Connecticut's Business Environment

This is a letter I sent to the Journal Inquirer

To The Editor,

Enough!  The JI has spent column after column attempting to defend Connecticut’s “business climate” – largely through the use of North Carolina as it’s straw man.  Some simple data would suffice.

I searched the Internet via Google using the search term “business climate by state.”  The first result was to Forbes ranking all 50 states in a list entitled “The Best States for Business and Careers.”  The list ranks the states by the following categories:  Business Costs Index, Labor Supply Rank, Regulatory Environment Rank, Economic Climate Rank, Growth Prospects Rank, and Quality of Life Rank.

Connecticut scored an overall 33 out of 50.  North Carolina scored 4 out of 50.  So it turns out that North Carolina does indeed have a much more friendly business climate.  More important are the individual scores.  The two most significantly in need of improvement in Connecticut are the Business Costs Index and the Regulatory Environment Rank, which Connecticut scored 47 and 39 respectively.  The former indexes things like the cost of labor, energy, and yes, taxes.  The latter ranks things such as labor regulations, healthcare mandates, right to work laws, bond ratings, and the transportation infrastructure.  These are the two areas where Connecticut’s government are getting things wrong, at least as compared to other states.  North Carolina’s rankings are number 2 and 3, respectively.

It should also be noted that Connecticut did score highly on one rating – Quality of Life and was 2^nd in the nation for this metric.  And as the JI points out, this ranking far exceeds North Carolina’s ranking of 32 in the nation.  This would seem to confirm the JI’s supposition that even if Connecticut has a much worse business environment than North Carolina, at least we are not dispensing with our quality of life as it would seem North Carolina has.  However, perhaps a lesson could be learned from the state that ranked the highest in “business climate” of all 50 states?

That state would be Virginia.  It scored 22 on the Business Costs Index, much better than Connecticut, albeit still far from the top.  But Virginia blew Connecticut’s doors off with regard to the regulatory environment.  Virginia scored first in the nation in that category.  Might Connecticut be able to take a lesson from Virginia in that regard?

But all that business success must come at a cost, you ask?  Indeed.  Virginia’s Quality of Life index was below Connecticut’s, scoring only 4^th in the nation compared to Connecticut’s 2^nd place finish.  I would ask the JI this question:  Would you be willing to see Connecticut’s Quality of Life index to drop two places to be the best state in the Union for “business climate”? 

Truisms

Here is a short list of things that are unequivocally true:

• It's always better to get behind early, so you have more time to catch up
• Farts are always funny.  Doesn't matter if they happen during a wedding, a funeral, the State of the Union address, or the Superbowl.  None of that matters.  Farts are always funny.
• If you want to make a teenage boy laugh, all you have to do is look at him and say "Boobies"
• There are only two kinds of drivers in the world: Idiots and Maniacs.  Idiots drive slower than you.  Maniacs drive faster.
• The above statement also applies to you.  Sometimes you are the Idiot, and sometimes you are the Maniac.
• A good way to force a tailgater off of your tail is to take that moment to wash your rear window, making sure to use up as much of the washer fluid as is needed.  
• Don't argue with idiots.  It only encourages the idiot, and in the process turns you into one.
• Eating right and exercise is extremely important.  It's almost as important as sitting in your cushy chair, watching tv, and eating potato chips.
• Dry erase markers, Magic markers, Sharpies, Pens, etc. that run out of ink, should be THROWN AWAY immediately.  Not recapped and put back where they were found.  THROWN AWAY!
• If you have white boards at work, and the words "Do Not Erase" are written on the board but are NOT followed by "Until <date/time>", you should immediately erase the board and draw a cartoon instead.
• If you ever find yourself in a pitch black closet or dark room, and you have a flashlight, put the business end in your mouth and shine the light up through the roof of your mouth while closing your eyes.  The dim light you see will be at the top of your field of vision, not the bottom.  This proves that the images that land on your retinas are upside down, and that your brain automagically flips them around for you.
• 0.999... is EXACTLY EQUAL to 1.  Not close, not just short of, not near... Exactly Equal.  Google it if you want.  But here is a simple algebraic proof:

Let x=0.999...

x = 0.999...
10 (x) = 0.999... times 10 = 9.999...
Subtract x from both sides
9 (x) = 9.999... - 0.999...
9 (x) = 9
x = 1

so x = 1  but also x = 0.999...
so x = 1 = 0.999...
so 1 = 0.999...

A Corporate Success Story, at Connecticut's loss

Happy New Year To All:


I thought I would share this link and a few comments regarding it for those that are interested to find out what happened to PTR Industries, which moved out of Connecticut when the latest gun ban went into effect.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/07/locked-loaded-gun-maker-finds-warmer-surroundings-in-south-carolina-after/?intcmp=trending

I've read with interest the editorials in the Journal Inquirer regarding these moves and the generally more business friendly environment that South Carolina has over Connecticut.  The editorials attempt to paint these moves as simply a rush to lower wage labor.  This article blows that theory out of the water, with typical factory workers making $20-25 per hour, and engineers making in the neighborhood of $80k.

The editorials are sour grapes.  They make the point that taxes are higher here and less business friendly for a reason - that our services are superior particularly in education.  While I'm not going to engage in that debate, what I would point out is that this company went from feeling like Connecticut's "dirty little secret" to being the toast of the town.  You can say what you like about South Carolina, and you can sing Connecticut's praises all you like.  It won't change the fact that Connecticut has to do better than dispensing ridiculous amounts of money to a select handful of companies and then telling everyone else that it's your privilege to live here.  The Governor and the State Legislature should know better, and the press certainly should NOT be providing them with political cover.

If you take the time to read the article, what you'll find is that there is a whole community welcoming PTR Industries.  It extends to the pizza joints, and the markets, and even the TSA agents at the airport.  People are NICE to them.  They want jobs and they want to see their state succeed.  They want manufacturers like PTR.  Frankly, the people in South Carolina "get it."

Some will say that I'm bashing Connecticut, and thus booing the home team.  Well, sometimes the home team needs to get booed.  Our one party government has systematically removed right after right (Right to access public records ala Newtown, Right to keep and bear arms, and the list goes on).  Right now, I'm planning on retiring somewhere else.  Someplace like New Hampshire, or even South Carolina.  Someplace where the government isn't always intruding on me, telling me what I'm allowed to do and not allowed to do.  I'm not looking for anarchy.  I'm just looking for a place that will let me be.  And increasingly, Connecticut is not such a place.

I was born in Connecticut and I never moved away.  I love Connecticut.  I just hate the way it acts sometimes.