Cronyism

Conservative News, Cronyism, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Rent Seeking, Republicans

In For A Penny

by  •  • 1 Comment

Lets simply call it what it is; a corrupted system

waiting-homerIn for a pounding.

The collapse of our healthcare model was not enough for the bureaucrats and politicians, but now they want to double down on stupid by selecting ‘failure’ as the option.  Aside from adding untold numbers onto our welfare rolls, disrupting doctor patient relationships and encouraging sloth, Michigan’s brain trust wants to go with a high bidder who has demonstrated they suck, and is also based out of the country, to handle your sensitive data.

The unicornfarts.org site was designed and implemented by a Canadian firm, and it never worked. It was slow, and had severe security flaws exposing personal records to those of criminal AND innocent intent.  And now Michigan [Take A Vote Not a Vacation©] officials have decided that Michigan deserves more of that, thank you very much. According to the Free Press

“Officials in the administration of Gov. Rick Snyder chose CGI Technologies and Solutions, whose parent company is headquartered in Montreal, over three U.S.-based firms.

CGI did not submit the lowest bid. Accenture, a management consulting and technology firm headquartered in New York, offered the lowest price by nearly $5 million, but “CGI provided best value,” Kurt Weiss, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget, said Friday.

Oh yeah, did we mention there were US firms bidding?

RightMi.com feels it unnecessary to elaborate further at the moment.

You Betcha! (12)Nuh Uh.(0)

Cronyism, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans

HB 5108 Fights Crony Capitalism, Protects Personal Property Rights

by  •  • 2 Comments

You bought it...you own it!

Tickets

It doesn’t matter the industry impacted or how long a law has been on the books. Any law that restricts our personal property rights in favor of crony capitalism should be abolished. That’s why lawmakers need to take action on House Bill 5108.

Right now, if you try to re-sell your sports or entertainment ticket above face value, you are a criminal under Michigan law. It doesn’t matter whether you are trying to unload a couple of tickets from your season ticket package or whether you can no longer go to that concert and only want to sell your tickets for face value plus “convenience fees.”

That is, unless you use a specially-designated “vendor” given a monopoly by the team or venue over all ticket resales. Companies like StubHub and Ticketmaster are milking honest fans by tacking on additional fees just for the “right” to resell a ticket that you already own and are turning around and paying a kickback to the venue for their state-protected monopoly.

House Bill 5108 will end this ridiculous law and open the secondary ticket market up to be more fair and free – everybody will have the same rights and nobody is forced to break the law or pay additional fees just to resell their own property.

The House passed the bill in the spring. And given the Republican supermajority in the Senate you would think this bill would be a slam dunk, right? Apparently not because the bill has been stuck in committee for months.

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (9)Nuh Uh.(0)

All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans

Study: 40% of Michigan Families Can’t Cover Basic Survival Expenses

by  •  • 4 Comments

Huge Decline in Wages for Michigan’s Working Families

Pay Falls for Low-Wage Men yet Women Still Far Behind,” found that real wages of Michigan workers have fallen by more than ten percent since 1979 for broad sections of the working class.

Hourly pay for low-wage workers of “prime working age” in Michigan fell 13.4 percent between 1979-2013, while pay for mid-wage workers of prime age fell 12.7 percent.

The collapse of wages in Michigan also illustrates president Obama’s and Governor Snyder’s “insourcing” policies, which involves pushing for lower corporate taxes and lower living standards and wages for workers in order to make American cities “attractive” for business. Snyder Obama Meet

Speaking at a Milwaukee factory in 2012, Obama celebrated the results of his and Snyder’s “bailout” policies in Michigan as a model for the rest of the country: What’s happening in Detroit can happen in other cities.

Declining work rates, stagnant wages, the rise of female-headed families, inferior education, and the arrival of millions of “immigrants” with poor education and low skills are little engines pushing up the poverty rate.

