Not often I side with Governor Malloy, but he is right on SB 14, even if he’s doing it for the wrong reason.  I believe this bill should pass because it benefits consumers and the state has no business running package stores and fixing prices.

Senate Bill 14 would eliminate the State of Connecticut from fixing the price of liquor sold to consumers.  It’s a bill that allows for a freer market.  It eliminates the state from price fixing less and colluding with an industry to artificially increase costs to Connecticut citizens and protect current liquor store owners from competition.  It’s a nice cozy relation that both politicians and business owners are comfortable with.

By the way, in the private market, this type of behavior is considered illegal by the state and people go to jail.  For the state, it’s business as usual.

For Malloy, he could care less about a free market or we consumers.  He wants the change in law because he believes he can capture more of our tax dollars.  He correctly points out that citizens are likely to buy more liquor in state if prices were lower.  So on liquor, Dannel is a Supply and Demand curve savant.

Now, this does not mean he is correct that it will generate more tax revenue.  As opponents of the bill correctly point out, if the price of the good goes down, the tax collected on the sale of the good will be less.  So tax revenue collected may or may not go up depending on sales.  Factually, neither side knows what’s going to happen with tax revenue.

As you might expect, both Democrat and Republican politicians present and past oppose the bill.

Most disturbing are the Republican leaders testifying in opposition to include current Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, former Senate Minority leader John McKinney, and former House Minority Leader Larry Cafero, who all testified in opposition to the bill.  Clearly, these GOP leaders are not from the free market wing of the Republican Party, or champions of the people.  Coincidentally, these three all voted for SB 1160 and against your Second Amendment rights as well.

They oppose Connecticut citizens having the freedom to pay less for any product.  They prefer consumers get screwed.  They favor state control of the industry.  They favor protecting liquor store special interests against competition to the detriment of all other Connecticut citizens.

Notice, not a single one of the politicians quoted in the article (including local State Representative Danny Rovero) mentions we the consumer in their comments.  Why, because ultimately they don’t care about you and me and our liberty.  They don’t care about what’s best for us.  They care about themselves and their opinion about how best to control we citizens.

In the mind of the statist, society is in peril if they do not decide the price of a bottle of vodka.  How ridiculous.

Below is a view of the GA lobby as the Liquor Owners lobby to protect their special interests, which by the way are not coincident with we the consumer’s best interests.

Full article can be found here:  http://www.courant.com/politics/capitol-watch/hc-biggest-crowd-of-year-for-package-stores-20160223-story.html