My bigger reasons for being an unhappy resident of CT are below.

The budget issues are a big factor. Most of the public doesn't see how bad it really is. Our State Government has been mismanaged for so long, that we are in an insane amount of debt. We haven't even began to address the long term health of the State. Our representatives try every year to stop the bleeding, but, it's like putting a band aid on an amputation. If you dig deep enough, you'll see how bad the situation really is. You'll see we are in way deeper than anyone can imagine. Taxes will continue to go up at every turn, and services for the working stiff, will continue to be cut for years to come. That's just to stay status quo. To target the problem, it's going to take even more money, that nobody has. Just the unfunded pensions alone are enough to give us all nightmares.

We have made the climate for business so terrible in CT, most of the large anchor companies have left, or have announced they are leaving. All this does is, take even more of the decent paying jobs out of the State, and drill more holes in our long term budget health. Uninformed people complain when a company gets tax breaks to be here, but nobody stops to think about taking every single employee on their payroll, and calculating the amount of income tax, sales tax, property tax, and so on that they pay into the system. Then take every single subcontractor they use, and do the same. Then take the stores, car dealerships, restaurants, and such, that those employees frequent, and do the same there. It's a huge domino effect when a large company leaves. I would hate to even take a guess as to how many jobs will be effected by each and every job that leaves our State, when an anchor company goes. In my opinion, we haven't even began to bleed from the loss of the companies that have recently announced they are leaving.

Malloy announced this past week that we are closing another prison in I think it was Enfield because crime levels were so low, we didn't need it any longer. Truth is, we aren't following through with sentences because it's too expensive to house inmates. We have mismanaged ourselves into a corner, where we have no choice but to let criminals walk. Every time there is a new occurrence in the news, the State runs to make the public feel good by writing new laws, even though the ones already on the books aren't being enforced.

Examples: Drug dealers are continuously let back out on the street with 10 or 20 weapons violations, but as law abiding citizens, we have to jump through hoops to legally obtain firearms and ammo, because that makes the general public feel safer.

I for one, have had several incidents where I have been broken into, had things stolen, or just vandalized. Twice, through my own hard work, the people were caught. I followed them all the way through the system, to do my part, so they were sentenced appropriately. Both times, it turned out to be a joke.

The first time, a gentleman who had a record a mile long, that stole, cut up, and parted out a matching numbers Super Sport Chevelle from me, was given probation and no prison time.

The second time, two girls came onto the family farm after skipping school. They spent the day tearing down fences, breaking windows in all the trucks, smashing the glass out of every gage, on all five tractors. I came home, and caught them in the act. The police came, did a less than thorough investigation. If I didn't go and sit down with the Deputy Police Chief in town, they never would have been charged. Even when they were charged, and I went to court with them, I was informed that the laws in CT had been changed to where Parents aren't responsible for any damage that their Children do, and being they were underage, with no income, they had no way of paying me back, so they were each given 50 hours of community service, and set free. (Why weren't they forced to put in 50 hours mending the fences, and cleaning the broken glass out of the trucks they damaged?) I asked the Judge if anyone could investigate the net worth of the girls, to see if they had any inheritances, or trusts in their name, but he told me, "sadly, we don't have the resources to do that".

Look at the poaching arrests we read about DEEP making, that are not being enforced in the Courts....... The laws in place, in our State, have no bite, because it's too expensive to impose the sentences that go along with them. It's not the prosecutors either, because they're just doing what they're instructed to do. In my opinion, I think we're going to suffer as a society, because of all this leniency. That's going to make it even more difficult to live here.

I don't see any of it changing anytime soon either. We are at the point where, the residents of the CT's largest cities can elect who ever they choose, and they aren't going to vote in the people that are looking to truly change the way we do things. There's a reason why politicians cater to Social Service climate these days. They'll always go out and vote for the people that are promising to give them more, regardless of it's effect on the long term health of the State.

I think many people are moving out, and selling their houses because they want to get out before CT turns into another Chicago. If all this comes to a head, and implodes one day, real estate will be worth only a fraction of what it once was. Nobody wants to work their full life paying off an expensive house, only to have it's worth drop to $50k when they go to retire.

OK, sorry to take up so much time. Rant over, I'll step down from the soap box and make it available to the next CTF'er