Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: I am here with Governor Ned Lamont of the Great
Speaker 2: State of Connecticut in this October Is that what Amrie
Speaker 2: called it in Connecticut in the Delmar Harbor? And Governor,
Speaker 2: thank you so much for being with us. I want
Speaker 2: to start with something that's an increasingly hot topic. We're
Speaker 2: here at a leader of businesses, with the leaders of
Speaker 2: businesses who oversee huge portfolios of money. How is, governor,
Speaker 2: do you keep attracting this type of business to a
Speaker 2: state while providing some of the social services and other
Speaker 2: expenses that caused taxes to go up.
Speaker 1: Well, the folks here at the Greenwich Economic Forum are
Speaker 1: really important to the state and the fintech sector, the
Speaker 1: financial services sector a big piece of our economy. We're
Speaker 1: part of the New York City financial ecosystem. I think
Speaker 1: what they like here is a little bit of certainty, instability.
Speaker 1: They sort of know the state's going to go our
Speaker 1: taxes a little bit less, and it's not a bad lifestyle.
Speaker 2: Are you concerned about what would happen if, say there
Speaker 2: is a change over in the leadership in New York City,
Speaker 2: Let's say mayoral candidate Zoron Mumdanie does win and implement
Speaker 2: some of the policies that he puts out there. Are
Speaker 2: you concerned about the ramifications for a place like Creditch
Speaker 2: truly relies on the ecosystem of the Tri state region
Speaker 2: a little bit.
Speaker 1: New York City is the financial capital of the world,
Speaker 1: and we're a big piece of it. Here as evidence
Speaker 1: that the Economic Forum and I want to make sure
Speaker 1: that the next mayor understands how important New York City
Speaker 1: is to that system and that's important to Connecticut.
Speaker 2: How concerned are you about who the leader is in
Speaker 2: the Democratic Party right now? Do you have a sense
Speaker 2: of where the leadership really is coming from?
Speaker 1: Governors? Okay, I'm a little loaded for bear on that.
Speaker 1: I like governors. Governors have to get stuff done. Devoters
Speaker 1: have to balance a budget, they have to do it
Speaker 1: on time. Governors can't shut down a government. Governors are
Speaker 1: sort of the opposite of what you see going on
Speaker 1: in Washington. I think on both sides aile. But in
Speaker 1: our case, the Democrats have seized real leadership coming from
Speaker 1: the governors. But don't ask me to ask names.
Speaker 2: Well, but I'm wondering, though, how does a governor take
Speaker 2: that leadership when things are shut down in Washington, DC,
Speaker 2: and it seems like there's a real fissure right now
Speaker 2: in the party and tactics in approach in platform.
Speaker 1: I can tell you the governors are incredibly frustrated. Democrats
Speaker 1: are louder about it than Republicans. You know, we balance
Speaker 1: our budget, we do it based upon some assumptions in
Speaker 1: terms of what our relationship is with the federal government.
Speaker 1: If they pull the rug out from under you every week,
Speaker 1: seems to be happening right now, it makes it very
Speaker 1: difficult for that certainty of stability that the people in
Speaker 1: this room, like.
Speaker 2: How much have you seen actual ramifications from the government
Speaker 2: shut down in the form of funding that isn't coming through.
Speaker 1: It's not my first rodeo with these Trump shutdowns. So
Speaker 1: we went through all of our commissioners. We saw what
Speaker 1: at most at risk? Where do you have reserves with
Speaker 1: which is women, infant and children probably only had a
Speaker 1: week it's worth of reserve there. So we'd figured out
Speaker 1: how we backstop that snap, which is you know, food benefits.
Speaker 1: That's the end of this month. So we're watching very
Speaker 1: carefully where the risk is. And I can't make up
Speaker 1: all the shortfall but I'm trying my best to help
Speaker 1: out the most vulnerable.
Speaker 2: Well, how long do you have reserves to cover things?
Speaker 2: In other words, when does the funding run out? Should
Speaker 2: this shutdown continue for a long period of time, end.
Speaker 1: Of this month? You know, snap benefits is probably seventy
Speaker 1: five million dollars a month. I cannot make up that shortfall.
Speaker 1: So if the federal government walks away, that's tough. If
Speaker 1: we had assurance the federal government's going to backstop, if
Speaker 1: we had to help it out for a couple months
Speaker 1: and we'll get paid back, that's something else. We have
Speaker 1: none of that assurance.
