OH! It's all of Bush's fault, Do-Nothing-Debbie and Grandstand Granholm tell us so!
I remember when the Dems told us that we should amend our Constitution to allow Granholm to run for President because she was such a good governor.
But then they also said that Gray Davis would make a good President.
Just for starters, I simply cannot imagine voting for anyone who calls herself Senator Debbie. This nickname stuff has gone too far. Deborah, yes; Debbie, no.
Not that Granholm is any better.
Not a single mention of the factors I see living here in Michigan:
1. The auto industry, while not the force that it was in 1978, is still the source of many many jobs. The remaining jobs were thought to be safe 10 years ago, but now we see massive layoffs, the bankruptcy of Delphi, and the movement offshore of manufacturing.
2. Health care is expensive here. The health insurance scene is dominated by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, which has to be the worst-run organization on the face of the earth. I know of no employer who is happy w/ BCBS, but there are precious few alternatives. The State of Michigan has Medicare and Medicaid thru BCBS, as well as the health insurance of virtually every public employee in the State.
3. Why do we have a full-time paid legislature? Does this make us significantly better-run than neighboring Indiana, which has a part-time legislature?
4. We have term limits here that are too short. The effect is that every politician is busy job-hopping, something like a big Musical Chairs contest. Worse yet, the House never gets leadership organized. I'd propose 12-year limits for both houses.
They have a plan though. Here in Missouri, they run daily radio ads asking us to move our businesses there.
The liberalism and corporate welfare states that are killing Michigan started A VERY LONG TIME AGO --- thanks to big smoke-stack industry pandering to unions. Now they are paying the price --- Rush even noted that MoTown was the "first welfare state in America to collapse" --- and that is exactly it.
Does not take any 20-year MBA to figure out what happened. Pretty simple.
Somebody should check how things are going in Maine before they call it a one-state Michigan recession. Them politicians over there couldn't find their arss with both hands.
Get some of those Dearborn muzlims to run for office. That'll fix everything.
Any productive person should get the hell out of Michigan. I recently moved from Mi to Atlanta and can not believe how much better the economy is. Everyone I know was worried about their jobs in Michigan, I have yet to hear that in Atlanta.
I don't think Michigan's problems are Granholm's fault, there are larger forces at work. But she's done nothing to help. With the help of Republican State Senator Bruce Patterson (who needs to be kicked out of office) she did allow the Michigan Public Service Commission to destroy electricity deregulation so that union jobs at Detroit Edison Could be saved.
read later.
whats going on today is reminisent of what happened here in michigan back in the late 70's and early 80's. recession.
The problem then and the problem now is that we are a one industry state...automotive.
The northern part of the state relies on one thing...tourists and fudgies. Neither of which come north and spend money when the down state auto industry is suffering, so there it is....total state recession.
my family tried and is trying to get out and move to another state....problem is our house won't sell and that is critical to get started somewhere else.
Our house that 6 years ago was worth 250,000 we'd be lucky to get 100,000 for now.
Oh oh, too many immigrants on the "We take Cash Only" system - no revenues for the state.
I was born in Michigan and lived there the first 24 years of my life.
I moved to Texas in 1979 for economic reasons, and have been happy in the Lone Star State ever since.
Meanwhile, Michigan continues its long slide to becoming the Arkansas of the northern tier of states.
Result: a loss of jobs for 511 employees...........
by Chris Atkins and Jonathan Williams
(The following article originally appeared in the March 25, 2006 edition of the Lansing State Journal.)
Michigan's economy is a mess, and most lawmakers agree the Single Business Tax is a big reason why. Yet Gov. Jennifer Granholm is filibustering every effort to repeal the notorious tax, and her threatened veto of a new bill would again stall progress on the state's business tax climate.
The Michigan House of Representatives and Senate have passed a bill that would kill the SBT and give lawmakers a year to come up with replacement taxes. But Granholm insists on immediate replacement revenues.
She and her allies have floated numerous rationales for their SBT addiction: That Michigan doesn't have high business taxes, that Michigan cannot afford tax reform, and that reform would shift the burden of taxation from businesses to individuals. None of them bear close scrutiny.
On the issue of how bad Michigan's taxes really are, former Treasury official Robert Kleine has repeatedly defended the SBT, citing Michigan's ranking in the middle of the pack on taxes, not at the bottom like New Jersey or New York.
This claim to mediocrity is accurate: Michigan's combined state-local tax burden is 22nd highest, and its business tax climate ranks 26th.
But what makes Michigan fall below half the states when its personal income tax gets rave reviews? Answer: the SBT, which levies the nation's highest effective tax rate on corporate income (over 15 percent), and extracts the 7th highest per capita corporate tax revenue. Thus, while Michigan overall has an average business tax climate, the SBT is a millstone around the state's neck.
Next objection - Michigan cannot afford tax reform. Not long ago Granholm vetoed a bill that would have cut the SBT rate for small businesses, saying the state general fund couldn't afford a $30 million reduction. That's only a penny a day for each state resident, yet she found it unaffordable!
Of course, everyone knows Michigan already is losing a lot more than $30 million a year from mass layoffs and major bankruptcies. A more business-friendly tax code could help cure the disease instead of using higher public spending to apply Band-Aids.
One final, mistaken argument that members of both parties are using - SBT repeal would "shift the tax burden" from businesses to individuals.
No one should kid themselves about who ultimately pays the price of business taxes like the SBT: the people of Michigan. The first to pay are employees of Michigan businesses - people who make lower wages or perhaps even lose their jobs.
Next are those who have investments in Michigan businesses. Finally, consumers pay more at the cash register for goods made by Michigan companies. In other words, the old saying is true: corporations don't actually pay taxes - people do.
Hopefully lawmakers can see through the smokescreens, scrap the SBT and come up with a solid replacement tax. Gov. Granholm should put away her veto threat and work constructively for the next 21 months to make that happen.
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