Missing the Point

Recently the Connecticut State Legislature override the Governor's veto of the minimum wage increase. Overlooked in the discussion was the cost of living in Connecticut. Maybe the minimum wage increase would have not been needed if the cost of living in Connecticut had not gone out of control. A trip to Massachusetts this past weekend showed a perfect example of Connecticut's cost. I was able to purchase gas at $3.99 per gallon while the price in my own neighborhood in Connecticut was hovering around $4.42. Even the Mass Pike was selling it for $4.15. The record run up in gasoline prices also resulted in a record revenue of gas taxes especially the gross receipts tax which is indexed to the price of gasoline. Since 62% of the gasoline taxes goes to the general fund, the legislature has had more money to spend. But they still have run up more expenses than they have revenue. So the legislature has missed the point. If the cost of living in Connecticut was lower, there may have been no need for a wage hike. The answer is don't spend so much. A concept that each citizen has been forced to understand but seems to have escaped the state government. Remember when the state income tax was going to be a temporary fix to solve a budget shortfall? What happened? Government, and that seems to mean the Democratic State Legislature seems to be addicted to spending. Expenditures are not being scrutinized and budgets just seem to balloon. The legislature needs to get the message that we have had enough of the out of control spending and that the brakes have to be put on. We should have a top down examination of every departments budget to see what waste can be eliminated, and what efforts are duplicated. Only then should the legislature come to the taxpayers for more.


The world oil demand has been larger than the oil supply since the fourth quarter of 2006 by 1 million barrels per day. The Democrats are blaming it on greedy oil companies and speculators in the commodities markets. But the Democratic Congress has missed the point and gone after an industry making an average 8.5% profit. When the demand and supply numbers are out of whack, any change in the supply or even futures speculators can affect the price of gasoline. The Congress should being doing everything they can to increase the supply by approving drilling offshore and moving ahead with oil shale processing rules. Even if the results of these projects are 5 to 10 years out their will be an immediate psychological
affect on the markets and we will need the increased supply in the future. Even though we may conserve, the world demand will increase as China and India can't cut back as that would require dropping subsidies, which neither government will do for fear of losing power.

Both the Democrats in the Connecticut State Legislature and in the Congress have missed the point on both these issues.