Posted on 12/12/2005 5:36:27 AM PST by Brilliant
The current U.S. expansion has lifted the fortunes of nearly every state in the country, with the notable exception of Michigan, which is busy reclaiming its 1970s's title as home of the rust belt. Sad to say, politicians in both parties are only making things worse.
Amid the decline of the Big Three auto companies, Michigan ranked last in income growth last year and was the only state not hit by a hurricane to have lost jobs. United Van Lines reports that more people moved out of Michigan last year than in any year since 1982, when the state jobless rate hit 14%. Today it is 6.1%, well above the national rate of 5%.
Political disarray in Lansing has only compounded the trouble. The year started with some promise, as the Republican-controlled legislature debated broad-based tax cuts to help spur a recovery and aid such struggling manufacturers as Delphi Corp., the auto parts maker. But if you think the Republicans in Washington have bumbled things, take a look at the muddle in Michigan.
On November 30, GOP leaders sent a compromise economic development bill to Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm. Republicans would get a few business tax cuts -- temporary and targeted -- in exchange for a $400 million corporate welfare fund that Ms. Granholm could parcel out to her political allies, right on the eve of the 2006 election. The cuts amounted to a 1/750th reduction in the tax burden.
But then Ms. Granholm outfoxed Republicans again when she discovered a loophole in the law allowing her to enact the investment fund and scrap the tax cuts. So Ms. Granholm will now be able to romance big business with taxpayer aid, while the small business and technology companies that have been keeping the state afloat...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
If Michigan keeps voting democrat it will be empty in ten years.
Michigan is becoming the economic France of North America — and as one Forbes magazine writer once observed, in France "even the chefs are leaving." Despite state government’s efforts to centrally plan Michigan’s economy by targeting tax breaks and other favors to for-profit firms and industries, the state has slid to the bottom of many important metrics for measuring overall economic well-being.Source: Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Nov. 14, 2005.Consider the following:
First, Michigan has one of the worst employment records among the 50 states. It was effectively the only state in the country to lose jobs in 2004. From September 2004 through September 2005, Michigan was only one of three states to lose jobs — and the other two were devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Second, Michigan’s Gross State Product, which represents the value of goods and services produced in a state, has tanked. Michigan’s rate of per-capita GSP growth ranked 50th among the states from 2003 to 2004. Between 1994 and 2004, Michigan dropped seven spots in per-capita GSP, from 21 to 28.
Proponents of state programs argued that Michigan did without a state economic development agency during Gov. John Engler’s first term and that it hurt the state. But Michigan enjoyed a rise in its GSP rank among the states long before Engler’s later economic development programs began, and tended to peak with the economy as a whole before crashing. The MEDC and state lawmakers simply do not have the power to swamp larger economic forces by targeting small economic favors to particular industries or corporations.
Lastly, the state’s per capita income growth ranked 48th between 1994 and 2004 and, even worse, has been below average for the past five years — the first time this has happened since the Great Depression.
Guess she brought the socialist mentality from Canada with her and it was overlooked by the same type of dumbos that elected Jesse Ventura in Minnesota.
You are witnessing the collapse of socialism, in of all places, a U.S. state.
The smart democrats will stick it out and wait until the state fully collapses. Then when the fed steps in to bail out Michigan, it will be raining entitlement $$$ at our expense.
"If Michigan keeps voting democrat it will be empty in ten years."
Michigan doesn't vot Democrat. Detroit and Macomb (labor) County do.
Because everyone with any sense has left Michigan.
Add Washtenaw, ingham, battle creek and St Joe....
Mike
bttt
"Michigan is becoming the economic France of North America — "
This is one of the less perspicacious comments made of late.
Of course FReepers and conservatives in general do not like France, but if one looks at France within the context of Europe, France is not the "Michigan of Europe". Not even close. Germany is in far worse shape than France is, in every vector. Germany's population is imploding; France's is slowly growing. Germany's GDP is in negative numbers. France's economy grows at about 1% a year. Yes, 1% a year is anemic, but it IS growth. France is not economically declining. It is just growing very slowly. Germany is outright declining.
Had someone written that Michigan was the GERMANY of North America, that would be true in many, many senses. The place is mostly German, for one thing. And it's economy is suffering much like the German economy is, and for the same reasons too.
Of course if the US auto industry really fails, the result will be catastrophic for the whole economy. So, something will need to be done. Just WHAT, though, is a puzzler.
tax 'em out of house and home!!!! that is the answer
sorry pal..........last election, macomb was the only red county in a sea of blue..........
Much (but not all) of the France-bashing that appears around here is undeserved, and I cannot speak for the Forbes writer.
Both of them tremble in fear before the only group in the state that has any power, the labor unions.
Not content with killing Flint and Detroit they are now killing the whole state.
i retract my previous post........looks like my dyslexia is kicking in again....you are correct, time for me to move out of macomb
It won't. But it will move out of Michigan.
I have heard quiet rumblings from GM on the matter for the past ten years.
i agree with you.........making michigan a right to work state has to become a top priority
Mississippi thanks Michigan.
In the city of Newark,NJ there were a few hardy souls who tried to rehab a neighborhood at great expense and personal risk. The moment they had succeeded in creating some livable homes, the Mayor taxed them right out of their homes.
Guess the libs don't care if they extort the souls right out of their city as long as they get a few dollars in the exchange.
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