Fixing Michigan

[The_Dark]

Our economy is the worst in the nation. We have been on a down hill slide since Granholm took office. I will grant... Engler fucked us. He said he was going to. Actually, he gave us a choice.. approve his budget that noone liked that would have left us sitting pretty or fight for what we wanted and he would push us over the ledge and walk away. Our leaders decided to fight him, he was a lame duck, what could he do? Dumb asses. He gave us a good hard shove and walked away. I will grant Granholm that much.. she took office with the States economy setup to fail. Where I take issue with her is her unwillingness to do anything about it. Infact, her complete failure to do anything about it.

[The_Dark]

My Fixes.

1. Tax Reform: Get rid of the Single Business Tax ASAP. Move us into a tax model that doesn't drive companys out of the state or out of business. We are the only state with the SBT. Of all things, it is the most cited as the reason for a business either failing or moving out of the state. I'm not sure what a better tax model would be, thats what accountants are for. I do know that we need to use tax to generate jobs. Give employers a tax break for creating new jobs and filling them. Give an even bigger break to businesses moving into the state or bringing jobs back from over seas.

2. Union Reform: Yes, I think we the people should force the Unions to play fair. I don't mean that we should fuck with how they deal with the big corperations.. I mean we should force them to treat US fairly. This could get tricky, but it has to be done. Right now, we have the UAW for the Big 3 and we have the UAW for all the support companys. The UAW only fights for the Big 3. They use the smaller companys as bargining chips for the big comapnys. If shutting down a small Lear plant in Alma, putting 300 people out of work.. will get them a $0.50 raise and longer breaks for the Ford plant.. The UAW will let it happen. it will blow a larger amount of smoke up the collective ass of the workers... but in the end they get fucked. I think we need to force a true division of the UAW Big 3 from the UAW for the small plants.

3. Truly fund our schools. Right now, for every $1 that is allocated to the schools... only about $0.53 cents gets to them. The balance goes to special interest groups... like the Nurses Union. That by the way, is also the worst ratio in the country. That needs to be fixed. 100% of school funding needs to go to the schools.

4. We need to suspend Sabaticals for University Profs. The State pays millions a year to University profs that are not teaching. We are in a bad way in this state. Schools are failing and in a major budget crisus.. yet.. we give millions to profs that are not teaching.

5. Tort Reform: Another thing that kills many a small business. It's too damn easy to sue someone for everything they own over something they had no control over.

I have more to add... but thats a start.

[The_Dark]

Anyone else got any ideas?

[kellygrrrrrl]

move?

I have no resolve.... =(

[The_Dark]

Maybe I should run for the office....

[torn asunder]

sorry, td, i'm just uninformed, and can't add anything useful to the topic - i am, however, looking forward to the responses.

and, why not? i say go ahead & run for office! from the little i've heard so far, i'd vote for you - i'm a typically independant voter anyway. do you still have time to campaign, etc!?

[The_Dark]

I think it may be past thbe point that I could officially register as a canidate. I think you also need to gather a certain number of signitures or something before you can register....

[paradox]

id start by cleaning out the dreck that has dragged down its largest city and try to get that on its feet (somehow).

until the corruption in detroit is brought down to a tolerable level, and its turned it a sembalance of a real city, i dont think the state as a whole has much of a shot at improving.

you can institute as many new rules and laws as you like, but as theer are always loopholes and favoritism and even outright cheating of the system, its never going to improve everything.

it has to start with the people in charge playing by the rules, at least mostly.

[The Void]

Well Dark you propose some good points and touch on things I noticed while in Michigan.

Granted I have seen limited areas of MI, but I did notice that small businesses seem to be lacking. The mom & pop types seem to not exist at least in the areas I was in. I could see a SBT killing small businesses for sure.

I also fully understand how unions that were set up years ago to protect people are now no better than the mafia. Rhode Island is overrun with unions run amuck. So, it's sad to hear MI has similar, of not worse, issues.

Schools are underfunded everywhere and it's sickening. It's parents who have to become outraged, and no, not the ones on the PTA who pretend to care but really just want to be involved in the political BS process than perpetuates the ways schools run.

At any rate, maybe you should throw your hat in the arena at some point. You have alwyas been politically motivated and I doubt you'd really care much about the character assasination you'd probably endure. Campaign funding is the issue to think about. How connected are you to local businesses and people in your community?

********

On another note, my plans are to move to MI this summer and the bleak job market worries me. My S.O. seems to have an idealized attitude about finding a job, but the job market seems to tight in MI I am afraid for myself. I'd hate to have to have 2 p/t shit jobs just to make ends meet, after I just recently became the V.P. for the small company I work for here. That would blow.

At any rate, Michigan govt. has issues. In fact it was Mike Rogers who proposed a lovely National Reform Food Bill that I have been arguing about with many people. it seems like a lot of shit legislation begins in Michigan and I am going to have a problem with that. I am not anti-Republican, nor am I pro-Democrat. I am happily registered to vote as "unaffiliated" and glad to be free from party labels and constraints so my opinions follow a middle path.

[The_Dark]

Detroit hasn't had serious impact on the state economy is a very long time.. except for having the largest voting block. I know it comes as a surprise to the people in that area... but there are other places in this state that are not tied to that hole. Changing things in Detriot has little to no impact on St. Ignace, Sault St. Marie, Marquette, Traverse City, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Grand Rapids.... and the list goes on.

