Tag: stimulus (page 2)

We talk so often here about the things that are going wrong in Lansing and what the tax-and-spenders are up to that I think it's important to check in with the good guys from time to time to get their take on the issues facing taxpayers and the legislature today.

The GOP House minority continues to sponsor and introduce legislation, to work behind the scenes and to try to figure out some sort of positive solution to this tax-hike / budget mess.

We rarely hear about that in the MSM.

Being a member of a legislative minority makes it tough to garner headlines. But they're working hard and they're trying to make a difference.

This week I spoke with Calhoun County freshman Republican Representative Jase Bolger.

Interview after the break...

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The Detroit News reports this morning that a new stimulus bill was introduced yesterday in DC by Macomb County's own Candice Miller, this one designed to give every man, woman and 16 year old in America anywhere from $5,000 to $7,500 in free cash if they'll buy a new car and provide a gas-guzzling trade-in.  

The bill proposes giving consumers vouchers to buy new, more fuel-efficient vehicles in exchange for turning in vehicles at least eight years old. The program is dubbed the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save bill, or CARS Act.

Quick aside... that right there is a piece of fine acronyming.  CARS.  Get it?  Sorry... back to your regularly scheduled clip...

...60 percent of vehicles in the United States are old enough to qualify. The bill would award higher vouchers for vehicles assembled in North America -- up to $5,000 -- versus up to $4,000 vouchers for vehicles assembled outside North America, and would not apply at all to vehicles made outside North America. The proposal was endorsed Tuesday by Detroit's Big Three automakers and the United Auto Workers.

Ah, winners and losers and the government that picks them.  But that's a minor complaint, or is it?  If you're one of those squishy economics students who believes a little government stimulus can go a long ways this might not be such a bad idea.  If you'd rather the government stay the heck out of the market no matter the conditions then this will have you seeing red (or green, if you want to take advantage of the program when no one's looking).

If you're Congress and you're spending money like its free then I'll go ahead and say this qualifies as one of your better cash-burning ideas, at least from where I sit here in the state that put the world on wheels.  It's a stimulus that actually lands in consumers pockets (as opposed to the Obama administration's hundreds of millions in bonuses for AIG executives), that helps the Big 3, Michigan companies, but isn't a straight give-away and maybe most importantly, it will directly and could substantially decrease our dependence on terrorist states for fuel.

Call it the national security stimulus plan.  Or call it another example of an out-of-touch federal government spending like drunken sailors.  But call it something.  What do YOU think?

And so we focus on sunshine and rainbows.  Like, for instance, this week the big-shot politicians in Lansing will start figuring out how to spend $625 million of our grandkids money to repair those potholes that put such a serious crimp in yesterday's trip to church.  

Yeah, yeah, spending our grandkids money might not make the most economic sense but c'mon, nobody likes pot holes!  Plus, they're spending so much to make these road repairs, if push comes to shove they can actually fill each pot hole with stacks of twenty dollar bills.  So that's a win-win.

Good news... good news... Monica Conyers arch-enemy on the Detroit City Council is going to run for Mayor of Detroit this August.  Good old Kwame Kenyatta.  (Apparently rumors of the man's impending cancer-related death were greatly exaggerated by the Council President.)  

That's... something.  But even better, according to the Detroit News, he's one of more than 50 (FIFTY) some odd candidates whose names might appear on the ballot.  

And by "might appear" I mean over 50 have already grabbed the paperwork to file.  Not rumors, not speculation... 50+ are already starting the legal process.  Guess how many are going to wind up filing as Republicans.  Go ahead... guess.

Talk about a crowded field.  Somebody should work up some brackets and we could run those elections NCAA Tournament style, then instead of cutting down the nets, the ultimate winner could take the first shift re-roofing Cobo Hall with city cash since they refuse to take any money from the state.  Oh, wait, they don't have any cash to stop the leaks... shoot.

But, seriously, in happier news, big ups to the Michigan State Spartans and the University of Michigan Wolverines men's basketball teams on their selection to the NCAA tournament beginning this Thursday!  Start working on those faux-coughs and sniffles around the office today or tomorrow, gentlemen, because come 11:30AM-ish on the 19th we're in for four days of pure, unadulterated madness.

This is Michigan's first trip to the tournament in a decade and Maize and Blue fans are pretty geeked today.  They should be extra excited about their first round draw, too, matching up against a tough but beatable Clemson team.  At that point you're only a sterling game away from the Sweet 16.  

And the Spartans?  A well deserved 2.  Casa De Leeuw will undoubtedly have competing brackets this year with some picking the Green and White to win the whole thing and others playing the homer-role and picking those guys from Ann Arbor to run the table.  Silly Wolverine fans.

That said, it should give me a clear path to the family pick-em championship and THAT, my friends, is good news.

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...

What started as a twitter conversation between local RIGHTY bloggers... Joan from The World According to Me, Wendy Day from For a Better Day and twitter-maven MelanieAnn79, turned into an event that drew hundreds of taxpayers to the Capitol steps from all across Michigan.

Wendy, Joan and the team will be blogging about the event in their own awesome way but I wanted to give them each a shout-out and a big congrats on an amazing turn-out, that had everyone buzzing, from both regular citizens, moms, dads and kids all the way to the mainstream media...

Folks are fed up and they are not going to take it any more. These weren't Republicans and they weren't Democrats.  Both parties were roundly and lustily booed for their hands in the Congress's recent out-of-control spending.  These were Michiganders coming together simply to say enough is enough.

Just a few photos from after the event as folks mulled about following the program, discussing politics and where our nation goes from here...