This was going to be a post about Memorial day, flags and history, but somehow deep thoughts with Jack Handey intruded and I spent part of my day to day thinking about the globe. That is, I read 5 issues of Businessweek, which had been stacked unread because of other things rising to a priority level. And so, now I’ve pieced together the latest global warning story and the picture isn’t too pretty.

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While the budget deficit is derailing the small business tax credit, and the rail yard debacle is being punted, the Connecticut state senators have, in a 20-16 vote, proved that they have lost touch with how small businesses really work. They of course think that they have passed a sick leave bill that protects the worker from something. The essential protection, that any Connecticut employer who employs over 50, must provide 6.5 days of paid sick days. Connecticut would be the first state enacting such a law, if it passes the House, according to the Courant.

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Yep, now its official, Connecticut is in a budget deficit. Of course, if they had acknowledged factoring unfunded pension liabilities all along, Connecticut has been operating with a budget deficit for years. But details are something Hartford’s government flunkies don’t do all that well. The local impact of the red state phenom below:

The rapidly changing budget landscape has left many local lawmakers frustrated.

State Rep. Christopher Perone, D-Norwalk, had been pushing for the elimination of the annual $250 business entity tax to give small firms a break in a tough economy.

“It doesn’t look good for that,” he said.

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If anyone is pumping Diesel fuel at the gas station these days, they have seen peaks of $4.50 a gallon. Experts are predicting that could hit $5 a gallon very soon. Which means that when contracts are up on the fuel contracts that the BOE has in the next year, sticker shock will be an understatement. Which is why the BOE needs to reevaluate its school bus routes and plan for better fuel efficiencies.

Part of that planning process had better include the parents. For some reason in the last decade or so, parents have collectively decided that door to door kid transportation is necessary. Whatever happened to kids walking to school? Or walking to the bus stop?

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This is a video clip of about an hour, about the middle class. It’s riveting in part because most of the time when economic studies are done, they typically focus on the answering policy solutions to some of the more intractable problems in society. Think the decades long war on poverty, and all the social programs it spawned.

Elizabeth Warren chose to focus on the two parent, two child household, and compared (adjusted for inflation) the economic reality of a typical 1970 family versus the same family demographic in 2002. This is a single generation, your parents versus you essentially.

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The online edition of the Norwalk Advocate is once again leading with Stamford stories. Think they’re trying to tell us something? Today its about Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy talking about the direction Stamford is going. A snip:

In looking forward, Malloy cited the work of author Richard Florida, whose latest book, “Who’s Your City?,” identifies Stamford as one of the best “medium-sized” regions in the country in which to live at almost any age.

Florida argues the economic health of a place is determined by what it can offer sought-after employees.

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I still think the BOE budget could be tweaked further, but the approach of the Moccia administration is to cut the city operating budget. A painful process, since much of what we experience in Norwalk has that just looks like its falling apart look. I speak of roads, remember Osborne, and sidewalks, and the rest of the usual suspects. From The Hour:

The directive came as a result of concerns over reduced revenue projections, including state aid and the real estate conveyance tax, as well as reduced projections for investment income.

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File this under WTF. From the Courant:

Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch says he could raise $9 million by increasing the state sales tax from the current 6 percent to 7 percent. He says Bridgeport’s property taxes cannot yield any more revenue.

Some lawmakers, including Democrats who control the legislature, say they are skeptical. They say a higher sales tax would depress retail business in Connecticut’s cities.

Sen. Eileen Daily, a Westbrook Democrat who co-chairs the legislature’s tax-writing Finance Committee, asked mayors on Monday to explain why city residents could afford increased sales taxes if they already are hard-pressed to pay rising property taxes.

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Well, taking a gander at the BOE operating budget might be a better start, but this news is good. Norwalk will recieve lower revenues this upcoming year. The budget must reflect that.

Moccia has asked department heads to identify “potential reductions” and communicate them to Director of Finance Thomas S. Hamilton no later than Tuesday.

In addition, Moccia wrote that he has instructed the Department of Personnel and Labor Relations to institute a “hiring freeze for all nonpublic safety positions effective immediately.”

The memorandum, prepared with input from Hamilton, comes as the Board of Estimate and Taxation crafts the city’s 2008-09 operating budget.

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The Courant manages to run two articles that are completely related yet strangely don’t mention each other. The first, The Wheat Factor; Agricultural, Financial And Energy Issues Have Sent Prices Soaring is about the rising prices of wheat. Granted its an AP “filler” story in the business section, but wouldn’t someone over at the business desk have asked the obvious question in, Area Restaurant Closings Are Called Signs Of The Times, when they feature the closing of Macaroni Grill?

The wheat article states:

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