More unwelcome news on the economic front...

International Paper announces it will leave Stamford, taking numerous good-paying jobs with them down to Memphis. The linked article gives some interesting details about what was done to try to keep them in state, and comments on our economic woes such as job stagnation and the threatened loss of the sub base and its associated jobs.

The AP business writer of that story also notes that we are ranked the 5th most expensive State in which to do business. The Milken Institute, an economic think tank, puts out an annual ranking of such things, and among its 2005 findings is the revelation that Connecticut has the highest wages in the nation. This is good for those of us who are here already and can keep our jobs, but not so good for attracting new business. (And of course our high cost of living can soak up those high wages pretty quickly, too...)

It's way past time to begin to pray for the health of our State economy and go to the Lord in repentance for excluding Him and His ways from more and more areas of our everyday life.