary, you get burned with little to show for it.

[JayCT]

People on this forum have been complaining about the state since I started posting here years ago. I try to be somewhat objective but there is so much complaining that I try to point out the positives. Of course I get slammed for that by the negative nellies. That said, Connecticut is not perfect. It is an expensive state to live in but that is primarily because of our location on the Washington-New York-Boston corridor. This makes our state very desirable as a place to live and work. We do not have massive growth but that is because we are a small mature state that does not want to lose its character. Our underlying economy is strong and is the envy of other states which is why we are the constant object and target of criticism and attack. Keep in mind that while Fairfield County is extremely wealthy, the rest of the state is quite affluent as well. There have been studies done that show that even without Fairfield County, Connecticut would be in the top 20 of states for affluence. Of course I am sure you will get some posts now saying that they complain to stop the downward spiral of the state but rather than complain on an internet website, they would be better off doing something like voice their concerns to elected officials. Jay

[vision33r]

I would never live in CT because it's the land of exploitation. I had a boss who live in CT, like other CEOs they always have demands for home service. Living costs are pretty high in CT, if you don't pay your workers. How the hell can you find workers?

My boss has a bunch of Filipino workers in his house doing various stuff. You go to some of the fast food joints, many are understaffed because they can't find enough low pay workers. Many of them are lazy because they can't get fired. That's their equalizer for income inequality, being lazy.

As for job, there are quite a few jobs in CT but the avg pay is less than a job in LI, NY.

That's the problem with capitalism in general. The rich has the leg up on keeping the pay low and don't care about paying people a living wage.

[snowtired14]

Originally Posted by Mr_250

I think CT is stagnant. By that I mean, FFC is doing well but the eastern portion of the State is not doing well in terms of development or job creation. You take the average of the two and you get stagnant. Recently, EB gained some nice contracts so that might kick start some development out that way. Is that happens, CT could see huge increases in population, growth and monetary sectors.

Connecticut almost has little micro-economies. Hartford County is doing ok not booming, but not sinking either. The rich areas of the State will continue to be rich, the poor areas will continue to be poor. Places like Glastonbury, for example, seem to be doing well in terms of homes sales and price of homes, just using this as a baseline. In Hartford there is development going on so maybe that is what the area needs to jump start businesses.

I would like to see more jobs being created that pay above average wages. The creation of what I call mall jobs only take a state so far. I would love to see more private investments from bio science, technology companies and some manufacturing jobs.

I hate to be pessimistic, but I live in eastern CT and it doesn't look good. As far as General Dynamics, in the 60's and 70's they would build 10 $1B subs, now it's more like 1 $10B sub, so I don't expect a big bump in employment. Pfizer is knocking down more buildings every day, once MA starts building their casinos it's going to impact CT's and they're already realigning operations to compensate. Hartford is doing OK, but it took a beating in the 90's and Pratt keeps threatening to pull more out all the time. Fairfield County only does well due to its proximity to NYC, its a commuter county. What has Malloy done to help this state? Our pay hasn't increased but state spending has, they've cut subsidies to towns, increased taxes, no new businesses and the ones we have are always threatening to leave. Our COL is in the top five in the country, and statistics are skewed by the wealth of FFC.