CtTaxed.com

Oh What We Have Squandered.

Our Aerospace Industry in Connecticut was the envy of the world. Nations had twenty year plans to grow industries like what we HAD. You could not fight a war without us, remember we used to be called “The Provision State”. Tens of thousands of us worked in it and those tens of thousands spent their money in our communities and businesses.

But it is largely gone now. The buildings remain and the offices, but the factory floors are largely slient and the workers are doing with less. I know many former Aerospace workers, many of which were machinists. Think of the Connecticut worker and I always think of the machinist, turning raw metal into finished goods that were shipped around the world.

It all started with clocks, did you know that? That is how long it took to grow this industry, starting with clocks in the 16th century. And we squandered it in less than two decades.

Five years ago when I needed to hire Aerospace engineers a simple ad would bring many qualified applicants within a 20 mile radius. Now the same ad brings almost no-one. They have left the state. IT IS HARD TO FIND AEROSPACE ENGINEERS IN CONNECTICUT! It is also hard to find all the support functions. Sad.

If I have to fly someone in for an interview then I can fly them into North or South Carolina at the same cost and offer them a much lower cost of living community. Rephrased, if I can’t hire people that are qualified, then there is no reason to be in this state with the highest tax burden in the country.

Recently a facililty I used to work at announced they were leaving and going out of country. Approximately 200 people worked there, at say $50,000 per employee per year that represented $10,000,000 to the local economy. I bet every home improvement contractor, car dealership, home applicance, private music teacher, dance instructor, grocery store felt that sting within hours of the annoucement. It is not just the worker who suffers when a manufacturing job is lost, it is the community.

Connecticut has a long list of has beens and used to be’s. Used to be the bicycle manufacturing capital of the world, typewriter capital, clock capital, gun capital, jet engine capital, helicopter capital, propeller capital, submarines but that’s ok, we will be the service captial of the world, (Insurance). Oh by the way, we don’t hold that title anymore. We lost the Insurance Capital of World title years ago.

Hmmm, Connecticut ……….what can we be the capital of next…..TAXES! We’re Number One! We’re Number One! We’re Number One! Connecticut for 7 years has had the highest tax burden of any state in the country and it shows.

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