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (6)Nuh Uh.(1)

Cronyism, Michigan Politics

MI GOP Joins Progressive-Pride Parade

by  •  • 3 Comments

Pride Parades have become the vogue for the “Look at me, I’m a celebrity” crowd that now rules pop-culture and its romance with Reality TV.

The MI GOP Convention last weekend, staged like a mindless reality TV show, solidified the MI GOP squarely in the ranks of the Progressive-Pride Parade marching across America.

Scripted to look genuine but only if you believe that professional wrestling and reality TV are real – Much ado about Nothing – No mention of the MI GOP’s repeated violations of the Republican Party Platform – Little if any grappling with the important threats to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that we face as citizens of Michigan.

A token gesture to the heroic campaign of Wes Nakagiri and his Constutionalist supporters may have been the last hurrah for the Tea Party/Libertarian coalition within the Progressive GOP, calls for unity notwithstanding.

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (14)Nuh Uh.(2)

All the Other Stuff, Cronyism, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Rent Seeking

Franchise Envy

by  •  • 1 Comment

The power of government can be instructive AND abusive.

When an operation hosted in publicly owned property is as successful as what might be considered only in ‘wildest dreams,’ it is then eyed with a lust that is found only within the failure of bureaucracy.

baseball1I’ve seen it first hand.  In Grand Traverse County in 2010, a highly successful  baseball program run by veterans was quite literally confiscated, and taken over by the landlords.  An empire building, bureaucratic strategist, coupled with a misunderstood management glitch in the popular 62 year old program opened the door to it being taken over by the county.

The PRIVATE program which began more than a half century earlier by veterans building ball fields was summarily sequestered because the landlord didn’t like the way ‘management’ of the program was operating.  The county board was convinced to back a parks decision to take the program away from the vets, and the participation dropped by 30%.

In the end, a newly elected county board (including myself) in the beginning of 2011 convinced enough of the old to give it back.  In the end as well however, we should note that it was a government entity (the parks department) trying to justify its existence, (programming beyond rental of properties) show a profit (a stated argument during the takeover) and be a controlling authority.

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (9)Nuh Uh.(1)

Conservative News, Cronyism, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Republicans

State Convention Notes

by  •  • 14 Comments

Snyder gets his man…reprise…

Convention

The state GOP elite marshaled its forces over the summer with the intention of protecting the Lt. Governor, and they succeeded. While the voting delegate count remained static, the outcome was reversed in comparison with the 2012 result that replaced Saul Anuzis in a conservative push that nearly unseated State Chair Bobby Schostak. A victory for the incumbent regime, or is it? With Common Core looming, and the the tie breaking vote on the Medicaid Expansion in Calley’s political resume’ , the conservative wing of the party may not be finished yet. There is still the November election.

The nomination of Wes Nakagiri was not just a symbolic gesture on the part of conservatives in the Republican party, it was a message to the established leadership that something has to change, and soon. The party has had four years to absorb the conservative message, and has chosen to reject it on a consistent basis. Rules changes for the nomination process were designed to discourage candidates from entering the political fray, not encourage them, and to further the debate. Nakagiri overcame all of them but in the end, the packing of the delegate convention with establishment types; including Lansing staffers; preserved the big government, “little tent” leadership. The decision, and effort, to exclude the conservative base from the party conversation has never been more obvious.

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (24)Nuh Uh.(3)

Cronyism, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Republicans

While You Are At The Convention Part II

by  •  • 1 Comment

You will have plenty of special things to talk about

This is somehow NOT surprising.

RINOcrat_BairdMlive reports

“Top aide to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder claiming principal property tax exemptions in 2 states”

A top aide to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder who ran for a Republican precinct delegate post this month in Bath Township is registered to vote in two states and has reportedly claimed principal property tax exemptions in each.

Oh snap.

Oh yeah..  Isn’t he a voting delegate too?  Why yes, yes he is

You Betcha! (17)Nuh Uh.(0)