NEWSFLASH – I gave a billionaire $115 million today (and if you’re from CT, so did you!)

Aug 15

jonpeltoEconomic Development, Economy, Malloy , , 26 Comments

When one of my favorite readers sent me the news late this afternoon, I didn’t believe it.

When Bloomberg News Service wrote seeking a comment a few moments later, I almost drove off the road.

Personally, I can’t make my mortgage payments, but like Connecticut’s other taxpayers, it turns out that I managed to scrounge together $115 million for Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund.

In fact, since the state is borrowing the money, it will actually cost Connecticut’s taxpayers over $200 million.

$200 million to a company that paid its founder, Ray Dalio, $3.9 billion last year.

And what do we get for it.

Bridgewater will build a $750 million headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.

And the bargain is that it only costs us $25 million for a “’forgivable” 10-year loan with interest set at 1 percent”, plus $80 million in tax credits, $5 million for some type of “alternative-energy system” and $5 million for job training…although the 154,000 Connecticut residents on unemployment and the additional $100,000 who have part-time jobs when they really want full time jobs shouldn’t hold their breath; Bridgewater is very particular about the types of people it hires.

Oh, and the kicker, they will be moving their offices….FROM WESTPORT, CONNECTICUT!

My first response to the reporter wasn’t printable, so I stopped the car, took a deep breath and tried again.

The following is what made the Bloomberg News article, under the sub-headline, “‘Shocking’ Deal”:

“This is stealing from the poor and middle class to make a billionaire even richer…“This isn’t economic development…[it is] shocking beyond words…If a Republican governor did this, we Democrats would be calling for impeachment,” said Jonathan Pelto, a Democrat and former deputy majority leader in Connecticut’s House of Representatives.

(updated) The Governor, who held a press conferences, issued a “statement” which read, in part, “to have a company of Bridgewater’s stature make the business decision to invest $750 million in our state and significantly increase its workforce is not only an extraordinary economic win, but signals to the rest of the world that Connecticut is strengthening its leadership position in the very competitive financial services sector,”

When the Bloomberg reporter called the Governors office and Bridgewater for more details, he was left to write, “Malloy didn’t respond to requests for additional comments. Alexei Nabarro, a Bridgewater spokesman, also didn’t respond.”

That said, the Malloy statement did include some nice words from Bridgewater, who said that the company and Malloy share a “vision of creating a state of the art and environmentally sustainable office campus… [And that the new headquarters will] “facilitate creativity, collaboration and help reinforce Bridgewater’s distinct culture.”

There is more, much more…but my kids and dogs are yelping, so I need to go heat up some leftovers.

The full Bloomberg News article can be found here:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-15/connecticut-aids-bridgewater-hedge-fund-to-build-new-hq.html

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  • Linda174

    How does this create jobs if the employees move from Westport to Stamford….other than construction and doesn’t that sometimes go to out of state contractors?

    For a business our tax money is an incentive, but money for the poor and homeless is welfare?

    I just spent $50 of my own money for classroom supplies: notebooks, glue sticks, bulletin board paper, binders and pencils.

    WTF!

  • Urut93

    The governor did have a press conference: http://ct-n.com/ondemand.asp?ID=8073

  • Buygoldandprosper

    Dan is robbing Westport  to pay off his debts to BLT in Stamford. We lose,any way you look at this and Mr. Delio will leave the state one day,just like UBS has done and just like Mr. Delio left NY State back in 1981.
    Other than short term bragging rights and some splashy headlines,this is just one more TOTAL waste of money of citizens of Connecticut.
    Only politicans seem to get be gratified when they pay for their “pleasures”. 
    NextFive JIVE  and the spineless legislature just won’t stop the madness!!!!
    Hey DAN!! Do they do this crap in CHINA?!
    Send us a statement from Tiananmen Square if you find out how China has done so well in the past twenty years,or so. Or maybe you can stay home and check out the empty factories and figure it out for yourself.
    HEY DAN! With the money Ray Dalio has made in the last couple of years (is it stealing or earning?) he could:

    He could pay almost 200,000 teacher salaries. flickr/dok1
    198,019 Elementary School Teacher Salaries at $50,500/ year.50,403 Harvard Professor Salaries at $198,400/ year. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/everything-ray-dalio-can-buy-with-his-wealth-2012-6?op=1#ixzz23f86FKVr

    • Buygoldandprosper

      The kind of money Ray makes, makes ALL politicans positively jizzy!
      Dan being the kind of politican he is gets crazy thinking about the opportunites that just opened up to him…giving away $200M. Think SuperPac and think anonymous down the road. BLT and Ray thank you Dan. Ray will keep supporting education reform and the South End of Stamford will continue to grow at the expense of the rest of Stamford.

    • Linda174

      Oh I forgot…..it is the teachers’ union who is screwing all of us. Those greedy teachers and their highfalutin salaries and perks are bringing the state down.
      This guy is one and done…..he makes me sick.

