No gun problem in the US

[PaulS]

It's not harder to be rich in liberal states. The stats prove otherwise. You're holding the location of Ct against CT while ignoring the advantages of the location of FL. The CT debt sucks. But people aren't moving to FL. just bc of taxes/policies. The US pop. is getting older so they want to move to warmer place and get out of the snow/cold.

It is not as simple as looking at one metric and ignoring others. Every state has its good/bad.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

It's not harder to be rich in liberal states. The stats prove otherwise. You're holding the location of Ct against CT while ignoring the advantages of the location of FL. The CT debt sucks. But people aren't moving to FL. just bc of taxes/policies. The US pop. is getting older so they want to move to warmer place and get out of the snow/cold.

It is not as simple as looking at one metric and ignoring others. Every state has its good/bad.

i just proved it’s harder to be wealthy in CT. living here costs me $1,000 more each month, compared to the cost of living in NH. Hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime. And i have literally nothing to show for that. I get nothing i couldnt get in a nice NH suburb like Hollis or Brookline.

My salary has absolutely nothing to do with the state government of CT. Absolutely nothing. Neither does the salary of the hedge fund managers in New Canaan.

You’re confusing correlation with causation. it’s a common mistake, and a gigantic mistake.

Today’s democratic party platform is attractive to the wealthy. Today’s republican platform is attractive to the working poor. Neither party is causing its fans to be wealthy or poor.

if people are moving for weather, why are they moving to FL and not to southern CA.

You have fun answering that one.
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[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

It is not as simple as looking at one metric and ignoring others. Every state has its good/bad.

when you’re asking whether or not liberalism makes it harder to accumulate wealth over a lifetime, taxes is an obvious metric. The state government controls its tax rates

Do you admit that over 50 years, you’d pay a ton more in taxes if you lived in CT, compared to living in a Boston suburb in NH?

And maybe you need to look at other factors. Fine. Please tell me what factors make CT look cheaper than NH? What factors offset the higher taxes in CT?

if UCONN was free, you’d have a point. It ain’t.

If we had no gas taxes, you’d have a point. But we do.

All i can think of is tolls. NH had tolls and we don’t. But we have insane gas taxes.
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[PaulS]

Somehow it is a lot harder to be wealthy in Conn than those states led by Rs yet the richest states are led by Ds. So who should we believe that stats based on 350M people or what you say?

And if your company was in Ark you would be paid a lot less.

You're looking at only 1 fact of many.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

Somehow it is a lot harder to be wealthy in Conn than those states led by Rs yet the richest states are led by Ds. So who should we believe that stats based on 350M people or what you say?

And if your company was in Ark you would be paid a lot less.

You're looking at only 1 fact of many.

a state with rich residents, is different than a state that has a lot of money and can help its needy citizens.

Again, i used elementary school
arithmetic to show that for folks like me, it’s a lot harder to accumulate wealth in CT than, say, NH. i will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes that i wouldn’t pay in NH. and nothing to show for it.

CT is a beautiful and expensive place. Therefore, if you’re wealthy, it’s a terrific place to live. So it will attract wealthy people.

You’re again confusing correlation with causation. Most of the country’s grizzly bears live in Alaska, which is a red state. Can i therefore conclude that conservatism is better for grizzly bears than liberalism? or would that be stupid?
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[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

And if your company was in Ark you would be paid a lot less.

You're looking at only 1 fact of many.

i can move to NH and keep the same salary. same salary, much lower taxes.
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[PaulS]

And when my company moved to regional offices in Tx and were looking for people to staff the office they said don't expect the same raises. Goldman Sachs said if you leave NY don't expect a NY salary.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

And when my company moved to regional offices in Tx and were looking for people to staff the office they said don't expect the same raises. Goldman Sachs said if you leave NY don't expect a NY salary.

i’m familiar with regional salary adjustments. and at every company i’ve worked at, it was assumed
that the extra money to live in the northeast, was nowhere near enough to compensate you for the higher cost of living.

Everything is more expensive in CT. taxes, car taxes to the town ( which doesn’t exist in many places) has taxes, utility rates, groceries, UCONN, almost every aspect if life is more expensive. the cumulative additional
cost over a lifetime, is astronomical.

And we both know, that as boomers retire and the state is paying those pensions, taxes will go way up. The penalty to live here cannot fail to increase over the next 20 years.

And i have no idea what we get for that money. Our roads stink, our cities stink, UCONN is expensive for a public school.

