Last week's challenging events relative to the debt ceiling impasse and then temporary resolution, followed by the stock market downturn and Standard and Poor's downgrading of the nation's credit rating -- is leaving a number of us in a very pensive mood (to say the least) as the week begins.
In reading several of today's news articles, those that stand out most to me includes the Washington Post's story about the debt ceiling potential negative impact on the Washington D.C. area municipalities; and coupled with the New York Times' business page article about a conceivable new recession being more harmful than the prior recession, registers a number of dire implications to consider.
In considering these implications in relationship to Hartford's point of view, an already hard hit public and private sector has very little room to absorb more difficult events. The city's unemployment rate is 20-25% when including those individuals who have stopped looking for jobs. The number of individuals and families on food stamps are at record highs. At the same time the local business community is still trying to recover from the 2008 Wall Street meltdown, and more disturbing news can further diminish their local options to reinvest in new jobs and reinvestments.
One can only hope, that in reading the New York Times' Thomas Friedman's article that the time to "Win Together" will require the need to "Work Together" to transcend the many differences guiding competing political philosophies. A number of Hartford public/private institutions have pulled together in the past and present to assure that the city's safety net, economic sectors and public health, safety and welfare would be supported during difficult times, and efforts will need to continue as we review amd respond to the events of the upcoming week(s).
