The International Monetary Fund predicted this month that the next 10 years in developed countries would be an orgy of spending cuts and tax increases to try and bring government debt under some sort of control.
Of course, in Connecticut, which is sort of a micro version of what the IMF is talking about, the response will be tax increases and no spending cuts because that’s just how we do things here.
Interestingly enough, there is little angst among those entrusted to make sure the state checks don’t bounce. The projected budget deficits keep being readjusted up and up, and while other states are announcing major whacking of state payrolls and programs, Connecticut is sanguine, as if we have some little secret that will make everything all better.
In fact, there is a secret plan, locked in Gov. Rell’s desk drawer, which will not only balance the budget, but will also allow the Democrats to override her occasional vetoes and provide every union-represented state employee with a barrel of rum as an extra “fringe benefit.”
The secret plan, known only to the governor, her closest advisers, a few legislative leaders, and one crusading columnist, is known as the “Move Over Law,” which took effect Oct. 1.
Never heard of it? Well, that’s the point. The legislation was passed at 3 a.m. one night when no one was watching — and the strategy is to never tell anyone about it, so that those in violation of the law they don’t know about will be fined an estimated $623 trillion, enough to fulfill almost every promise that the Democrats have made to state employee unions.
The new law, in theory, is intended to protect firemen and policemen and tow truck drivers and ambulance drivers and almost anyone else with blinking lights on their vehicles, when they are parked just off the road, tending to flat tires and drunks and the like.
When you see the flashing lights, you are obligated, under the new law, to “move over” — to switch lanes and/or slow down and pay extra attention.
It’s the “switch lanes” part that’s the real genius of the new law. Since the law is new to Connecticut, and since many other states don’t have such a law, the theory is that as long as Connecticut never tells anyone about the new standards of care, we will all be in violation and be fined and fined and ticketed and ticketed until the budget deficit is gone.
If the state were truly interested in protecting the service personnel whose butts are often dangling near the side of the road, the new law would have been introduced with cascades of public service announcements and billboards and direct-mail announcements to every licensed driver.
But safety isn’t the issue. They did it for the money.
Florida, brimming over with out-of-state tourists driving hither and yon, conceded last year that it kind of, sort of, maybe, took about six years to unveil a communication effort to let people know about the “new” move-over law. In the meantime, you got ticketed and fined. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
In Oklahoma, when the citizenry finally figured out the game and the number of move-over tickets started to fall, the state quietly added tow trucks to the law — and raised the fine.
As the holiday season approaches, and you think about how much money you’ve saved since you were warned about the secret move-over law, a columnist gratuity might be in order. It could be our little secret. Sort of like the move-over law.
Laurence D. Cohen is a freelance writer.
