Although it has been exactly a week since a staffer filled President Obama’s limousine with the wrong type of fuel, thereby rendering it useless after being flown all the way to Israel, the story presents such a hilariously applicable metaphor that I would be remiss not to comment on it.
Such an inexcusable mistake speaks volumes about the ineptitude of some government employees, especially given the fact that millions of Americans somehow succeed in filling their tanks with the proper form of gasoline on a regular basis.
However, the incident also presents a disturbing metaphor for the nation and the state of Connecticut: our government officials have been putting the wrong “gasoline” into our economic engine for years.
In fact, much like President Obama’s pit crew, Governor Malloy’s economic team has been pumping Connecticut’s economy full of sludgy diesel when all it really requires is some regular, lean, 87-octane gasoline. And all the car junkies out there know that an engine filled with diesel fuel instead of unleaded simply will not start.
Here’s what this means for Connecticut: when the Governor and his economic development team pass dense, misinformed economic policy like the First Five and Next Five programs, not to mention the Small Business Express program, the economic engine of the state won’t run.
All these programs serve to do is muck up our economic machinery. The Yankee Institute’s “List of Lasts”, which names six economic categories in which Connecticut ranked worst in the nation, is a testament to this fact.
The tax revenues needed to fund these programs, combined with overregulation of businesses not shielded by these blatant crony capitalist policies, make an otherwise efficient machine sludgy and slow. They turn a free-market V-8 into a crony-capitalist hunk of scrap metal.
Those who don’t understand cars may think that government-made diesel is better for performance, but in fact it prevents any real performance at all. A car’s engine, and our economy, would run much better if they were filled with the right fuel: a lean blend of 87-octane, limited government, and minimal state intervention.
So, let the President’s mishap serve as a warning: only once we get some true mechanics in Hartford will our economic engine be able to purrrr like the well-tuned machine it can be.