I work for a huge huge company. Every CT employee could
move to NH and keep the same salary. So how would
i be wrong, if i said it’s harder to accumulate wealth in CT than it would be in NH?
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[Jim in CT]

Funny thing, it was only a few years ago that most wealthy people leaned right. And liberals used that fact (and it was indeed a fact) to say that the GOP only cared about the wealthy, and that the democrats were the party of the little guy.

Today, most wealthy people lean left. and all of a sudden, democrats don't think it's bad to be the party of the rich. Now, the lefties here claim it's a bad sign that the GOP is the party of the working stiff.

Whatever fits the narrative.

[Pete F.]

Jim's been listening to Faux again, where he's heard Rafael Cruz complain about the liberalization of the coastal elites............

Cruz is a graduate of Princeton and Yale, a lawyer, a senator, the multimillionaire husband of a Goldman Sachs executive, who sends his kids to an exclusive school, but sure, let’s listen to him on ‘elites’!

And whether it's Cruz, Stefanik, Hawley, John Kennedy, or any of the countless other GOP privileged elites pretending they aren't, it's clear being a shameless, lying, opportunist willing to do and say anything is mandatory for success in the GOP. Principles are a liability.

[PaulS]

your only about taxes or wealth and totally ignore every other stat which show states run by Rs are in a worse position. other than taxes the R states are near the bottom in most quality of life stats, maternal mortality, low wages, low levels of mental health access, high incarceration rate, healthcare, infrastucture.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/st...tes-to-live-in

Even Fox business ranks D states better.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyl...ve-2021-report

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

your only about taxes or wealth and totally ignore every other stat which show states run by Rs are in a worse position. other than taxes the R states are near the bottom in most quality of life stats, maternal mortality, low wages, low levels of mental health access, high incarceration rate, healthcare, infrastucture.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/st...tes-to-live-in

Even Fox business ranks D states better.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyl...ve-2021-report

"your only about taxes"

You said CT doesn't make it harder to accumulate wealth. I pointed out the fact that our taxes are much higher than average. I believe that makes it harder to accumulate wealth. You apparently disagree, you say it's not that simple, yet you won't say what the CT state government does, which makes it easier to accumulate wealth?

Please list the things that our state government does (not things that some citizens do, but things that the democrats in Hartford enacted) which make it easier for CT residents to accumulate wealth?

Just because a state has a large number of rich/poor people, doesn't mean the state government had an efefct on those people being rich or poor.

Are you saying the town government of Greenwich helped its citizens get rich? Or did they create a place where rich people want to live? Those are two very very different things.

So the GOP is responsible for red states that aren't nice. But liberalism has nothing to do with the plight in Chicago, or how expensive CT is, or anything else bad that happens in blue places.

Paul, there are places in NH where I'd never want to live. But there are also places in NH (as well as NC and SC) where I would want to live, places with a great quality of life and super low taxes.

Can you point me to any places in the country that are in blue states, which have a high quality of life, and super low taxes? Or are all such places in red states?

[PaulS]

Greenwich has some of the best schools in the country and the more right leaning ones have the worse schools in the state. Those places that have high qualities of life and super low taxes are the most liberal area in the conservative states. So as I've said numerous times in not as simple as you make it. Many of those people in NH who are prospering live in So. NH and work in Mass.

There is a pretty damn good correlation between the wealth and a states politics.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

Greenwich has some of the best schools in the country and the more right leaning ones have the worse schools in the state. Those places that have high qualities of life and super low taxes are the most liberal area in the conservative states. So as I've said numerous times in not as simple as you make it. Many of those people in NH who are prospering live in So. NH and work in Mass.

There is a pretty damn good correlation between the wealth and a states politics.

"Greenwich has some of the best schools in the country "

And is that because of the democrats in Hartford? Or is it because they literally have more money than they know what to do with, and because the riff raff can't afford to live there? And if it's because of the money, WHAT DID THE STATE DEMOCRATS DO, to enable those residents to get rich?

I taught. 90% of success/failure in public schools, is determined at home.

Ang again, if people re moving for weather, why not to southern CA?

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

Those places that have high qualities of life and super low taxes are the most liberal area in the conservative states. So as I've said numerous times in not as simple as you make it. Many of those people in NH who are prospering live in So. NH and work in Mass.

There is a pretty damn good correlation between the wealth and a states politics.

"Those places that have high qualities of life and super low taxes are the most liberal area in the conservative states."

You saying it, doesn't make it so.

