Tag: MSM (page 2)

As bad news goes, that's pretty rotten... for taxpayers.  It means that in spite of 2007's record-shattering $1.5 billion Democratic tax hike, state spending is still so bat-crap crazy that the government can't pay its bills.

According to the Associated Press its only going to get worse, too.

Republicans, who said the 2009 and 2010 pay raises should be frozen, said there must be more urgency in dealing with a shortfall that could reach $1 billion in the budget year that started in October if revenues continue coming in $100 million a month less than anticipated. The state also is facing a potential $1.4 billion deficit in the next budget year.

Granholm plans to use $313 million of federal stimulus money to balance this year's budget.

Thank goodness for the House Republican minority.  Seriously.  They were at the state Capitol yesterday making a radical suggestion... cut costs!  On top of suggesting a 5% across the board spending cut in each state department, the conservatives are suggesting that while elected officials look to give back 10% of their own salaries next year, its time to ask the rest of the bureaucrats to do the right thing and give back 5% of theirs, too.

There are currently 52,000 state employees and according to Lansing insider publication MIRS, 72 of them actually make more money than any member of the legislature.  We're talking six figures.

I can't speak for every state employee.  Heaven knows there are probably thousands who work hard and are dramatically under-compensated for their time, skills and efforts.  I am saying, though, that in all of my years in and around the Capitol dome I've only met a few of them.  

Now, raise your hand if you've lost a job completely or had to give back part of your salary in the private sector.  (Why are so many of you raising BOTH hands?  You don't get extra credit for that extra hand.)

And, lets be honest, when the choice is between lay offs and a 5% pay cut, giving back a little bit of that bureaucratic cash suddenly looks a little more inviting.  Don't' believe me?  Ask our friend at the Ann Arbor News.  They learned yesterday that their paper is going "buh-bye" while the Saginaw News, Flint Journal and Bay City Times dramatically scale back their own operations.

Folks at papers in Muskegon, Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids got off relatively "easy" with pay cuts.

More and more readers are turning to the internet, blogs and the new media to get their news and information.  Its no wonder after the partisan sham that was Election 2008.  All but the staunchest far-left whacko will admit that the mainstream media was and continues to be solidly in the tank for Democrats at just about all levels and they're starting to pay a steep price for their political hackery... they've lost the public's trust.

Just so happens you can find exhibit 8,304,284,111 in this morning's Ivory Tower.  

Everyone understands that the FREEP is the state's "liberal newspaper."  (As if any of them aren't.)  But wow.  

If reporter Ellen Creager and the editor responsible for her headlines try to carry any more water for the Granholm - Cherry administration ahead of the 2010 elections they're going to throw out their backs and give themselves a hernia.

Check this out... Ellen's headline this morning reads: "State tourism outlook: Thumbs-up?"

Really?  Awesome!  Maybe I was wrong about Jeff Daniels all this time. Except, no, I made a mistake and I actually read Ellen's column.

Michigan tourism is likely to drop slightly this year, but travel experts say they are seeing promising signs that things are starting to look up for the state's third-largest industry.

A new analysis by Michigan State University, released Monday, said tourism is expected to drop 3% to 4% this year after sinking 6% last year. But one of the authors, Donald Holecek, warned against "irrational pessimism," saying that even if business travel stays in the doldrums, leisure travel should hold up well.

OK, let me get this straight.... Tourism was down 6% last year despite "Pure Michigan's" incessant advertisements here IN-STATE.  Tourism is expected to be down 4% THIS year.  It is MARCH.  There are still more than 9 months and a week ahead of us.  There are ZERO estimates for when or even if tourism will actually pick up again but based on the numbers we do have we know it won't be any time in the near future.

I'm missing the "thumbs-up."

Is it where one member of the panel... one... says we shouldn't be pessimistic? What did all of the other members say?  They didn't make the report.  Nothing they uttered was printed.

That couldn't possibly be because their statements didn't fit the pro-Granholm-Cherry media template at the Ivory Tower, could it?

Nah.

And then these guys wonder why no one reads them anymore.

Reminds me of the classic Cold War account of an experimental car race in the Soviet Union.  The morning after the race the headlines in Moscow told readers:  "Russian car finishes second; Americans second to last"

Yeah, sure, only two automobiles competed in the race, but for some reason that part of the story was never printed.

Fair warning, before you read the rest of this post you're going to want to sit down.  If you're driving and doing the mobile thing its safer for the rest of us if you pull over to the side of the road.  Shock and highway speeds generally don't mix well.

Safe and secure?

Great.  Check this out.

It looks like most elected Democrats in Lansing, while begging the State Officers Compensation Commission to cut their pay starting in 2011 have and continue to refuse to return any of their pay voluntarily here and now. SURPRISE!

Read on...

There were those in Congress who stood up and lambasted the Detroit auots.  They said that we here in Great Lakes State were out of step, that we didn't build cars people wanted and that a pair of uniquely Michigan companies didn't deserve the same sort of economic restart that had just been handed out in spades to the bad players in the banking and financial services industry.

The response, especially from union members and Democrats was down right apoplectic.  How DARE anyone question the Big 3?  How dare those folks in Washington question Michigan manufacturers and blue collar workers?  Especially after the Congress had just given so many billions to their friends who happened to hold their mortgages back at home.

Frankly, a lot of those criticisms were spot-on accurate.  Michigan did get a bum rap.  The Big 3 hasn't coaxed nearly enough concessions out of Big Labor, but they're working on it (often without a good-faith partner in the form of UAW leadership, but that's not their fault).  Similarly, our domestic automobile industry is leading the world right now in so-called "green vehicles," making fuel efficiency cool and affordable while pioneering battery technology for the first wave of gas-free autos.

There was a glaring double-standard in the way different companies were being treated and the Washington insiders WERE picking on us like they hadn't picked on anyone else.

Wait, did someone mention double-standards?  Oh, right, that was me.  Good point about double-standards, Nick!  (You can't see me right now but if you could you'd see that I'm slapping my own back.)

Read on...

But that's not really much of a surprise.  Here at RM we'd prefer a dose of reality and a step in the right direction as opposed to two paragraphs of reality and fifty-eight minutes of self-congratulation on minor perceived-victories.  

This was the same basic speech we've heard for the last half-decade.  There are serious problems in the state, here are two minutes worth of lip service about reforming government now let me tell you how cool I am, drop a bunch of buzz words and start creating a whole new batch of winners and losers.

In the past the press has fallen under the woman's siren spell and fawned all over her after the speech and in their coverage the next day, and there's still plenty of that going on today.  It was apparent, though, from the immediate post-speech commentary that something may have finally changed this year.  

Without having to worry about the damage they might do to their ideological compatriot's reelection chances, the press started to tee off right away.  The Off the Record panel, never usually failing to sip the Governor's happy juice, called her out for her disconnect from the broader issues driving Michigan's descent.

The editorial pages and job maker reaction is even tougher this morning.

Read on...