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Jennifer Granholm (Michigan Governor since January 2003) has been personally chosen by President Elect Barack Obama, as one of a dozen nationally appointed, to help advise him on the economy during his transition period to power.
Excuse me! Come again!
All reports analyzing Michigan’s economic performance show that Michigan’s job losses from July 2003 to July 2008 (percentage-wise) are worse than U.S. job losses suffered during the U.S. Great Depression (1929-1936). It also showed that Michigan has had worse gross domestic production (GDP) growth from 2003 to 2007 than did the United States during the Great Depression era.
Officials in Lansing, Michigan’s state capital, reported this month that the state faces a revenue shortfall between $350 and $550 million next budget year. This is a major embarrassment for Governor Jennifer Granholm, the second-term Democrat who shut down the state government last year until the Legislature approved Michigan’s biggest tax hike in a generation. Her tax plan raised the state income tax rate to 4.35% from 3.9%, and increased the state’s tax on gross business receipts by 22%. Gov. Granholm argued that these new taxes would raise some $1.3 billion in new revenue that could be “invested” in social spending, new businesses, and lead to a Michigan renaissance.
Not quite! In just under a year, one-third of the expected revenues have vanished as the state’s economy continues to struggle. Income tax collections are falling behind estimates, as are property tax receipts and those from the state’s transaction tax on home sales.
It’s not too hard to connect the dots between failed social “progressive” policies and an ever increasing burden on taxpayers. There should be no surprise as to the ultimate response … People will move away, or at the very least, invest less, and shrink their spending to what is only necessary for survival.
The fight in the legislature and executive branch of this great state began when Granholm was sworn in as Governor of Michigan. The ultimate test of socialist resolve rests on the shoulders of liberal ideology implemented through planned economy and government manipulation of resources. The great works of those on the left are pitiful in their results when compared to real market based solutions … which arrive from an actual need for a service or product.
Granholm has on many occasions talked about “Cool Cities,” a utopia of modern society where life is good, where we kind of “hang out” and be one great big loving community once again. How exactly does government know what constitutes cool when it anoints cities like Detroit, Flint, Pontiac and Ypsilanti (oh sorry … “Hipsilanti”) as cool cities and gives them grants or other favors? Moreover, how do they know young, hip, creative people won’t think a city is un-cool once so designated by the mother of all authority figures … the state.
The point is this … “change,” and “hope,” and “cool,” have simply become code words for “tax,” and “spend,” and “confiscation.” While we all want a paradise, we cannot create it out of thin air by destroying the incentive to create it.
Let me put it all into perspective: Governor Granhom advising President Elect Barack Obama on the economy … would be like John Hinckley advising him on Secret Service strategies.
Excuse me! Come again!
All reports analyzing Michigan’s economic performance show that Michigan’s job losses from July 2003 to July 2008 (percentage-wise) are worse than U.S. job losses suffered during the U.S. Great Depression (1929-1936). It also showed that Michigan has had worse gross domestic production (GDP) growth from 2003 to 2007 than did the United States during the Great Depression era.
Officials in Lansing, Michigan’s state capital, reported this month that the state faces a revenue shortfall between $350 and $550 million next budget year. This is a major embarrassment for Governor Jennifer Granholm, the second-term Democrat who shut down the state government last year until the Legislature approved Michigan’s biggest tax hike in a generation. Her tax plan raised the state income tax rate to 4.35% from 3.9%, and increased the state’s tax on gross business receipts by 22%. Gov. Granholm argued that these new taxes would raise some $1.3 billion in new revenue that could be “invested” in social spending, new businesses, and lead to a Michigan renaissance.
Not quite! In just under a year, one-third of the expected revenues have vanished as the state’s economy continues to struggle. Income tax collections are falling behind estimates, as are property tax receipts and those from the state’s transaction tax on home sales.
It’s not too hard to connect the dots between failed social “progressive” policies and an ever increasing burden on taxpayers. There should be no surprise as to the ultimate response … People will move away, or at the very least, invest less, and shrink their spending to what is only necessary for survival.
The fight in the legislature and executive branch of this great state began when Granholm was sworn in as Governor of Michigan. The ultimate test of socialist resolve rests on the shoulders of liberal ideology implemented through planned economy and government manipulation of resources. The great works of those on the left are pitiful in their results when compared to real market based solutions … which arrive from an actual need for a service or product.
Granholm has on many occasions talked about “Cool Cities,” a utopia of modern society where life is good, where we kind of “hang out” and be one great big loving community once again. How exactly does government know what constitutes cool when it anoints cities like Detroit, Flint, Pontiac and Ypsilanti (oh sorry … “Hipsilanti”) as cool cities and gives them grants or other favors? Moreover, how do they know young, hip, creative people won’t think a city is un-cool once so designated by the mother of all authority figures … the state.
The point is this … “change,” and “hope,” and “cool,” have simply become code words for “tax,” and “spend,” and “confiscation.” While we all want a paradise, we cannot create it out of thin air by destroying the incentive to create it.
Let me put it all into perspective: Governor Granhom advising President Elect Barack Obama on the economy … would be like John Hinckley advising him on Secret Service strategies.
1 comment:
You have Granholm, we have Patrick - Let us hope that both of them stay in the state, lest we export that particular brand of Democrat nationwide - it is a burdon we bear - Alhtough MA has an usual share - Kerry, Kennedy's (plural), Frank, Patrick, and the list goes on. I'd bet that the President Elect might be smart enough to pander to but totally ingore the left - left and move swiftly to the middle in order to safe himself - and the nation. Although, I also credited Carter with the same smarts and abilities......
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