Drowning in debt, Connecticut faces budget crunch

Renae said:

Also I didn't put words in your mouth, I mocked the article. Quit saying things which are not accurate.

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When a person quotes me and says sarcastically "You're right, you got me to see the err of my ways..", you obviously were referring to me.

KLATTU said:

Typical of many threads on a similar subject, liberals will do anything to avoid admitting admitting that Big Government is the problem.

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Between unions that infest government, and the government itself, your problem is government (meaning government administration)? So you're aligning with unions?

You kind of need to pick a side, government unions, or government. Maybe "Big Government" wouldn't be so much of a problem if "Big Unions" hadn't monopolized a third to a half of all public sector jobs in the nation.

Gimmesometruth said:

Eh...no:

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Eh no what? You're denying their unfunded pension problem?

Gimmesometruth said:

Uh, they spoke to the same issues:

Among the wealthiest in the United States, Connecticut has been strained by already high taxes, outmigration, falling revenues and $50 billion of unfunded pension liabilities.

They wanted to focus on "unfunded liabilities" and not go too far in depth on the changes in employment/income for the vast number of citizens. As a matter of fact, there wasn't much depth to the article at all, but then that is the audience it was shooting for.

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You aren't making a coherent point. Connecticut is rich and has high taxes, yet this hasn't fixed their problem, not least of which is a gigantic pension problem. What aspect of Connecticut's problem are you trying to dance away from? It's not clear at all what you're saying that explains why you're being an ass to Renae.

Renae said:

It's actually scary how bad their debt and economic situation is.

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and where most rich people live. HA!

Neomalthusian said:

Between unions that infest government, and the government itself, your problem is government (meaning government administration)? So you're aligning with unions?

You kind of need to pick a side, government unions, or government. Maybe "Big Government" wouldn't be so much of a problem if "Big Unions" hadn't monopolized a third to a half of all public sector jobs in the nation.

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I'm aligning with with your first sentence.

It is so easy to spend other people's money that politicians don't even try to engage fiscal responsibility. Why don't they hire a civilian CFO who could discuss fiscal matters with the press and public without fear of losing an election.

KLATTU said:

I'm aligning with with your first sentence.

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Not sure what that means. Imagine you're walking into a collective bargaining session between a huge union that represents half of your state's public employees, and government administration. At whom do you direct your criticism? It's easy to say "well, both!" but you really need to get specific. Government administration is tasked with negotiating labor contracts with vast numbers of public employees, and these contracts are huge contributors to problems like the ones Connecticut is experiencing.

I wish more conservatives were pro-government, but specifically with some strategic goals for government in mind. The mindless anti-government attitude from conservatives weakens government's ability to uphold conservative principles. Government managers tasked with collective bargaining as well as negotiating with private sector interests need a little help from the public in presenting a strong negotiating hand. If government is a weak little snowflake because conservatives want all government to be weak, they are going to get eaten alive by labor unions and other special interest groups.

We need strong negotiators in government the same way we need a strong defense system. Government should not be sweepingly vilified. We need strong governmental functions to achieve anything conservatives say they want. That doesn't mean we need Big Leftist Government, but we do need some strong government influence to strongly uphold the interests of taxpayers.