"There is a pretty damn good correlation between the wealth and a states politics"

Yet you refuse to post a single syllable, about what the CT state democrats did, to enable those Greenwich residents to become so successful.

I concede that CT state democrats have done things to make CT an attractive place for multi millionaires to live in. But I don't concede that the state helped those people obtain their wealth, and for as adamant as you say the state did help, you won't specify how.

[PaulS]

So I guess it is just randomness that makes the poorest counties mostly in Rs states and the richest counties mostly in D states and mosty the poorest states run by Rs and the richest states mostly run by Ds or should we talk about the outliers like S. NH or Ashville or Brentwood TN?

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

So I guess it is just randomness that makes the poorest counties mostly in Rs states and the richest counties mostly in D states and mosty the poorest states run by Rs and the richest states mostly run by Ds or should we talk about the outliers like S. NH or Ashville or Brentwood TN?

It might not be a coincidence! Maybe the democratic governments in those places, are creating environments which help make people rich. But you can't point to one single example of that, so pardon me if I'm skeptical. And if that were the case, why haven't the CT state democrats replicated that formula in Bridgeport? Whatever you believe they did, it seems they started at the NY border, and kept moving east until they got to Bridgeport, and then they put a halt to it, apparently.

Why not look at the places that are working (good quality of life, low taxes) and see if we can expand on whatever they may have done? But you don't want to do that, because none of you can bear to admit that the conservative agenda, for all its flaws, has some good ideas too.

My brother moved to Fraklin TN many years ago. Great schools, new roads, super low taxes, it was an up and coming place. Now it's one of the hottest markets in the nation. He sold his house for more than triple what he paid for it 10-12 years ago.

The NH suburbs of Bedford, Hollis, Brookline, Amherst...they literally can't build $600,000 houses fast enough. I don't even know what the political affiliation is of those places, but they're located in a purplish state. Same with the Charlotte NC suburbs. They're not deep red, though I guess the places in SC, like Fort Mill, are.

I say let's expand on what they're doing. You dismiss them as outliers.

[PaulS]

Why do I have to point out one place. look at the country as a whole. The richest states are primarily run Democrats. The poorest states are primarily run by Republicans. The richest counties are primarily in Democratic states. The poorest counties are primarily and Republican states. pretty clear. How about we expand on what the more successful counties or states are doing and raise taxes and provide better benefits like more access to mental health and the better educational system so high tech companies have more incentive to go to them? And you fail to consider that the poorest people are going to go to the biggest cities where they can get the mental health help, access to drug treatment centers and hospitals, public transportation excetera. Instead you try to say that Democratic policies have made those cities poor while failing to understand the population who lives there.
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[Got Stripers]

How about we regulate like we do cars and trucks, adding we don’t sell Indy race cars to the general public.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

Why do I have to point out one place. look at the country as a whole. The richest states are primarily run Democrats. The poorest states are primarily run by Republicans. The richest counties are primarily in Democratic states. The poorest counties are primarily and Republican states. pretty clear. How about we expand on what the more successful counties or states are doing and raise taxes and provide better benefits like more access to mental health and the better educational system so high tech companies have more incentive to go to them? And you fail to consider that the poorest people are going to go to the biggest cities where they can get the mental health help, access to drug treatment centers and hospitals, public transportation excetera. Instead you try to say that Democratic policies have made those cities poor while failing to understand the population who lives there.
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so the hedge fund managers in Greenwich, we’re successful because CTs high taxes gave them good public services

CT has wealthy residents. The state is beyond bankrupt, and therefore can’t afford to do anything for
anybody. Paul, ask someone who has worked for DCF for 30 years, about all the services that have been cut.

we spend tax dollars to
enrich unions. everyone else falls through the cracks. take a stroll
through Bridgeport some day and tel me about how much better off morbid, thanks to our high taxes.

The state of CT has wealthy residents. The state itself, is circling the drain. Many liberal states are in horrible financial shape. You can’t help anyone, when you’re broke.
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[PaulS]

The richest states are primarily run Democrats. The poorest states are primarily run by Republicans. The richest counties are primarily in Democratic states. The poorest counties are primarily and Republican states.
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[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

The richest states are primarily run Democrats. The poorest states are primarily run by Republicans. The richest counties are primarily in Democratic states. The poorest counties are primarily and Republican states.
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correction…the states with the wealthiest residents are run by democrats

CT is a state made up of very wealthy individuals. The state itself, is bankrupt, drowning in debt, cutting vital services to the needy to enrich their union masters.

