Tag: MSM

"Collectivism administered with characteristic American efficiency."

Folks, that's what a hero looks like.

Anyone with the stomach for regular reading in the regressisphere or the ability to listen to news reports featuring state Democrats without throwing shoes at the television has probably noticed a regular theme that looks to make excuses for the party in power by telling us things really aren't that bad.  The line you hear and read most often typically goes something like this- `Michigan is currently in the middle of the pack when it comes to tax burden...it's all John Engler's fault.'

We even got an unhealthy (and somewhat sneakily delivered) dose of that nonsense over the weekend from Booth's Peter Luke.  In an article ostensibly written to chide Liberals like Rick Snyder and Mark Brewer over their penchant for hyperbole in place of common sense reform, the author furthers the Lefty meme that A) taxes really aren't that high and B) it is all John Engler's fault.  

...Current economic policy, to the extent there can be one at the state level, isn't much different than the policy in the 1990s that saw record growth... In 2000, state tax collections equaled 9.5 percent of personal income. In 2010, it'll be 7 percent.

Now, adjust that rate for inflation and then consider the fact that the statistic is abso-freaking-worthless to begin with and we'll be halfway to an honest conversation about Michigan's economy.

See, the thing about 2000... Michigan's unemployment rate was hovering in the 3 to 4 percent range.  In other words, "a whole lot of people" were working then who aren't now and those people paid taxes.  The state was taking in more adjusted dollars from a significantly larger pool of taxpayers.  Fast forward to 2010 and we've got fewer people working fewer jobs for a less valuable dollar and enduring higher tax rates.  There's also "a whole lot of (jobless) people" taking in "personal income" directly from the state.  

Even if one bought the Lefty lie that the state's tax policy isn't onerous and isn't a problem, the argument that there's no difference between Granholm and Engler economic policy is ridiculous on it's face.  The last six-plus years in Lansing have been perhaps the most antagonistic towards job makers in the history of the state of Michigan and in direct contrast to the first ten years of the previous administration.  

Not that you have to take my word for it.  Ask one of the thousands of former Michigan small business owners now pulling down profits instead in other states.

Read on...

Yesterday's announcement of House Republicans' plan to rescue the state budget from drowning in red ink, free up millions of stimulus dollars to plug directly into the economy and completely avoid the tax hikes the Dillon Majority and the Granholm-Cherry administration have promised didn't just get short shrift... at one "news" outlet it actually got NO shrift.

MLIVE provided a prominent link for part of the day yesterday, the Lansing State Journal has the story and the Detroit News buried the story in fine print half-way down their front page but our friends at the Ivory Tower decided a massive package of reforms and cuts that'd actually solve this dag-blamed budget crisis simply wasn't news worthy.

What do we get instead from the FREEP?  The front page contains "above the fold" stories (as it were) about the Red Wings (which is actually OK with me), Michael Vick, Delphi workers frustrated by part of the "bailout" plan... and a discussion of a boat race.  

Maybe on their dedicated "Politics" page?  Nope.  The top five actual stories, in order:

-Obama defends healthcare plan to Americans
-Dems line up as possible Macomb County Exec
-Michigan Democrats test water for ballot proposals
-Union-tied lawyer joins Michigan governor's race

In between the third and fourth is a pro-Obama puff piece Q & A page ostensibly designed to help viewers better understand what the President said during last night's television address.  

Anyone notice a trend?  National Dems, local Dems, statewide Dems and Dems in the biggest race this election cycle.  

If you only read the FREEP it isn't that you don't know House Republicans proposed a massive spending and regulatory overhaul that ends the state's budget crisis without raising taxes... it's that you don't even know Michigan Republicans exist!

Alas... this morning eeeeeveryone knows that Mark Brewer exists and job providers across the Mitten have already begun looking at real estate listings in other states.  That's the sort of thing that can happen when the Chairman of the Democratic Party stands up in an overwhelmingly Democratic state and tells anyone listening that he may be looking to launch a ballot proposal aimed at using rocket fuel to propel the minimum wage to an astronomical $10 an hour.

(Read on...)

On the plus side, yesterday saw some decisive action from City Council President (and former Mayor) Ken Cockrel.  After Mrs. Conyers submitted her official resignation he went ahead and began sweeping away the last vestiges of the Democrat's crooked operation, firing Sunceria Garrett, the aunt whom she'd recently given a fat city contract and declining to renew the contracts of four other Conyers staffers.  The Detroit News:

Cockrel said his decision to terminate Garrett wasn't based on her relationship to Conyers, but hinged on cutting the budget.

"Frankly it was an unnecessary position," Cockrel said. "This was not a vacant position. It was filled."

