Economy
… Before the rocks start falling on your head. I hate to sound like your dad, but this problem is not going away. In fact, it is only just beginning. If we face it, there is hope. If not, prepare for our nation to look like a Third World country, just with bigger buildings.
Even though [...]
Continue reading about This could be your last chance to get out of debt
The highest unemployment rate of the recession has been reached: 8.9%.
The good news in November’s numbers — when unemployment fell to 8.2 percent from 8.8 percent the previous month — apparently was a mirage.
Economic forecaster Nick Perna said, “I honestly thought the December rate would look better. And I was wrong.”
Story and scary graphics available [...]
Continue reading about State unemployment hits highest level yet
Danbury mayor and possible gubernatorial candidate Mark Boughton, in his personal blog (which posts also to his widely-distributed Facebook page) says we’re on the brink.
Here is a news flash…the State of Connecticut is broke. Busted. Cleaned out.
Here is another news flash…it is not going to get any better anytime soon.
It is time that we all [...]
Continue reading about Popular mayor says State is “on the brink”
More hard choices coming up. These are only some of the first.
Chantal Kouoh’s voice cracked Tuesday as she said how disappointed she was to be shut out of a state-subsidized nurse-training program because of budget cuts.
“I feel like a part of my life is gone,” she said to an audience of other students, state legislators, [...]
Heath Fahle at Connecticut Local Politics summarizes our State’s problem as only a taciturn New Englander can do: we have no money.
Governor Rell is proposing steps to reduce the budget gap:
In an attempt to halt the 2010 budget’s slide into deficit, Gov. M. Jodi Rell released a $337 million package of proposed budget cuts Tuesday afternoon, slashing funding to programs for the poor and sick, local governments and state agencies….
“It is deeply painful even to suggest [...]
According to this non-partisan State report, you are in trouble.
Will a tax revolt this be the ultimate trickle-down economic effect? Revenue is drying up not only at the Federal level but is now doing so, as was inevitable, at the State and local levels. I’ll go out on a limb and predict that the local [...]
Continue reading about Budget woes trickling down to municipalities
The income tax raised nearly $1.3 billion less than budgeted in the last fiscal year, which ended in a record $925.6 million deficit. The state government is covering that shortfall with borrowed money.
The current year is showing no signs of improvement.
Are we on our way to being the next California? Read more here at the [...]
Continue reading about Connecticut income tax revenue dropping
The Courant’s Rick Green opines that incumbents like Mr. Dodd and Mrs. Rell are in trouble as unemployment here will hit 10% in 2010. Quoting Mrs. Rell’s top economic advisor:
Delinquency rates on single-family mortgages have risen four-fold since 2006, and consumers are spending less and saving more given overall economic uncertainty. This means continued pressure [...]
Continue reading about Connecticut incumbents looking at tough road next year
A report from The Warren Group paints a bleak picture of 2009 Connecticut:
Personal bankruptcy filings in Connecticut skyrocketed 44 percent in the third quarter compared with a year earlier as job losses and salary cuts squeezed household budgets burdened by high credit card bills, a new report showed Monday.
There were 2,569 personal bankruptcy filings in [...]
