The Red Line - Common sense commentary on policy and politics published in leading national and Connecticut publications.

Lamont Should KISS Off Taxes

By Red Jahncke on Mar. 3, 2021

Last week, Governor Lamont invoked the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid) to explain his reordering of the sequence of eligibility for COVID-19 vaccinations. He should not stop there. The entirety of state government could use a rigorous application of the principle.

Last year, Yankee Institute released a study of state revenue sources. The study was simple. What it found was not. The study was just a one-page list of all the state’s revenue sources – all 344 of them.

Lamont’s Budget: Everything is “Capped,” Except State Employee Compensation

By Red Jahncke on Feb. 17, 2021

Lamont’s Budget: Everything is “Capped,” Except State Employee Compensation

Governor Lamont unveiled his proposed Connecticut Comeback budget last week. A comeback is unlikely given the long-festering problem of overgenerous and woefully underfunded compensation for privileged state employees.

For over a decade, state employee compensation has exceeded compensation in Connecticut’s private sector by about 40 percent, the biggest gap in the nation.

The consequence is that the State Employee Retirement Fund (SERF) is drastically underfunded. It is difficult to fund such wildly overgenerous benefits.

What now is an ongoing gravy train for state employees is ultimately a train wreck for them and the state.

“Equity” is Socialism by Another Name
By Charles Lipson, OpEd, Wall Street Journal, Mar. 5, 2021 - Post on Mar. 5, 2021

Pres. Biden has issued an “Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities.” Before the election, VP Harris posted a tweet and video: “There’s a big difference between equality and equity.”

Equality means equal treatment, fair competition and impartially judged outcomes. Equity means equal outcomes, achieved if necessary by unequal treatment, biased competition and preferential judging.

Only a powerful central government could impose the intensive—and expensive—programs of social intervention, ideological re-education and economic redistribution necessary to achieve equal outcomes.

That is why radical claims for unequal treatment must be carefully buried in word salads praising equity and social justice.

These evasions raise a hard question: isn’t equity just a new name for the oldest program for achieving equal outcomes -- socialism?

● Read in Wall Street Journal
Operation Warp Speed Is Trump’s Triumph
By Wall Street Journal Editorial, Mar. 3, 2021 - Posted on Mar. 3, 2021

American governments, federal and state, have made many mistakes in the Covid-19 pandemic. But the great success—the saving grace—was making a financial bet in collaboration with private American industry on the development of vaccines. The Trump Administration's Operation Warp Speed is now letting the country see the possibility of a return to relatively normal life as early as the spring.
● Read in The Wall Street Journal

There will be a new Featured Column every week to 10 days. Sign up to receive an email alert when it posts. In the meantime, please visit The Red Line to see a new Column of the Day every day.