Tag: John Cherry (page 2)

The Genesee County Republican Party (yes, Virginia, there is such a thing) welcomes the opportunity to tie Lt. Gov. John Cherry with Gov. Jennifer Granholm's record.  Not only does the Lt. Gov. have to convince nearly half a million newly unemployed to vote for him, but convince nearly a million Michigan Veterans why cutting their budget is a positive thing.

Or this one... Michigan Democrats' concept of "solutions" is counterproductive these days, when it isn't outright dangerous

OK, so that first sentence might be a bit more universally embraced, by both Republicans and Democrats, but if the Dems' latest round of "answers" to Michigan's economic woes get around the state there isn't much doubt the second will be gaining a heck of a lot of traction, and soon.

From Michigan Democrats in Congress to their representatives in the state legislature and the Governor's mansion all the way down to local county government, there are ideas being floated today that might not just kill Michigan's economy, they might wind up killing some of us while they're at it.

You know things are getting dangerous when Macomb County Democrats' scheme to increase taxes on local moms and dads by $10 million a year is the least devastating thing on the board.  A $10 million tax hike to fill a $10 million budget deficit.  In spite of the fact that Macomb County currently has $30 million in its rainy-day fund!  (Hint: Its raining cats and freaking dogs outside, boys and girls.)  The Detroit News reports:

Dennis Cusik wanted an explanation of the county's retirement plan which has, until recently, allowed workers to retire at 50 years old with 20 years of experience.

"I'd just like to ask ... how can you justify giving retirement at 50 years old?" he said. "We're in dire straits here."

Good question.  They can't.  See, these sorts of things, these decisions, they have consequences.  The News reports that since 1980, when County government had five employees for every retiree, they now have 1.2 employees for each.

That leads to some awfully funny math.  And speaking of funny math, there's no place where numbers mean less these days, especially with dollar signs supposedly in front of them, than in the halls of the overwhelmingly Democratic controlled Congress.  

(Now THAT'S what I call a segue.)

Read on...

--Lieutenant Governor John Cherry, Detroit Free Press, January 14, 2009

Governor Jennifer Granholm has "laid a strong groundwork for the state's future, and he'll be happy to run on the Democratic governor's record," according to this morning's Ivory Tower.

Remember when John McCain stood in front of the camera and reminded folks that he voted with the President 92 percent of the time?  And that now infamous line about how "the fundamentals of our economy are strong?"  Yeah, déjà vu.  I guess those who don't learn from history are bound to repeat it.

But hey, if John Cherry wants to run on the Governor's record that's fine by me.  And, frankly, whether he wants to or not, he's going to have to.  The man is, after all, her "right hand man."

In other words, he was first-mate while she captained the ship into this gully-whomper of a single state storm.  

We know the job loss numbers upside down and backwards.  Nearly 400,000 fewer net jobs in Michigan since Cherry took the oath of office in January 2003 while the nation added nearly 8 million (even after factoring in the current headline making national job losses).  Numbers are easy.  It's the human factor that's much more difficult to talk about.

How do you quantify family hardship?  What kind of data points can you use to adequately convey the tragic, life shaking moments so many thousands of Michigan moms and dads and their kids have had to endure while the current administration fortified their big-government castle in downtown Lansing?

Cherry's record isn't just the massive deficits, the great lakes sized wells of red ink and the hundreds of thousands of outsourced Michigan jobs, its also places like the Academy of the Americas in Detroit, a public school that earlier this week had to send out a public appeal for toilet paper and light bulbs.  Because apparently THAT'S something he can be proud of.

Read on...

Lansing insider publication MIRS reported last night that Michigan owes the federal government over $860 million in unemployment insurance.  That happens when you have more people drawing bigger unemployment checks than you have employers paying the unemployment tax each year and, since we're talking about the federal government, a group of bureaucrats and politicians who never have a hard time spending other peoples' money but cannot fathom a delay when it comes to taxpayers paying THEM, we're officially in trouble.

And did I mention that the feds charge interest on that outstanding debt?

Here's what it means to Michigan job makers: 45,000 businesses with former employees drawing unemployment, the folks who still scribble those paychecks for your family and your loved ones every-other Friday, will be paying an extra $67.50 PER EMPLOYEE.  Its what they call a "solvency tax" and it won't go away until that $860+ million debt does.

But wait, there's more... next year every job maker in the state will be charged an extra $21 for every man, woman and teenager they give a job and they'll do that every year until the state is paid up in full.

Once you factor in interest payments and the expectation that we'll be making them for years, these are tax hikes that will hit job makers to the tune of a billion dollars.  

Makes you proud to call Jennifer Granholm "Madame Governor," doesn't it?  And even prouder to know that next year you'll have a chance to cast a ballot to give her "right-hand man" John Cherry four more years to deliver the same nonsense?

I know that prospect gives me the warm fuzzies.

Oh, and yeah, I know, its all Engler's fault.  Just for the sake of being thorough, though, it should be noted that the $860 million in red ink and tax hikes Michigan Democrats are passing along to job makers is the largest deficit the state has seen since the end of 1983 when this cat named Jim Blanchard was running the show under the Capitol dome.  

As for the argument that its due to Michigan's manufacturing base and that other Midwestern states are struggling too... yep, that's true.  Other Midwestern states are struggling.  Indiana owes over $180 million themselves.  Problem is, if you take the 49 states not named Michigan, the Midwestern states and everything, and add up all of the unemployment insurance cash they owe and then take that number and multiply it by two, you still don't get a number as big as Michigan's.  

And the Democrats' answer is to raise the taxes a business pays on the function of employment, incentivizing struggling job makers to lay off even more employees.  Because that won't exacerbate the problem at aaaaaaaall...