  • guest

    Sounds like a leaf out of Pryor’s book.  When he led the Lower Manhattan Development Company in NYC, which was created to rebuild lower Manhattan after 9/11, Pryor, together with Wall Street, the NY mayor, and NY governor all made sure that the federal disaster $$ went to the right people.  On the face of it, the money was supposed to help people who lost jobs and homes, and additional funds were to be given to companies that decided not to leave NYC. Problem is, the overwhelming percentage of people who lost jobs made less than $11 per hour, so Pryor and the LMDC decided it was better to give it to bankers and real estate developers.  Bank of America got a hefty sum–no, not because they were thinking of leaving–they announced right after 9/11 that they were staying.  But Pryor, the disciple of K. Wylde–of the Partnership for NYC and Federal Reserve Bank–thought that Bank of America should get the “stay in NY” incentive money anyway.  Who cares if some dishwashers move away?  So, Malloy–best buddies with Mayor Bloomberg, by the way–gives state money to lure a company–from one CTcity to another!
    Nope, we can’t help families pay their mortgages or children get health care.  But we have a pension for Steven Adamowski!  (By the way, I wonder if Adamowski’s grandiose gesture of being Special Master of New London, without additional salary [yeah, right] means that he got that state pension after all?)
    Don’t drive off the road, people!

    • guest

      This is quite fun:  how a “superintendent search company” failed to see red flags–or why vocal parents in Seattle turned Steven Adamowski and his ilk down for Super:  http://www.seattleweekly.com/2003-10-15/news/the-school-board-flunks-google-101/
      Of course, Adamowski had hired this somewhat inept Proact company the previous year–for his replacement in failing Cincinnati–so he knew well how they worked.
      Citizens of Bridgeport and Connecticut!  Keep your eyes open!

      • Linda174

        People this sleazy should have nothing to do with children. I wonder if they have to pass the criminal check and be finger printed.

      • guest

        Are you serious?  The Superintendent Head Hunter firm could not even do a google search!  Or at least they did not disclose the accusations of financial mismanagement, failing schools, bought-out contracts, and other red flags in the finalists for Seattle several years ago.  When promoting Adamowski, they forgot to say that he left Cincinnati schools in “academic emergency” and relentlessly pushed a privatizing agenda.
        I like the Proact, later Noeski and Associates, tactic of secret searches:  Code Name:  Special Master.  Meet me in the alley (I kid you not!): http://www.aasa.org/SchoolAdministratorArticle.aspx?id=9158

  • Roger Conway

    Great, great piece, Jon.  David Stockman labeled and explains it best:
    “crony capitalism.”  It runs the country.  Our government is officially an oligarchy.  Hear more here:
    http://billmoyers.com/episode/encore-broadcast-crony-capitalism/

  • guest

    Thinking back to the previous threads on the Superintendent-Go-Round (how all the Great Reformers move around and switch jobs every few years so they can do their great reforms in as many places as possible)–so, some of us posted links to Wayne Alexander’s C.V. and wild ride along the eastern sea board; Fischer of New London has had a similar roller coaster; as well as Vallas and Adamowski.  But looking at Alexander’s CV–for what it’s worth, I’m the suspicious type–he does at least mention getting certified as a teacher and a superintendent.  This brings me to Adamowski’s strange CV, in which it transpires that he lists no teaching or administrative certification.  He also went from an undergrad degree at Southern in 1972, to an unspecified elementary school job, a master’s in Foundations of Education (??!) from Trinity in 1975; then a principalship in Farmington, CT in 1976, and Assistant Superintent in Portland, Maine in 1979–a mercurial rise.  And all, it seems, without certification???
    Can anyone check out why Union Elementary School in Farmington would hire such a newbie?  I thought a person needed to be a teacher for 4-5 years before becoming a principal.  I really don’t trust the Superintendent Head Hunters.

  • Msavage51

    I know, Jon–even after all of the crap we’ve seen over the past few months, this one absolutely had me seeing red. I’m furious, absolutely furious! I remember reading about Dalio earlier this year–I think the focus was that he was the highest-earning hedge-fund manager in the country. And now THIS?! I can’t even pay my bills. I can’t get a job that pays me what I’m worth after gaining a graduate degree and years of experience in the work world. How much more are we gonna take until the pitchforks and torches come out?

    • Linda174

      How does the State know if they added the number of jobs they said they would add and what happens if a company doesn’t? Also, what types of jobs? They could all be low paying jobs (grounds crew, janitors, secretaries) for all we know. Corporate welfare is acceptable to these people.

      • Msavage51

        Not sure they really care whether they add the jobs they say they will. I think all that’s really important is the political connections, money changing hands and the rich getting richer at the expense of the rest of us.

