Welcome to 2021! I’ve always believed it’s just human nature to welcome the new – it is, after all, a fresh start, limited only by the imagination’s boundaries. Perhaps for that reason, I found myself […]
Somehow, Thanksgiving felt slightly transgressive this year amid pervasive gloom – and not just for those who defied repeated injunctions from “authorities” and gathered with family and friends anyway. Given everything that’s happened in 2020, […]
We all know the saying, “Be careful what you wish for – you just might get it.” It’s a warning of which Connecticut’s wisest Democrats are no doubt aware. With nearly insurmountable legislative majorities, coupled […]
Every year, fire fighters across the country participate in the Fill the Boot campaign, standing outside stores or on street corners raising cash for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Since 1954 the charity drive has raised […]
Almost every single one of us is a leader somewhere — from presidents or governors (who lead on the national and state stages) to leaders of businesses large and small, to the moms and dads […]
Across the big cities and small towns of Connecticut, our children are returning to school. Some are climbing aboard school buses, excited to return to some degree of normalcy. Others remain isolated at home, hunched […]
It’s midnight, Saturday night, in the middle of the statewide electrical outages after Tropical Storm Isaias. I’m lying in bed, bathed in a pool of my own sweat. And I am seething. Our family is […]
Sitting in our family room last night, my eyes fell on a pair of upholstered chairs routinely occupied by my husband and son. The arms of both have grown frayed and a little shabby over […]
Three years ago, Dillon Stadium was a run-down, unused and possibly dangerous area, with poor grounds and rusted bleachers that were not up to code. Today it stands renewed, hosting a professional soccer team, vendors, […]
On July 12, 2019, Gregory W. Smith, a sergeant with the Connecticut State Police, was arrested on charges that he had engaged in numerous instances of physical and verbal domestic abuse toward his wife, Katarzyna […]
The Connecticut State Legislature will begin its 2023 session on January 4th and will adjourn on June 7th. The “long session,” as non-election years are called in Hartford, will be centered around the biennial budget. The Office of the State Comptroller reports that state government found a way to spend $47.11 billion in 2022 and, if trends continue, we can expect that number to grow even more going forward. Concerns over energy prices, inflation, and general cost of living continue to dominate the headlines and the threat of a recession hovers over economic forecasts.
What will our elected officials be working on to improve policy outcomes for Connecticut residents? What tax reform proposals will there be? What can be done to lower home heating bills? How will state and local budgets be affected by fewer federal resources? How will schools be implementing to curriculum requirements?
While we wait to see the thousands of individual and committee bills that while dominate the myriad policy debates this year, Yankee Institute is hard at work promoting free-market solutions to the problems we face from Stamford to Putnam and Mystic to Salisbury. To that end, we have produced a new edition of our Charter for Change. The Charter provides commonsense reforms to make Connecticut’s government work for its residents.
Though the list of reforms may be exhausting to review, it is far from exhaustive! And that’s why we want to work with you to build a broad-based coalition to encourage sound policy reforms to enable Connecticut residents to forge a better future for themselves and their families.
It’s also imperative that we do so. As we noted in a report and CT Mirror op-ed last year, the debate over whether we’re in a national recession really misses the point for Connecticut residents. We had more people employed in the private sector in 2007 than we do today. Our economy has grown at one of the slowest rates in the nation for the past decade, and we are getting outpaced year after year. We’re not attracting innovation and industry. We’re losing some of our best and brightest as they seek other parts of the country where it’s easier to make a living.
But together, we can reverse this trend.
At Yankee Institute, we know Connecticut is a state with boundless opportunity, and we intend to help make our state more than a place where people are just able to make ends meet! Connecticut should be a place where everyone can thrive – and with your help, it will be.