The state of the State of Michigan

We have a new governor--and there seems to be great hope that he will fix Michigan's problems. I truly hope Michigan's citizens and pundits are right. That being said...they are living on Fantasy Island.

The Free Press ran its umpteenth story about the upcoming budget cuts, none of which are going to do a damn thing to solve Michigan's problems. Apparently Gov. Snyder wants to do away with the Michigan Business Tax, but, unfortunately, has not come up with a way to replace its $1.5 billion in revenue. Even worse is the bizarre notion that somehow this will create jobs. American corporations posted record profits last year and unemployment in America is still above 9%. Hate to break it to the folks living in Neverland, but $1.5 billion dollars is chump change to corporations, and most of whatever is saved will be used to raise executive pay and shareholder dividends, not create jobs. There's also the usual bullshit about the "need" to cut the pay and benefits of state workers--thanks, but no fucking thanks. I'm not a public employee, but I fail to see how paying employees less is going to create jobs. Further, why is it always the middle class who has to sacrifice? Talk about a graduated income tax in Michigan and I might be more inclined to listen, otherwise fucking forget it. The two items which might actually make a difference--cutting prison costs and closing tax loopholes--will be given lip service (if that) and die quiet deaths. Nothing will change.

Gov. Snyder did grace us with his first State of the State Address, in which he proclaimed that "Job 1 is jobs," and then said nothing in the remainder of the address to show us why we should believe it. To wit: he discussed ending the MBT (see above), adding $25 million to the Pure Michigan budget (nice touch but though tourism helps, Michigan, in case anyone hasn't noticed, is not Florida and the tourism industry is not going to solve our jobs crisis), end the pricing laws (I work in retail, the law is a pain in the ass and I'd be glad to see it gone, but its repeal is going to cost jobs, not create them), and building the second bridge to Canada (which admittedly will create jobs, unforunately not for quite some time and not that many). For this, the Free Press ran comments and op-eds which heaped praise (less the one who spoke truth to power and said that Gov. Snyder basically did what he's done since his campaign began--spoke long on platitudes and short on specifics) on the governor for beginning his effort to run the state of Michigan as a business (and good fucking luck with that), his hopefulness (one would think Rochelle Riley would know a lot better--Gov. Granholm exuded hopefulness and we all know how that worked out), and his ability to turn water into wine (ha, ha, ha--no, really, too funny).

What we need is a governor--and legislature--that is reality based. I love Michigan. I'm probably going to die here (in many, many years I hope). But Michigan's best days are behind it and are never coming back. The reason Michigan gained the stature and the clout it did was the auto industry provided lots of good paying jobs that drew lots of people here. Unless Gov. Snyder is Jesus Christ (highly doubtful) he is not creating those kinds of jobs; ergo, people will not be moving here, will not be staying here, and the exodus of youth will continue. The only difference between Michigan and the rest of the Freezing Fucking Cold Belt (Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Montana, etc.) was the good paying jobs. Minus that, it's just like the others--fucking cold and boring. Don't believe me? Compare the population of Michigan with the rest of the Freezing Fucking Cold Belt--if not for the good paying auto industry jobs, Michigan's population is at best about half of what it is today.

So everyone can skip the reinvent Michigan bullshit, unless they're talking about reinventing it to be like North Dakota. I suspect, though, that to most people reinventing Michigan means a return to earlier days (though assuredly in different form) that is never happening. If Gov. Snyder is serious about preparing for Michigan's future, he needs to plan for continued exodus. He needs to take a good look at the other states in the Freezing Fucking Cold Belt and what they've done to remain viable (let's face it, there are probably many people who love living in North Dakota, but most Americans aren't going anywhere near the state) in the face of limited future resources. And he needs to seriously prepare Michiganders and Michigan businesses for a reduction in living standards--$10 an hour at Wal-Mart is not going to buy the same kind of lifestyle that $25 an hour at Ford did, and it's not going to attract people from other states in search of a more profitable future for their families.

It's not pretty, but it's a lot more accurate than the horseshit that's being shoveled by Gov. Snyder, the Free Press, most Michigan pundits, and the Michigan republican party.

Peace,
emaycee