[The Void]

Detroit hasn't had serious impact on the state economy is a very long time.. except for having the largest voting block. I know it comes as a surprise to the people in that area... but there are other places in this state that are not tied to that hole. Changing things in Detriot has little to no impact on St. Ignace, Sault St. Marie, Marquette, Traverse City, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Grand Rapids.... and the list goes on.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not sure if you were responding to someone else, but I was actually not referring to Detroit at all myself.

In fact, in my mind, I left Detroit out of the equation. Everything seems to be shitty all over the place in MI, jobs are scarce, things don't look good.

[The_Dark]

someone else

[paradox]

Detroit hasn't had serious impact on the state economy is a very long time..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

exactly. imagine if it did though.

detroit made this state a state, pretty much. when it started tanking in the 50s, so did everything else. some places may have had some limited autonomy, but where are they now?

without detroit, we're just another podunk state. and without the auto industry, detroit is just a shithole.

we either need to get the auto industry back where it was 50 odd years ago (not likely) or find a new way.

a major city that is a major center of industry or commerce is what makes or breaks a state, or even a country. as a state, we've lost the industry we relied on. that started with the auto industry moving out of the city, then out of the state, then out of the country, bit by bit.

there were many other factors, sure, but that was a major one and part of what precipitated what followed.

without auto, we dont have money. without money, we cant have jobs and nice things. but, even with money (of which there is still some), it doesnt matter when you have the kind of corruption we do.

a good point about the union too. its too powerful for our own good. either it needs to be broken up or we need to unionize the competing countries industries, to bring them on par with our own cost/standard of living, rendering shipping out jobs uneconomical. since thats not very feasible, we have to find a balance between union and industry that gives us a competative edge and makes manufacture here more desirable. good luck with that, though.

[The_Dark]

You do realize that Michigan was an industry leader before the advent of the automobile?

Michigan has historically been known for many things..

Lumber

Iron

Copper

Gold

Cereal

Salt

Sugar

We still have most of those things in quanity. People still eat breakfast for example. People still needs salt. Most of the Lower penn is fertile land with Soy beans and Suger Beats a plenty... Soy is a great food source and a great alternative fuel sorce. We do grow the lion's share of the cherries for the country... if we modernized the mining.. we could still be bringing up copper and iron in great quanitys...

So, we stimulate the farmers into actually farming for a change. Push Soy based Diesel fuels and then grow/refine it. Shift the auto industry that is here to Diesel and make it worth thier while to start building new diesel engines.. here.. in this state.

[torn asunder]

I think it may be past thbe point that I could officially register as a canidate.

well, how does the whole "write-in" thing work then!?

[paradox]

You do realize that Michigan was an industry leader before the advent of the automobile?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

quite. my point is, where are all these now?

we also used to be known for stoves and bicycles, but the auto industry pushed alot of that out.

as i said, alternatives are needed, and not impossible, but you have to have people in charge willing to take that route, and convince everyone else to go along. and it wont happen over night. and it wont matter at all if theres still corruption like we have.

theres alot that needs doing, but we have to get reasonable people that can be trusted to some extent 1st. IMO things are going to get alot worse before they get better. people havent suffered enough yet to make them change their minds.

[Hellion]

quite.  my point is, where are all these now?

we also used to be known for stoves and bicycles, but the auto industry pushed alot of that out. 

as i said, alternatives are needed, and not impossible, but you have to have people in charge willing to take that route, and convince everyone else to go along.  and it wont happen over night.  and it wont matter at all if theres still corruption like we have.

theres alot that needs doing, but we have to get reasonable people that can be trusted to some extent 1st.  IMO things are going to get alot worse before they get better.  people havent suffered enough yet to make them change their minds.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

:devil This is what happens when they put all the eggs in one basket,my opinion.

[Reaper]

Hell, blow up Michigan and start over.

Immigrants and illegal immigrants alike have started taking over the economy with cheap labor. Jobs are on the way out esp in the auto industry due to corporate greed and wanting cheaper labor. Its hard to imagine what can reboost this once robust economy.

Hell, we need to sell the idea of fertilizing the land again before it all becomes mini-malls and condominiums again. This idea is full of holes right now as I am spilling my mind and I have been up a few hours since I finished off my 10 hour driving day. I'll try and re-elaborate in another post sometime.

[Hellion]

Hell, blow up Michigan and start over.

Immigrants and illegal immigrants alike have started taking over the economy with cheap labor.  Jobs are on the way out esp in the auto industry due to corporate greed and wanting cheaper labor.  Its hard to imagine what can reboost this once robust economy.

Hell, we need to sell the idea of fertilizing the land again before it all becomes mini-malls and condominiums again.  This idea is full of holes right now as I am spilling my mind and I have been up a few hours since I finished off my 10 hour driving day.  I'll try and re-elaborate in another post sometime.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

:devil If your from the Oil Countries,you have too many rights,If you are from the US you have no rights.and that sux,Bush sux all the way.And the biggest enemy of the state of MI is the tax payer. That is Bullshit,to hell with our govenor!!!!(This is what I hear from other people complaining about these problems)