Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

“I am deeply concerned for the state’s fiscal condition, which I think we can agree is deteriorating”  -- Jim Smith, Webster Bank chairman and CEO Mr. Smith is not alone. For years, big spenders in Connecticut have been moving money from the private economy to state coffers, and the additional funds have only whet the appetite for spending among cowardly members of the General Assembly. We now have a graphic that depicts Connecticut’s unsustainable budget growth:

Long ago in the post-Camelot era, President George Bush The Greater was indiscreet enough to promise during a presidential campaign, “Read my lips – no new taxes,” after which Mr. Bush proceeded to raise taxes. It was one of those moments that delighted gold-plated opposition research fellows in the Washington D.C. Wonderland. After the deed was done, Mr. Bush – and later, low tax Republicans – was kicked around the block for decades whenever a deficit raised its horned head in the beltway. Life went on. The federal debt increased at a rapid pace under both Presidents Bush The Lesser and Barack Obama . Mr. Obama has in seven years added $6.463 trillion to the national debt, at 55.4% the largest debt increase of the three presidents. By the end of his term in office, George W. Bush had doubled the debt passed along to him by the Clinton administration, adding $5.849 trillion to Clinton’s $5.8 trillion.