Connecticut’s most populous city has pockets of poverty smack up against suburban affluence. A strikingly high level of wage inequality exists throughout the United States, with Connecticut’s 4th Congressional District ranking fifth for income inequality, according to a Bloomberg survey that examined census data to determine the level of economic equality in each of 435 congressional districts in the country.
According to Bloomberg, “the U.S. congressional districts with the most inequality share certain traits: They contain a small, enormously wealthy elite surrounded by impoverished neighbors.”
Bridgeport is located in the 17-town 4th Congressional District that includes Connecticut’s Gold Coast, running along the shore from the city to Greenwich and extending inland to Redding and Ridgefield. It also includes a piece of the Naugatuck Valley.
Within minutes from Bridgeport you can drive to the swankiest estates in the United States. Income inequality is an explosive talking point for politicians this election cycle. What are they gonna do about it?
The issue will certainly come up on the congressional campaign trail between Democratic incumbent Jim Himes and his Republican opponent Dan Debicella.
A platform I could get on board with.
www .upworthy.com/a-news-anchor-completely-lost-it-im-really-glad-he-did
Jennifer Buchanan, Dylan forgot to take his meds before the show.
Haaa! Good one, Ron.
Thank you, all.
Please tell me what Jim Himes has done for Bridgeport. Please tell me what he has done for the State of Connecticut. Here is the answer pure and simple, NOTHING. Jim Himes is a gold coast empty suit. We should not be voting for incumbents.
I already decided who I will vote for come Nov. I voted twice for Obama and am fed up with him now, he has done nothing as president. I voted for Malloy 2010, he has made CT worse. I will be voting for Foley this time around. I voted for Himes in 2008, 2010 and 2012 but come Nov I will not vote for him, he has done nothing. Helping Bridgeport is not giving out more welfare checks, it is about providing jobs. I am fed up with the Democratic party and this will be my first time ever voting for a straight Republican ticket.
donj: I promise it won’t hurt to vote for Republicans. Are all Republicans bad? No. Are all Democrats good? No. The Democrats are the worst in this respect. They go into the inner cities, promise the minorities the world and never keep their promise. Himes has done nothing in his time in office, so how bad can a change be?
There is a flaw in the story. It is obviously designed to incite fervor in the people who read it and believe they are affected. When they compare the income inequity they do not compare the cost of living. The cost of living in Portugal is very high. For all intents and purposes, everyone in those countries from Haiti to Portugal is poor. A middle-class person (say a teacher making $65K) living in BPT has a higher standard of living than the same person living in Greenwich. If you look at a list of the most cost-effective places to live, many are the same or near these places.
You would also have to consider how and when this happened. I often hear stories of BPT in the day when you could lose your job at breakfast and have another by lunch. When and how did that change? Who would be to blame? I am sure this story is put forward by the Democrats to disparage the Republicans. But the Republicans are not the ones who put BPT into the gutter.
It would be conceivable BPT could very easily become the place in CT where the average guys moves to retire. You sell your four-bedroom place in Norwalk for $800K, buy a two-bedroom condo In BPT for $160K and bank the rest to live on. Many people do not want to move away from their family to a completely unfamiliar place. BPT could be the Florida of the NE. The biggest problem with this or any other plan is security. BPT has to overcome its crime problem. The other is an image problem.
Lastly, you would have to consider what we would do about it. I know, a tax increase. The rich will simply move away. CT is already overtaxed. I know the Dems would love to have more money to squander but this is not going to enrich the poor, it is just going to make everyone poorer, like Haiti.
SPY, it is true in the ’40s and ’50s you could work at one place in the morning, quit and walk across the street and start working for another company. These were manual labor/factory jobs. Modernization hit the manufacturing industry and jobs started disappearing. Then the politicians entered and felt we should spread the wealth by moving factories to foreign countries. How did they do this? They raised the business tax way higher than in the foreign countries.
You want jobs and income, lower the business tax lower than it is in the foreign countries and all the companies will come back.
Andy, let’s not forget NAFTA, CAFTA and the whole globalization scheme, which was nothing more than a race to the bottom for wages at the expense of America’s working class. And yes, the Democrat’s darling Bill Clinton signed off on NAFTA. As far as I am concerned both parties are in the pockets of crony capitalists. We speak of class warfare. As I see it, class warfare is working class versus working class fighting over the crumbs that “trickle down” to us. The fat cats sit in their gated communities laughing. LABOR PRODUCES ALL WEALTH!
The politicians in Washington are in the pockets of big business. They could change things almost overnight by passing a law that lowers the business tax down from 20% to a number lower than the countries that are taking our jobs. For example I believe the Irish business tax is 13%. Ours should be lowered to take away the incentives for companies to leave the country. This won’t happen because the politicians are being paid under the table to do nothing.
Dan Debicella is a punk who has a concern for himself firstly and lastly. Himes is a racist corrupt piece of garbage who couldn’t care about the residents of the Park City except their votes. No matter who you vote for, you lose.
Andy–sorry for sinking to that level. I must have been suffering a bout of terminal dumbass.