udging by muni spreads, Illinois is widely considered the most financially troubled state in the country. However, preppy Connecticut, which has the highest per-capita income in the country and whose capital Hartford has been on the verge of bankruptcy for months, isn’t far behind.
As lame-duck Democratic Gov. Daniel Malloy battles with the legislature – including members of his own party - over passing the state’s budget with a $2.5 billion deficit, the state’s largest newspaper, the Hartford Courant, is highlighting an issue that is emblematic of a nettlesome fiscal problem facing the nutmeg state: its overly generous treatment of state employees through overtime pay, particularly the Department of Developmental Services which operates a string of hospitals serving the intellectually disabled and group homes, that is putting a heavy strain on the state’s already teetering budget.
State payroll data analyzed by the Courant revealed that, through the first half of the year, 37 DDS employees have already earned more than $50,000 in overtime alone, putting a handful of these workers on track to collect $250,000 in pay this year. By comparison, workers with similar jobs in the private sector with state contracts - a group that serves 90% of the state’s intellectually disabled patients - haven’t had a pay raise in 12 years.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-29/its-not-sustainable-nurses-ct-state-hospitals-make-250000-due-wasteful-regulations?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29
Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.
| 
