Economy

Billionaire and hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones has left Connecticut and moved to Florida according to a report in Bloomberg News. Jones, the head of Tudor Investment Corp., opened an office in Palm Beach, Florida, and registered to vote there in November 2015. Jones’ 2014 income as a hedge fund manager was listed as $600 million by CNN Money, which would make his annual income tax about $30 million per year. The state of Florida has no income tax.

Connecticut’s workforce – the number of people of working age in the state – is projected to shrink by 9.3 percent over the next 30 years, according to population projections released by the Demographics Research Group at the University of Virginia. The factors driving the decline are the state’s low birth rate, an aging population and the migration of Connecticut residents to other states. The outmigration of young adults is particularly worrisome.

When people think of a major city declaring bankruptcy the city of Detroit often comes to mind with its sky-high crime rates and areas of urban wasteland. But as more and more cities like Hartford find themselves in impossible financial situations, sometimes filing for Chapter 9 can actually be the best alternative. If the city could prove it was insolvent, what would a Hartford bankruptcy look like?

This year we’ve tried to shine a light on Connecticut’s bonded debt, as well as our pension and retiree healthcare liabilities. When all of this debt is combined, Connecticut is one of the most indebted states in the nation. A new report by J.P. Morgan’s Michael Cembalest provides additional clarity.

The General Assembly passed a budget last week that stops driving Connecticut backward. The question is: will we take the next step and start driving forward? Last year, lawmakers passed the second-largest tax increase in state history, just five years after the largest tax increase. This year’s budget, while not good, was at least a temporary rejection of last year’s approach. It remains to be seen whether it was really a change of direction or merely a case of election-year stagefright.

Bledar Iljazi came to the United States as a child in 1986 when his family decided they could no longer live under the government of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. Now the entire family - twelve members across three generations - is fleeing Connecticut and pursuing a better life in South Carolina. “The way everything was ten years ago - the economy and taxes - it wasn’t as bad, but right now for small businesses we’re getting hit with taxes left and right. They’re pretty much just making them up,” Bledar said.