Speaker 2: I guess I want to go back to the idea
Speaker 2: of leadership right now because we are beginning the midterm
Speaker 2: election cycle, and I wonder, as a Democrat in your
Speaker 2: second term as governor, how much do you feel allegiance
Speaker 2: to the Democratic Party versus something else MorphOS that's coming
Speaker 2: that doesn't necessarily have a label.
Speaker 1: Well, as governor, you feel strong allegiance to your state.
Speaker 1: I'm a homer for Connecticut. I'm Team Connecticut, and you know,
Speaker 1: Republican or Democrat. I try and get stuff done. Personally speaking,
Speaker 1: is I look at a lot of the civil War
Speaker 1: down to Washington, d C. And I look at La
Speaker 1: and I look at Chicago. You know, I do think
Speaker 1: it's important that the democratic governors stand and stand and
Speaker 1: speak with one voice, that you know, what we need
Speaker 1: from the federal government in terms of a reliable partner.
Speaker 2: How much are you concerned about some of the images
Speaker 2: that we're seeing with the National Guard going into places
Speaker 2: like Chicago and San Francisco and Portland and really raising
Speaker 2: a question about whether it's going to be the States
Speaker 2: versus the federal government.
Speaker 1: Right Dally it will be speaking again. Remember a year
Speaker 1: or two ago he was talking about Civil War. Where
Speaker 1: you go, oh, ray, come on, it's a little bit
Speaker 1: more unnerving if you see those images right now. I
Speaker 1: talk to a General Yvon, the head of the Connecticut Guard.
Speaker 1: Very careful, I said, any inquiries from the federal government,
Speaker 1: I don't know. We just cent our guard to Djibouti,
Speaker 1: not to Chicago. I feel pretty good about that going forward.
Speaker 2: What is your plan to try to keep businesses here
Speaker 2: and attract them to the Northeast given the exodus that
Speaker 2: has gone to Florida to other places have lower taxes.
Speaker 1: We are speeding up our rail system from say Greenwich
Speaker 1: to Grand Central. That'll be ten to fifteen minutes faster.
Speaker 1: Working really hard to make sure you know you can
Speaker 1: get the workforce you need. And again, we haven't raised
Speaker 1: taxes in seven years. We've balanced the budget. I think
Speaker 1: that type of stability is pretty helpful.
Speaker 2: Do you think that taxes need to come down? Do
Speaker 2: you think that that's then instrumental part of trying to
Speaker 2: keep attracting businesses and compete with other states.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm a governor, so I can't over promise. Everybody
Speaker 1: runninggainst me is always saying they're going to eliminate the
Speaker 1: income tax in the state of Connecticut. I think what's
Speaker 1: more important to the folks I talk to is what's
Speaker 1: the stake going to look like one year and five
Speaker 1: years from now? Do I want to be because I'm
Speaker 1: making a five year bet. We haven't raised taxes at all.
Speaker 1: I've cut them for middle class folks. I think that's
Speaker 1: a good balance going forward.
Speaker 2: What is your number one hope for the state? What
Speaker 2: is your number one sort of policy platform that you're
Speaker 2: hoping to get forward over the next one to five years.
Speaker 1: I need housing, you know, for the first time in
Speaker 1: a long time, a lot of young people are moving
Speaker 1: out here. Like the lifestyle. We're pretty good as a
Speaker 1: suburban lifestyle. Rebuilding our cities, you know, these are our cities.
Speaker 1: We're fifty percent bigger fifty years ago. Now they're growing
Speaker 1: again where young people want to be. As I talk
Speaker 1: to the businesses to say, is this a place where
Speaker 1: young people, young employees want to be, I'm trying to say, yes.
Speaker 2: How much are you participating in the reindustrialization of the
Speaker 2: United States and that's been a big platform that we've
Speaker 2: seen overall. Is that something that you're trying to attract
Speaker 2: to the state as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd like to think of us as a silicon
Speaker 1: valley of manufacturing. We do a lot of complicated stuff
Speaker 1: like submarines, jet engines, and choppers, and they are growing fast.
Speaker 1: That's the sort of the heart of our economy in
Speaker 1: the northern part of the state. But that's changing too.
Speaker 1: It's getting increasingly energy intensive. So I'm going to bring
Speaker 1: down the price of electricity as best I can and
Speaker 1: make sure they have the workforce. It's all sort of
Speaker 1: an AI computerized workforce now.