Tag: Business (page 2)

Michigan 7th district Congressman Tim Walberg joined with several House colleagues in a press conference to demand a response to a June 2nd letter sent by 33 House members to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  The letter asked for information on waivers to President Obama's health care law, including details on the number and types of waivers denied and pending, as well response time to waiver requests.

In his comments, Congressman Walberg cited the recent hiring spree by McDonald's Restaurants, which has been exempted from the health care law, as an example how businesses can flourish and expand when not subject to onerous federal mandates.

He says:

"When you are not under the gun of the ObamaCare mandates, you can hire employees.  We ought to give that same opportunity to other employers around this nation."

Works for me anyhow.

The little things like HB4326 are good for Michigan business.  The DEQ under the Granholm regime reigned heavy with indiscriminate and wanton administrative restrictions, and punitive measures. One example, the King of the wind Farms in Macomb County.

The simple language:

(5) Except for an emergency rule promulgated under section 48, if the federal government has mandated that this state promulgate rules, an agency shall not promulgate or adopt a rule more stringent than the applicable federally mandated standard unless specifically authorized by Michigan statute.

(6) Except for an emergency rule promulgated under section 48, if the federal government has not mandated that this state promulgate rules, an agency shall not promulgate or adopt a rule more stringent than the applicable federal standard unless specifically authorized by Michigan statute.

In yet another attempt to bend the business owner to government's will, Democrats in the state house have introduced what I will call the Credit Reporting Absolutely Prohibited act.

Michigan's House Bill 4363 (2011) has the following lawmakers bending employers over and gives them the busines..  umm gives them a LESSON on business. Jon Switalski - (primary) Lesia Liss, Vicki Barnett, Rashida H. Tlaib, Kate Segal, Stacy Erwin Oakes, Andrew J. Kandrevas, Woodrow Stanley, Brandon Dillon, Fred Durhal, Jr., Jim Ananich, Maureen Stapleton, Ellen Cogen Lipton, Mark Meadows, Lisa Brown all have jumped on board the 'C.R.A.P.' act bandwagon, and eagerly seek the  no responsibility route.

"A bill to prohibit employers from making certain recruiting or hiring decisions based upon an individual's credit history; to prohibit employers from making certain inquiries; to prohibit certain waivers; to prohibit retaliation; and to provide remedies."

Certainly, those folks could get their credit back up if they could get that job they don't deserve, right?  Oh my, those poor put upon people who just cannot catch a break!  Wow! If I may borrow a cartoon character's exclamation of disgust mixed with a little frustration and eye rolling, AYE CARAMBA!  It seems our out of touch cousins of the liberal persuasion have again forgotten that their form of governance has consequence.

Today's post over, is about whether our state Republican electees are prepared to examine their principled beliefs, or if they pander to the will of the entrenched ideology of progressivism within the Michigan GOP.  An entrenched ideology I might add, that attempts to shame true conservatives for being too far right.

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Dead Ponies.  Re-posted from Michigan Taxes Too Much

One of the toughest things for Republicans elected to positions that have, as a matter of course the spending of taxpayer money, is the `supporting business' angle. Perhaps it could even be called a `supporting the economy' paradigm. Business is everything right? So why wouldn't an elected official do everything to get business going, and create those jobs? And why shouldn't Republicans support any measure that enhances business activities, promotes job growth, and expands business in general?

Define "any" first, and we may have the appropriate answer.

And any legislator who wants to do what is best for his or her constituents might be at risk.

In fact, the manner in which I was hired was interesting enough to repeat.  Short story:  Manager was in hospital, assistant manager had pulled 3 days of 18 hours each, I walked in and asked if they were hiring, and was given the keys right away.

I guess I was always a good interviewee.

A whopping $3.35 an hour for my time spent selling gas and the assorted goodies in the small corner store at Randolph and Division.  It was enough at the time to keep food on the table, and along with the other jobs paid the rent and the part of tuition not covered by my savings.  It was enough to cover the great Santa Claus affair of 1986 as well.

That is the hard fact of what it took to get a battery plant built here to provide 3300 new jobs.  Never mind the NEED for those jobs, or whether the new green economy demands it enough to make it PAY FOR ITSELF.  It is the cost of having business DO BUSINESS in Michigan it seems, and no amount of common sense ought to dissuade our dear leaders from paying that price right?

And that price per job, is only if all goes well.

As we have seen by recent events, the MEDC record for picking winners is not even as accurate as my dog's method of identifying visitors.  Never mind the trickle into the Michigan economy from these new jobs cannot offset the cost in taxes paid to make it possible.  And Never mind the very people who are running the taxpayer supported operation say they haven't been profitable.. yet:

In a filing with the SEC, the company stated: "We have never been profitable. ...We have a history of losses, and we may be unable to achieve or sustain profitability."

The company was founded in 2001 and announced its lithium-ion battery system in 2005. Since then, A123 states that it had net losses of $31 million in 2007, $80.5 million in 2008, and $86.6 million for 2009. Furthermore, it had negative cash flow of $56.1 million in 2007, $76 million in 2008 and $114.7 million in 2009.

While the meat heads in the labor unions are figuring out new ways to persuade our leaders to LIMIT the ability of Michigan business to operate, the scholars in many other countries are figuring out what made America so great for so many years.  And while our leaders in Michigan insert their own brand of controls on Michigan residents and business owners, it offers an opportunity for those who create jobs to "supersize" their crap sandwich from the drive-through window of Lansing's growing bureaucracy.

Laws that tell you what you pay..  Laws that tell you whom you can hire..  Laws that tell you what legal substances can be used in the business you "own." Laws that govern whether you dismiss someone appropriately, the hours they work, and soon whether you should be providing insurance for them.  Add to this, the business owner has become the tax collector.

Is this truly Liberty?  The top four definitions would say not:

lib·er·ty
Showing Spelled[lib-er-tee]
-noun, plural -ties.

1. freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control.
   
2. freedom from external or foreign rule; independence.
   
3. freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice.
   
4. freedom from captivity, confinement, or physical restraint: The prisoner soon regained his liberty.

Since the ban on smoking in such establishments has been implemented, there has been a dramatic DECREASE in attendance at these locations.  Profits are down, and more businesses suffer under the heavy hand of our state government, and the do-gooders who inhabit it.  From Mlive:

The Home Bar on Portage Street in Kalamazoo this month has seen sales plummet nearly 50 percent, said owner Harriet Bronson. In her 37 years at the bar, it's never been this bad.

"It's terrible -- slow, slow, slow," said Bronson, who's had to cut the hours of some of her employees.

Smaller bars like the Home Bar should have been allowed to decide if they wanted to go smoke free, she said.

"The state's in bad enough shape as it is," she said.  "I hope people come back, but we'll see."
Denise Bilyeu, manager at Bubba's Sports Bar & Grill in downtown Allegan, said business has been down 15 percent to 20 percent since the law took effect.  The biggest dip in sales has been at night with the "party-crowd folks," she said.