Say what you will about Cockrel, the man has shown a willingness to make some tough personnel decisions (though I suspect these were relatively easy). Before leaving the Mayor's office Cockrel set in motion a budget savings plan that included hundreds of layoffs and reductions in pay for even more of the cities thousands of taxpayer funded bureaucrats.  

Detroit, you'll remember, is currently running a budget deficit in the hundreds of millions of dollars while recent gargantuan layoffs in the auto industry have further crippled the tax base (and city "income" projections) for the upcoming fiscal year.  

Alas, the monster financial storm engulfing the city doesn't seem to worry new mayor Dave Bing.  

Read on...

And THAT is about as light a spin I can manage for an introduction to this sort of a topic.  

7 percent of American teenagers admit attempting suicide, according to a recent study.  That number is 9 in Michigan, about 30 percent higher than the national average.  27 percent of Michigan teens admit being depressed.  That's better (or worse, I guess) than one in four.  

That counts as a problem.  A serious problem.  So what's the solution?  

I'd argue it is Jesus.  

The Mainstream media?  They put their faith in a different sort of god.  The Ivory Tower:

Michigan's joblessness, homelessness and hopelessness fuels teen depression, and using school time for mental health education might help catch it early, said Dr. David Rosenberg, chairman of psychiatry at Children's Hospital of Michigan...

The 2006 Chase Edwards Law encourages Michigan educators to teach suicide prevention in schools, but it doesn't mandate it -- even with school surveys showing that the percentage of depressed and suicidal teens has barely changed in Michigan since 2001.

The law goes unenforced in part because no funding is attached to it. Schools and districts can individually decide whether they'll broach depression, either through state-provided materials or through presentations...

OF COURSE!  The public schools, bureaucrats, politicians and state spending! Don't know how I ever could have put my faith in anyone else.

Read on...

Apparently whatever spending sickness is afflicting lawmakers managed to make it's way onto east-bound I-96, too, and landed smack dab in the FREEP's editorial room.  The same column which they use to caution against irresponsible budgeting (lest our state bond rating be negatively affected) also contains the Ed Board's suggestion that Lansing spend irresponsibly.

The week before state lawmakers' Fourth of July break has frequently been a time when budgets were settled for the fiscal year beginning the following Oct. 1...

A good strategy would be to spread the available stimulus money in roughly even chunks over the next two budget years.

No, a good strategy would be to avoid one-time-fixes.  You know, the kind used by former Republican legislative majorities and lamented vocally for years by the Granholm-Cherry administration?

Because these problems... these massive multi-billion dollar deficits... they aren't going to go away before that bailout funding does.  In fact, they're likely going to get much worse.

The Detroit News reports this morning on an often overlooked budgetary byproduct of massive auto layoffs... suddenly vacant industrial space.  See, the thing about vacant industrial space is that it's vacant.  There's no one there.  In other words, there goes another big dollar source of tax revenue.

Read on...

It was in 2004 that the Guv first tabbed her second-in-command (and current Democratic gubernatorial candidate) John Cherry to head up a fancy commission to identify and establish plans to double the college graduation rate here in Michigan.  Because if you form a special task force it shows you're serious, whether or not it delivers the bacon, apparently.  

And if that kind of a move sounds familiar, it should.  Earlier this calendar year the Guv tabbed her second-in-command (and current Democratic gubernatorial candidate) John Cherry to head up a fancy commission to identify and establish plans to ostensibly reduce the size of state government. Because the two of them have shown such a strong commitment to that concept these past six-plus years.  (But that's a rant for a different post.)

No one's quite sure when or where Cherry's fancy NEW task force is going to be holding it's supposedly (but not really) public hearings... and if YOU'VE gotten wind of the specific when and where, please, leave a comment... but we've already got the results, recommendations and battle plans that emerged from the 2004 group of talkers.  A lot of talk and bluster and posturing and promises.  Results? The Detroit News:

It was a lofty goal: Double the number of Michigan residents with a higher education within a decade.

But nearly five years after Gov. Jennifer Granholm's call to educate the work force to a more prosperous economy, Michigan's rate has merely inched forward.

The number of degrees and certificates awarded in Michigan increased just 4.4 percent over four years, according to data compiled by The Detroit News.

OH!  4.4 is 93.6 LESS than 100.  What is it the kids are saying these days? "EPIC FAIL?!"  

Are these the kind of results we can expect from John Cherry's super-secret, wasteful, duplicative "government efficiency" task force?  Here's hoping. Frankly, a 4.4 percent success rate is better than I'd normally expect from Lansing Democrats.