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n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m | M a y / J u n e 2 0 1 9 | n e w h a v e n B I Z 7 Visit chelseagroton.com/growthatbusiness or call 860-448-4203 to learn how we can grow that business of yours together. • BUSINESS BANKING • COMMERCIAL LOANS • TREASURY MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS We're in the business of building dreams. some phenomenal discoveries [including] at Smilow on the cancer research side. ere's a lot going on [in New Haven]. Connecticut and Massachusetts have a lot of similarities — but Massachusetts' economy is on a strong growth curve, while Connecticut's has lagged. What accounts for the differences? ink back to when Massachu- setts was known as 'Taxachusetts.' At some point there was a deci- sion made by both Democrats and Republicans that 'We can't do this anymore.' ink about the [governors in Massachusetts]: You had [Republican] Bill Weld as a governor, [Democrat] Deval Patrick and then they went to Charlie Bak- er, a Republican. Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, in Massachusetts it certainly looks like both parties are working together to move the state forward. And I give full credit to the Massachusetts voters, that they're saying, 'We don't want to swing from side to side.' For some reason in Massachusetts the ship seems to stay on the right course. So what's different in Connecticut? Are the voters stupider? If I listen to a lot of the debate that comes out of Hartford, we seem to have an older mindset about business — that we can just keep sending tax rates up, and they're not going to leave. Whereas Massachusetts has moved to the forefront by saying that 'If we're not attractive, businesses and workers will leave].' Young men and young women in Cambridge, they can go to South Carolina, they can go to Tennessee. Whereas Connecti- cut seems to be more in a 1950s mode: 'You're here, you can't go anywhere, you're not leaving.' But the businesses of the future are very transportable. I don't understand why there's not more pushback from the business community against what Hartford is doing. I don't know if they're listening up in Hartford. I do think there are some good people there who want to move us in the right direction, but I don't think you have the same mentality in Connecticut that you have up in Massachusetts. My role [as People's United's chief econo- mist] is much more talking about the economy and the business com- munity. I tend to try to stay away from the politics of it. But there are a lot of angry people out there. You talk about how New England doesn't have any major cities beyond Boston. Of all the mid-sized cities we do have — New Haven, Hartford, Worcester, Providence — their economies are all quite different. New England is right between Boston and New York — we're in great shape. Fairfield County is do- ing very well because of its proxim- ity to New York. ere's no reason why Connecticut can't be benefiting from what's going on in Massachu- setts. You develop that great drug in Cambridge, and you take it to Worcester [to be manufactured]. Why can't you take it to Hartford. It's just as easy. Plus, we've got UCo- nn, we've got great universities here — why can't Connecticut be picking off some of those companies that are growing in Massachusetts? We could be producing those drugs or those medical instruments. If you go up to Worcester, along Rt. 9 — what a great [economic] engine. It's all health-care companies and life sciences. We could do that in Con- necticut. We could be benefiting much more from what's going on in Boston and New York. Somebody could locate a digital-design busi- ness in Stamford, but if we make it economically unattractive, that could easily go to Bergen County [N.J.] or Westchester. Connecticut offered tax incentives to hold on to businesses [under Gov. Dannel Malloy], but that's a one-shot. You need to create the environment that makes them want to stay here and grow here. at's the key. Do you think Ned Lamont understands that? From what I've read, I think he understands the problem. But he's got some big challenges. On the most macro level, do you worry about the future of free enterprise and capitalism in the United States? No. You can draw a straight line from Zuccotti Park in New York [birthplace of the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2012] to the Dodd-Frank regulations to the Trump/Sanders voter. ere's un- happiness, there's anger on both the le and the right. e Trump voter, the Sanders voter — that person was mad: 'Nobody's listening to me. I need a champion.' I think that's what you're seeing with Elizabeth Warren. at unhappiness is absolutely legitimate. But what you're seeing right now is actually pretty healthy. "Connecticut could be benefiting much more from what's going on in Boston and New York." Continued on Page 49

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