For the past six weeks, we’ve been presenting a summer series that looks at The Great Recession through the lens of US 5. The commercial highway that bisects Connecticut is indeed a good measure of our collective progress on the Road to Recovery. And the view along US 5 hasn’t been all that pretty.
We’ve shared the stories of manufacturers who have found hope in foreign markets, retailers who are coming to grips with changing demographics, unionized laborers and Fortune 500 companies who are feeling the pinch. We’ve talked with small business owners competing against giant chains, merchants suffering from a decline in their customers’ disposable income and, today, furniture stores who are finding ways to cater to their clients’ changing tastes and budgets.
Perhaps the most telling measure of our area’s journey on the Road to Recovery came last month when our weekly poll asked: ‘Is your business showing signs of economic recovery?’ Almost half — 48 percent — replied ‘What recovery?’ Just 2 percent declared ‘The recession is over.’
The economic climate indeed is not good here in Connecticut. Our economy was bleeding jobs before the Great Recession hit and it appears we’ll be on the trailing edge on that Road to Recovery.
The voices in the street speak of real concern for where we’re headed as a state. Yet actions speak louder than words and inaction speaks volumes.
During the weeks this series was running, those who seek to lead our state were bombarding the airwaves with campaign messages ahead of the Aug. 10 primary. Those messages were shrill in pointing the finger at others for having lost jobs and failing to energize our economy, but were short on specifics about what the candidates would do to repair the damage.
The messaging was expensive. The two Democratic candidates for governor spent almost $12 million calling each other unqualified. The three Republican candidates for U.S. Senate spent north of $25 million, much of it from Linda McMahon’s personal checkbook.
For all this money, almost three quarters of Connecticut’s eligible voters didn’t respond by venturing to the polling booth. The failure to engage is staggering.
Experts can and will debate whether the low turnout was a reaction to the negative tone of the campaign, the lack of specifics about what the candidates could do differently to improve the economy, or the mid-summer timing of the primary vote.
In any case, we find the turnout disheartening. All of that campaign money would have had a bigger impact if it had been spent along US 5 or used to repair a few of the state’s aging bridges.
Sure, this was the primary and the real choice looms in November, after fewer candidates offer more specifics as they sharpen the focus on philosophic and tactical differences. Make no mistake, these choices do matter to us all.
A healthy economy can’t be hindered by uncertainty about how the state is going to respond to its own massive deficit. It can thrive in an environment of overregulation, high taxes and fees and a general lack of understanding of what makes business run.
In the face of this pathetic example of civic engagement, it’s time for Connecticut business to get involved and make its voice heard. This election should be a referendum on how to make the state a better place in which to do business. If the candidates won’t talk specifics, the business community has the wisdom, resources and power to drive the conversation, to set the agenda and ultimately to give voice to a vision for the future.
And there’s no better driver to help us navigate the Road to Recovery than the business community.
