I am wasting time thinking that I can make a difference here in Michigan.

The state's unemployment rate is at 7.7% and yet people voted for the same old leadership last November.

Did anyone stop to think what is happening to our young adults who are graduating from college? They are packing their bags and leaving Michigan.

I might be right behind them.

I do not have to open a school here in Michigan. After reading all of the charter laws here in this state I would rather go to Indianapolis, Indiana to open a school. Any state like Michigan who do not want a KIPP school here does not want to restart the economy. We like how unions have gutted the economy here in Michigan.

Detroit is 50% functionally illiterate. Any school district who fails to educate their own people should be ashamed of themselves. Detroit Public Schools, Inkster and other urban districts do not want to improve. They do not believe in prayer in schools. They do not want to improve drastically. It is all a money game to them and now we are paying the price when we are graduating students in 12th grade that read on a 5th grade level.

We have no intention of making things better. We send legislators from Detroit and while I feel they should fight for education they fight for insurance and decades old agendas that means nothing.

In fact, we forget as state representatives and state senators that we represent Michigan not just our own little hole in the corner.

But what is making me angry is the fact that our government is blaming industry for the downfall of our economy. Let's call a spade a spade. Our state government cannot balance a budget, let alone tell special interest to go take a hike.

Anyway, where are the jobs here in Michigan? I have some who want me to stay here and help turn around Michigan. I often ask why and for what?

I would love to see Detroit turn around but how can you relay that message when everything is so political in this city. The people are hostile here and do not want change. The movers and shakers in this city go to the same events, hang out at the same clubs and migrate to the same political functions.

Moreover, I was reading the Rasmussen Report this morning and Gov. Granholm has a 42% disapproval rating while 9% feel that she is doing an excellent job. But here is why I am ready to go.

44% of Democrats give her good or excellent marks. Another worrisome indicator is that 50% of unaffiliated voters say she's doing a poor job. However, a 42% to 36% margin, Michigan voters say they trust Democrats more than Republicans to handle the state's economic problems. A plurality, 43%, of unaffiliated voters say that they don't trust either party on the economic issues.

Forty-two percent (42%) of Michigan voters say labor unions are good for the economy while 32% take the opposite view. Republicans, by a 2-to-1 margin, say unions are bad for the economy. Democrats, by a 3-to-1 margin, say the unions are good.

Michigan is a one-state recession. In the 12 months ending last July 2006, Michigan lost 48,000 residents. That loss is at a faster rate than the previous 12 months, when the net loss was 37,000. Detroit continues to lose population and is one of the few big cities to lose people during the day after residents commute elsewhere to work. Yet efforts to reduce the city's bloated work force to a workable 12,000 have been slow and ineffective.

But a lot of the state's 250,000 entrepreneurs will continue to be burdened by a complicated value-added tax, the only one in the nation. Lawmakers are nowhere near comprehensive reform, mainly because they're afraid to lead -- to do what's right for the whole rather than for the loudest special interest groups.

A recently-conducted survey revealed that 70% of those aged 18-24 would leave Michigan for another state if given the opportunity.

If you are in the field of education like me teaching jobs are hard to come by in Michigan right now....at least for young teachers. More experienced teachers might float to the top of the pile more quickly, but the job market is fierce. With a bad economy in Michigan, and stagnant population (or declining in some places) schools aren't expanding. The universities continue to turn out many more teachers than have a prayer of actual employment.

If you have a Masters degree YOU still cannot find a job. It is very tough to find a job as a teacher... even with experience. The schools are facing the 7th straight year of budget cuts from the state, so when openings do open up for teachers, the districts like to fill them with 0-3 years experienced teachers to save some money.

How can a young family live here with all of these foreclosures going on? People are afraid to buy homes.

Well any thoughts on this one people? Talk to me. Should young people continue to leave Michigan by the droves or stay to improve Detroit and other areas in Michigan?