Do you understand the difference between a state government, and the people who live in the state?

TN has no state income tax. Yet they have massive surpluses, so
much so, that tuition at community colleges is free to state residents.

CT has insane income taxes ( and many other taxes that TN doesn’t have), yet we will
never, ever be able to offer such a perk.




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[Pete F.]

House Republicans have introduced the Leaker Accountability Act, making Supreme Court leaks punishable by up to 5 years in prison.

They've not introduced a single bill combatting the epidemic of gun violence and mass shootings.
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[PaulS]

and yet the average salary in CT is much higher, there is less crime and a better education system than Tenn.

[Pete F.]

I thought I heard that CT was broke?

Gov. Ned Lamont disclosed Connecticut’s projected fiscal reserves exceed $7 billion.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

and yet the average salary in CT is much higher, there is less crime and a better education system than Tenn.

better education system, if you can afford it. You always leave that part out.

and to the lousy cities in TN, is that the fault of the state? or the fault of the people who run the cities?

My brother lived in Franklin, which is every bit as nice as, say, Avon CT. Insane public schools, beautiful little town. No income tax. And free tuition at the states community colleges.

So can you please point me to a town in CT, that offers a similar quality of life as Franklin TN, with no state income tax, and free tuition at community colleges?

I’ll wait.


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[PaulS]

another interesting fact - GDP per capita.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...itories_by_GDP

The richest (and best educated) states are primarily run by Democrats. The poorest states are primarily run by Republicans. The richest counties are primarily in Democratic states. The poorest counties are primarily in Republican states.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

another interesting fact - GDP per capita.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...itories_by_GDP

The richest (and best educated) states are primarily run by Democrats. The poorest states are primarily run by Republicans. The richest counties are primarily in Democratic states. The poorest counties are primarily in Republican states.

You keep saying the same thing "blue states have wealthier citizens on average". I keep saying I agree with you, so I have no idea why you keep saying the same ting, I don't know who or what youre responding to.

I've asked you many times what liberalism has done to make those citizens more successful, and you keep responding with "blue states are wealthier."

We both know that means you can't think of a reason why liberalism results in wealth. Because it doesn't. If it did, the state governments of the blue states would be in great shape, and they aren't.

And for the second time, when wealthy americans leaned right, you all said that was a bad thing, a sign of what was wrong with the GOP. Now that wealthy people are liberals, all of a sudden it's a good thing to attract the wealthy.

TN has very poor towns. But the state (meaning the state government) literally has more money than they know what to do with, so they offer free community college tuition.

CT has a ton of very wealthy residents, yet the state can't pay its bills.

Lemme guess your response..."CT is wealthier than TN".

except it's not. The residents of CT are far wealthier than the residents of TN. The state of CT is a lot less wealthy than the state of TN. Despite taking far more money from its citizenry, the state of CT is in far worse shape.

Funny you won't comment on that.

[PaulS]

a state is made up of its citizens. A state is not a person. I could care less if you think the "wealth" of a state is based on how much $ the state has in the bank. I'm more concerned w/how healthy the citizens are or how long they live or their access to good mental health services, or any other fact that impacts people and their lives on a day to day basis. When you look at those the R led states fall down.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

a state is made up of its citizens. A state is not a person. I could care less if you think the "wealth" of a state is based on how much $ the state has in the bank. I'm more concerned w/how healthy the citizens are or how long they live or their access to good mental health services, or any other fact that impacts people and their lives on a day to day basis. When you look at those the R led states fall down.

so what does this say to you about our state government.

we have some of the highest tax rates in the nation, applied to some of the highest incomes in the nation. That necessarily means, we have the state government a ton of money. They spent all that.

Then we got the casinos, which in good years,, gave hundreds of millions of dollars to the state. And they spent all
that.

Then because that wasn’t enough, the state borrowed tens of thousands of dollars for every person living here, and they spent all that.

And what do we have to show for it? What can i get here, that I can’t get in a nice suburb of NH, or in a well run place like Franklin TN?

Nothing. I get nothing from the state, that i wouldn’t get if i lived in a other state with lower taxes.

What i get, is a public university in CT that’s way more expensive than what’s available in other places with lower taxes.

If you’re a multi millionaire, CT is a better place. And probably if you want state welfare, Ct is a better place.

But for everyone in between, please tell me what CT offers, that you can’t get ( cheaper) in a well run suburb of NH or TN or SC?

What’s our value proposition? Abortions?
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