The “loss” of the Jackson Laboratories colossus to Connecticut has been greeted by subtle snickers in Florida, which had first dibs on the facility, but laughed the proposal out of the state for what was perceived to be vague promises and greedy demands.
Gulf Coast Business Review, a business paper in southwest Florida, where Jackson had been sniffing around, suggested that giving up on Jackson Labs was actually a very clever economic development strategy for the state. The reasoning was, Connecticut has been tricked into spending something on the order of $900,000 per job to entice Jackson — and the bonded debt will be just another burden on overburdened Connecticut taxpayers.
As the paper explained: “higher tax burdens in the Northeast from projects such as Jackson Labs will send more wealthy residents to Naples and Sarasota.”
With no personal income tax, a conservative state legislature, and a “we’ll leave you alone” business regulatory environment, Florida has no problem competing with Connecticut for jobs, when Florida is in the mood.
CareCentrix, the East Hartford-based health care outfit, is expanding its operations in the Tampa area, with an additional 152 jobs on top of the 350 already there.
C Products Defense, a Connecticut-based robotics outfit that manufactures ammunition for the Pentagon and law enforcement agencies, is moving its manufacturing and distribution operations to Manatee County.
Colt Manufacturing, the venerable firearms company that has never had a plant outside of Connecticut, is opening a plant in Kissimmee, Fla.
The list goes on and on; Connecticut tends to discuss the companies moving in, not the operations moving out.
Mandatory sick leave, yet another rise in the state minimum wage — the economic development boys in the fast-growing, entrepreneurial states, are quick to tell the world what the Connecticuts of the world are up to — and suggesting a visit to more friendly places.
Connecticut can fight back. Connecticut needs niche marketing. Connecticut should target businesses and industries that nobody else wants.
Opportunity knocks, even as we speak, in California, where Los Angeles is poised to require all porn movie actors to use condoms. Imagine the pause in the action on screen, as the actor fumbles with his wallet and tries to equip himself for action.
Los Angeles is the porn film capital of the United States (its mother must be very proud) and the filmmakers have threatened to leave the city for greener pastures or cleaner sheets or something, if the condom requirement is slipped into place.
Connecticut should be aroused by such an opportunity. Put those boys in a large studio at the Front Street Undevelopment project in downtown Hartford, across from the convention center, and promise them that porn sex will be one of the few things that Connecticut won’t regulate.
Once the studio is cranking out ground-breaking films (“Actuaries on Fire”), the area will attract all manner of “adult” stores and clubs — providing Hartford with the “industry cluster” of which it has always dreamed.
Look at Connecticut. The brass mills are gone, the textile mills are gone, the hat and typewriter manufacturers are gone — in truth, nobody sane want to locate a substantial business here, without the state bonding $40 trillion worth of entitlement. Connecticut needs the unloved, the unwanted.
Bring in some slaughterhouses. Start renting out back yards for the disposal of nuclear fuel rods. Designate downtown Main Streets as drag racing zones for national events (call it “urban development”).
Connecticut must make itself attractive to the unattractive. The porn producers don’t care what the tax rate is.
Laurence D. Cohen is a freelance writer.
