Unemployment Figures Paint Grim Picture

Layoffs at Aetna and increasing unemployment figures are the latest damning evidence that the State of Connecticut is not doing enough to create and retain jobs in this economy. The Democrats’ continued ignorance of our budget crisis – their failure to make necessary spending reductions and their decision to raise taxes and fees across the state; including a new 10% surcharge on the profits of Connecticut businesses, is the wrong direction for the State of Connecticut.

Connecticut has lost 87,000 jobs in this recession and most economists predict we will lose tens-of-thousands more. We need to make job creation and retention a priority and it starts with finally getting serious about our budget crisis. The Office of Fiscal Analysis and the Office of Policy and Management are projecting a $385 million deficit for the current fiscal year. The legislature should be in special session now to fix it. And this time we can’t paper over the problem with tax increases and borrowing. We need to protect Connecticut’s job creators and stop passing-off this crisis to future generations. We need to finally make the difficult spending reductions we all know are necessary.