There’s a lot to be said for the grand gesture.
Some are epic and historic, like President Kennedy’s challenge to explore the moon, or Reagan’s call to tear down the Berlin Wall, or Nixon’s diplomatic overture to China.
Some, closer to home, are effective. Governor Malloy’s “First Five” program and Bioscience Connecticut initiative would seem to fall in this category.
Then there are the ones that land with a thud. Malloy’s plan to fix the state’s budget with just one more tax increase ranks up there with President Bush’s promises to New Orleans and his ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment. In each case, the size of the obstacle was an explanation but not an excuse.
So what are we to make of a recent series of grand gestures?
• A $200 million, 10-year commitment to funding for bioscience companies. Connecticut Innovations is gearing up to woo the lab-coat brigade.
• A proposal to raise Connecticut’s minimum wage by $1.50 over two years, making it the highest in the nation. The working poor and their advocates will be marching in the streets to support this one.
• The appointment of a commission to study gender-equity in pay. The cheering at the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women may be loud enough to bring columnist Larry Cohen out of his grave.
Does any of this make a lick of sense in this place at this time? We think not.
The state budget continues to hemorrhage red ink despite a record tax increase. Malloy seems incapable of reining in spending.He just needs to throw money at issues. We love the concept of Bioscience Connecticut; we think the state should play a leading role in attracting employers. But would not a $100 million, five-year plan have sent the same message and been a lot easier on the state’s overused credit card?
When last we confronted the idea of raising the minimum wage, we suggested the depth of the Great Recession wasn’t the moment. Not a lot has changed in a year. Unemployment is above the national average and much worse among the young and the minimally educated, two groups for whom entry level work is a first step on the ladder to success.
Why would we want to position ourselves as the worst place in the nation for an employer to create minimum-wage jobs? Legislators, constrained from spending more taxpayer money this session, are likely to want to spend private sector money. Resist the urge. Positioning the state as better place to do business than its neighbors would do more to drive the kind of economic growth that will help us all.
And then there’s the sudden urge to launch yet another study of gender-based wage inequity. Yep, it still exists and it seems unlikely a new study will change that. A recent report finds women in Connecticut earn 75.8 percent of the amount paid men, worse than the national number of 81 percent. Rampant discrimination? Or could it possibly be that there aren’t many women earning top dollar making jet engines or nuclear subs or crunching numbers at insurance companies or hedge funds? Many women have moved on and are encouraging young women to make different education and career choices. The governor apparently is already pandering for votes ahead of his re-election bid.
All and all, we as a state could do with a lot less grandstanding and a little more focus — and effort — in confronting the hard choices that lie before us.