  • Not Born Yesterday

    Maybe Dan’s just securing his next job for when he fails to get reelected in 2014?  That’s if all his DC pandering doesn’t land him a seat next to Arnie Duncan or other Obama 1% promoters.  On the other hand, he’s probably already cozying up to Romney, just in case. 

    • Linda174

      Not sure there is much of a difference anymore between the two parties.

      • Msavage51

        EXACTLY! Thank you, Linda!

  • http://www.Attilashrugs.wordpress.com/ Attilashrugs

    Sustainable energy!  I am so tired of that scam! We have plenty of coal, oil, natural gas.  We have technology that scrubs out the actual pollutants, even those that cause acid rain.  The end product is CO2 and steam.  Therefore those who are working for the deindustrialization of America must find a problem with CO2.  Thus, the Global warming FRAUD!  No matter how often the facts of fraudulent reporting are revealed, the media ignores them.  No warning since 2000?  Ignored.  Some glaciers grow while others retreat, only the retreat is relevant. 

    • R.L.

      Wrong!

    • Msavage51

      Are you kidding me? Hundreds of the best and brightest scientists from all over the world agree that global warming is real, that it’s caused by human activity, and that it poses a severe threat to all living things–humans included. Please get a clue. Your viewpoint is not just ignorant–it’s downright DANGEROUS!

      • JMC

        Global Warming is caused by Global Rip-Off Scam Artists, people who know you do not and will not understand the laws of thermodynamics, by people who ignore the inefficiencies and environmental damage inherent in huge batteries and electric cars ultimately powered by coal, and by socialists ignorant of the mathematics of heat transfer. And by Crony Capitalists bribing politicians with campaign money in return  for loans guaranteed by the US taxpayer, or rather by your great-great grandchildren who have been sold into debt slavery. And by the legions of global deadbeats who are looking to suck trillions out of the US via environmental damage  ”Reparations”, “Carbon Credits” and countless other schemes. These Scammers include Al Gore, the entire United Nations, every Third World hellhole and its greedy dictator, thousands of Solyndra wannabees, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the Democratic Party.

        In fact, it’s much like the situation with “Education Reform”.

        And by the way, have you met that sterling Democrat, Dannel Malloy? He knows this game very well.

      • http://www.facebook.com/melanie.savage.1610 Melanie Savage

        Ah, you’ve been listening to propagandists funded by Big Oil–oil companies that currently have trillions of dollars worth of oil already discovered and waiting to be dredged up and utilized–no matter what the costs for the environment. Trillions of dollars waiting to be stuffed into their already-full pockets. Think they’re going to let that go uncollected–despite the potential harm to the environment? Of course not. Because, like those who are profiting from ed reform despite the harm it’s doing to children, these people are psychopaths and care only about themselves and their bank accounts. Global warming is real. Look around you. The evidence is irrefutable. All you have to do is look at the NEWS, for goodness’ sake–record-breaking wildfires, record-breaking temperatures, tornadoes, melting glaciers, record-breaking rainfall in some areas, record-breaking drought over the majority of the U.S. What will it take? 40 days and 40 nights of rain–would that convince you? Wake up before it’s too late for all of us.

      • http://www.facebook.com/rich.kendall3 Rich Kendall

        Man made global warming is such a scam. All the rich liberals want to keep it rolling so their crony capitalists can make their billions off of the fake science. We have enough shale oil in America, not to mention the barren Artic reserve, to fuel entire dam world. And we can do it in an environmentally safe manner. But oh no, we must have the envirocommunists shut down the industrial productivity of the once great USA, so we can all drive around in electric cars costing $80,000 a piece. There are too many loonies running this country.

      • http://www.facebook.com/melanie.savage.1610 Melanie Savage

        I’m sorry, but you’re WRONG! And your pig-headed, partisan-fueled ignorance is helping to lead all of humanity down a path of certain destruction! Seriously–you think the “envirocommunists,” as you call them, are the ones shutting down this country? It wouldn’t be, perhaps, the “too big to fail” banks and their capitalist cronies who have stolen trillions of dollars from the American people and are now sitting on those dollars instead of reinvesting them into the country that allowed them to profit in the first place. Companies like WalMart that send jobs offshore because all they care about is the bottom line–screw the American people and their desperate need for employment!
        This has nothing to do with partisan politics. Politicians from BOTH parties are ignoring the issue and allowing profits to trump human well-being and the future of this planet. Please–try branching out from mainstream media for a change. Read some newsources that are not controlled by either the GOP or the Dems. You will begin to get a clearer picture of the situation–and stop contributing, through your ignorance, to the environmental calamity that is barreling our way.

      • jonpelto

        Well said M!

        Sent from my BlackBerry please excuss typos

    • Msavage51

      You claim to be a retired neurologist. I assume that means you have an education with a science background. How can you then listen to Fox News-spewn propaganda and ignore the reams of scientific evidence supporting the claim that CO2 emissions are leading us down a disasterous path? Did you retire your brain when you retired your career?