The Malloy success story was reaffirmed by recent economic news provided by The Day:
The number of families in Connecticut that are categorized as working poor has increased more than 30 percent in the past few years, according to a study released Monday by a national coalition.
The Working Poor Families Project, a national initiative to help people achieve middle-class prosperity, said in the report that new U.S. Census figures from 2011 show continued slippage in the numbers of Americans able to live a comfortable life. Nationally, 10.4 million families are now categorized as working poor, a 200,000 increase from the previous year.
In Connecticut, still with the fifth-lowest percentage of working poor among all U.S. states, families struggling to make ends meet have risen to 21 percent of the working population, five points higher than seen just four years ago. This compares with 32 percent of families being categorized as working poor throughout the United States, which is four points higher than seen in 2007.
The news was met with unbridled adulation towards the good governor by Jim Horan who is the executive director of the Connecticut Association of Human Services, a non-veterinarian group that discriminates against animals by virtue of using the word “Human” in its title.
The article states that Mr Horan:
“…credited Connecticut and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy with putting several policies into place, including an earned income tax credit for low-wage working households, to help struggling families. But he noted that the legislature last year failed to pass a minimum-wage hike that might have given the working poor a helping hand.”
If there were a rise in the minimum wage we have to infer that more money for the working poor is better than having less. Unfortunately this rationale doesn’t make sense when the governor raised taxes for everyone who not only had a job but also for those who don’t and need to purchase socks or get a haircut. Otherwise Malloy’s “several policies” have been a tremendous boon for Connecticut.
As for the economy itself Horan attributes the bad economy with the fact that the economy is bad:
While Horan blamed the overall economy for many of the struggles experienced by working families in Connecticut, he noted that long-term trends such as companies cutting hours and reducing benefits also has had a deleterious effect.
"Connecticut needs to invest in human infrastructure," he said in a statement." More action is needed now to ensure that all families in our state can build a secure future."
When Malloy and his party forced Connecticut businesses with mandatory sick days the heartless Republicans predicted this would only make companies cut hours and thus reduce benefits when full time work becomes part time. Also raising taxes would make middle class workers have less expendable income, if they still have a job, creating more working poor and thus make the likes of Jim Horan very busy fighting for the state to invest in “human infrastructure”.
As governor Malloy runs for reelection we should expect he will get the vote of the working poor and everyone else who is hurting in Connecticut. This is the essence of liberal success.
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