Tag: General Motors

It certainly doesn't seem like a success for the taxpayers.  GM stock is about $30 today, and unless it gets up to $54, the taxpayers lose money on the deal.  Why would it go up?  You want to fight high gas prices by buying a Volt?  How does $41 grand a pop sound? And still GM loses money on every one it sells even at that price.  Not only that but we are seeing that government subsidies for electric cars is good tax money wasted in any case.

Let's start with the "municipality" and work out way up, shall we?

We learn today that the Detroit Public Schools, long a paragon of Lefty administrative virtue, have 257 "ghosts" on the payroll.  According to the Ivory Tower these are folks who are pulling down major bank but aren't even supposed to be on the payroll.  The local public school bureaucracy is so wasteful of taxpayer dollars they don't even demand a lick of work to get them.  

There were 37 unclaimed paychecks and 220 unclaimed direct-deposit slips totaling about $208,000, said Odell Bailey, DPS' auditor general. He added that the recipients are not on approved leave.

Robert Bobb, DPS' state-appointed emergency financial manager, also said an audit has begun to determine if employees have unapproved health care  dependents that are running up costs.

Probably important, too, that we don't blame this entirely on the bureaucracy. That means there are 257 individuals who at one time or another were entrusted with the education of Detroit kids whose integrity was so poor they continued cashing the checks they knew they hadn't earned.  

DPS might want to audit their character assessment and their hiring practices next.  And they're not the only ones.  As frustrating as a chronically bungled payroll can be it isn't nearly as dangerous as the mistake the Granholm-Cherry administration made this week when they took a convicted murderer who'd wracked up 124 "major misconducts" since entering prison, took him out of jail and dropped him off at his grandfather's house without medication.  

Because that sounds like a safe thing to do.

Read on...

I am conflicted. As a resident of Wayne County I know that I should be doing everything I can to encourage business to stay and flourish in Wayne County. As I have just become a major stockholder in GM, I now have other considerations to take under advisement.

Right now Detroit and Warren are having a disagreement over where the Headquarters of General Motors should be located. First lets look at the taxes. Mayor Bing and Executive Ficano are proposing a tax free zone for the Renaissance Center. While, Th City of Warren has offered a 30 year abatement if GM moves its headquarters to the GM Tech Center.

If lower taxes are good for GM, why are they not good for everyone else. The small businesses that will suffer or be put out of business because of the automotive downsizing are sure to need propping up. There is also the average taxpayer who must pick up the burden for the hole in revenue left by breaks to business. I know, as consumers they we are paying them anyway, but somehow if you don't pay them directly they seem less harmful and there is still the possibility that they will not pass the brake on.

Then there is the employees. Would they rather go to Downtown Detroit and pay a fortune for parking or park in the huge parking lot at the Tech Center? If they wish to live near work, would they rather live in Detroit with poor services and poor schools or in Warren were schools and services are not so bad and their spouses will not have to pay the 2.5% resident income tax, if they work?

How about property values? Would you rather invest in housing which will continue to decline under present tax rates and exiting population or property which is likely to appreciate in the future? The Detroit News has given you an opportunity to vote on the question of whether they should stay in Detroit or move to Warren. I am torn. It isn't easy being a business owner in Michigan.