After boring us to tears for the entire first portion of the event, Granholm laid out her plan for a balanced budget calling for a "blend" of cuts, reforms and revenue enhancements (AKA Tax hikes).  But here is what is interesting about that.

The "cuts" totaling $344 million that Granholm and the legislature agreed to last week are hardly cuts.  In fact, according to the Senate Fiscal Agency, only about $43 million is actual hard cuts while nearly the rest of the executive order consists of accounting gimmicks and one-time fixes.  Make no mistake about it; we have a long way to go.

But Granholm seems to be using this executive order to say, "we've cut enough".  $43 million out of $950 million?  That's only 4.5% of this year's budget deficit.  That's enough?  Not really "blending" here are we.

What's more preposterous is the idea that Granholm is "reforming" state government.  Instead of focusing on real reforms that will save the state real money like privatizing some prison services, providing incentives for those on Medicaid to live healthier life styles or allow school districts to competitively bid for employee health insurance, Granholm dropped this "reform" bomb in Traverse City.  

First, we are going to encourage locals to consolidate.  In other words, we're going to hope municipal governments do our jobs for us.  And secondly, we're going to let people out of prison.  Wow!  That's really changing the way we do things.  So $43 million in hard spending cuts and "reforms" that are dependent on entities outside of state government to implement is Granholm's idea of a "blend" of solutions.  So clearly we can all see which part of the blend Granholm wants to emphasize.  In other words, get your wallets ready.

What is most maddening about Granholm's crusade for higher taxes is the fact that it is coupled with a state general fund budget that continues to swell, a fact that she conveniently did not mention to last night's audience in Traverse City.

Despite Granholm's claims that she has "cut more out of state government than any other governor" the fact is that budgetary general fund spending has increased 3.1% or over $335 million since she's been in office.  This year's executive proposed budget (Granholm's plan) called for another drastic increase to the tune of over $318 million.  In other words, proposed tax increases by Granholm and the Democrats are specifically designed to do far more than balance the state's budget, they're designed to pay for programs the governor wants even though she knows we can't afford them.

The bottom line is that there are plenty of places left to reform and cut in order to give Granholm her "blend" of solutions.  Instead, she resorted to her traditional strategy of twisting statistics to make things seem what they are not.  Michigan does not need a tax hike and Michigan does not need Granholm.