Well, unfortunately not so much.  Since Democrats are to jobs what Kryptonite is to Superman, it's pretty easy to break this down and figure out why this is one of the worst economic policies this state has ever considered.

First, I'll extend an olive branch and talk about the one thing I like about the plan: cracking down on companies that KNOWINGLY hire illegal immigrants.  Emphasis on the word "knowingly" for good reason.  A lot of the time it is very difficult for a company to know when someone is an illegal immigrant since many illegals who get hired often have all the proper documents that would show they're a U.S. citizen when they're not.  To expect any company, especially small businesses, to go back and check every single one of these employees is asking them to engage in a burdensome, bureaucratic, and business unfriendly task.  I don't know what the bills for "Hire Michigan First" are going to say exactly when it comes to this, but I'm holding out hope.  But companies should NEVER be hiring people they KNOW are illegal immigrants.  On that much, I agree with the Democrats.

But let's take a look at some of the other parts of this plan as it has been described to me.  According to Democratic State Representative Mike Simpson, the legislation will force the state to give preference on tax abatements for companies that hire 100% of their workforce from Michigan.  This is stupid at best!

What Mike Simpson (and the wide variety of Democrats who support this measure) doesn't seem to understand is anything about economics.  If Michigan is trying like nobody's business to convince a company from Ohio to locate in Michigan, the last thing we want to tell them is "oh, by the way, if you locate here, you can't bring your own people."

For businesses, this is parallel to spitting on their shoe and giving them the finger.  Not only is Michigan sending the message to these businesses that they can't use a lot of the people they trust in their current operation, but also sending the message to them saying "hey, if you want to open up shop in Michigan the government is going to be watching you will try to micro-manage everything you do."  Last time I checked, that's exactly what most CEOs want to hear...right?

This is not to mention the pure idiocy that in Democrats that is assumed by their proposing this legislation.  Apparently, Democrats seem to think that if a business opens up shop in Michigan and hires less than 100% of their workforce in Michigan, then this is somehow bad for Michigan's economy.  HOW SO!?  These are people who are going to move to Michigan to work here, who will spend their money at other Michigan businesses in their community and pay Michigan taxes.  So what's the problem?  More people from out of state come in and pour money into the economy so that other businesses can grow and create jobs for other unemployed Michiganders.  I'm failing to see how this adds up to a negative for Michigan.  The more business here, the better it is for Michigan regardless of where the business and their employees come from.

In addition to this lack of understanding of basic economic principles, Simpson explained that the legislation would require businesses to keep track of who they were hiring and report that to the state government (most likely DLEG).  Last time I checked, part of the problem with Michigan's economy was the outrageous amount of bureaucracy that businesses have to endure.  So this requirement is adding to the problem, not solving it.

The way I see it, turning Michigan's economy around has two different perspectives.  The perspective of "let's talk to CEOs and small business owners and find out what we can do to increase their bottom line so they have the money to hire more Michigan workers".  And the perspective of: "Companies should be obligated to hire people because they should be nice.  They're not hiring people because they're cheap, not because they're worried about going out of business.  Let's pass legislation to 'stick it to the man'!"

Which perspective do you think will attract more businesses to Michigan?