Positive News Aplenty

by Jeff Davis

The biggest problem facing Connecticut is the absence of a positive narrative that truly reflects what is actually going on in our state. While the op-ed that ran in the CT Mirror this summer accurately tells a story of responsible Democratic stewardship penned by a Democratic Town Committee member from Greenwich, the partisan slant should not take away from the underlying, and seldom told, facts.

The writer, Sean Goldrick, is a self-described retired investment professional and his op-ed reflects the facts that dramatically belie the naysayers who have set the downbeat story line about our state.

Prominent among the little told facts about Connecticut are these: an increase of over 50 percent in Fortune 500 companies since the end of the M. Jodi Rell administration; an increase of over 50 percent in billionaires living here over the same time frame; an increase in national ranking of millionaires as a percentage of population from 4th to 3rd; an increase in private sector jobs from pre-Great Recession levels; overall state/local debt levels in the middle of the pack nationally; and crime at a half-century low. There is plenty more encouraging news.

When the commonly understood narrative tells an incomplete and/or misleading story, the attitudes and perceptions on which people and companies make decisions are shortsighted and emotional. When people and companies look deeper for the true story, you begin to see decisions like the $1 billion data center project in New Britain. Stay informed about what is really going on in our state.