And what ever happened to that whole “I-BELIEVE-government-must-practice-fiscal-responsibility-and-allow-individuals-to-keep-more-of-the-money-they-earn.” mantra?
All I’ve got to say here is: “Beware of bipartisanship”.
{More below the fold}
(8)Nuh Uh.
(0)SafeRoadsYes! Morphing Into A Very Expensive White Elephant - Big New Money Going Down the Drain!
Another day, another $ 105,000 delivered to SafeRoadsYes! Here are the latest contributions made to SafeRoadsYes! on 28 April and posted by the Michigan Secretary of State today:
The motives of three late contributors are pretty obvious. PVS-Nolwood is a chemical company in Detroit specializing in acids and their disposal. As [a very profitable] part of this business, they unload neutralized acid byproducts on wastewater treatment plants as clarifiers. Those wastewater treatment plants just happen to be owned by various units of government which, in turn, use their water billings to rape the public at large. PVS-Nolwood have a long history of sucking up to Michigan’s power elites to further their very lucrative business interests.
(21)Nuh Uh.(0)As expected…
Detroit’s planned 3.3-mile $137 million Woodward Avenue streetcar project faces a $12 million funding shortfall, and Michigan members of Congress warn the project could be in jeopardy unless the Transportation Department gives it more money.
A two-page letter to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx obtained by The Detroit News on Tuesday warns that the project urgently needs additional grant money to proceed. But even without federal funds, officials of the so-called M-1 project says it would survive — but concede it might have to be scaled back.
Whoa! Has anyone looked at the top two names listed on the M-1 Rail Board of Directors? Click here. So, you mean to tell me that Roger Penske, or Dan Gilbert, both billionaires, can’t reach into their front pocket and pull out $6M each? YGBFKM. Better yet, if one looks a little further down the Board of Director names listed one will see Ilitch Holdings. How about giving a little back to the rest of us in the state, Mike and Marian? There you go. Penske, Gilbert, and Ilitch, can all pony up $3M each to cover the “shortfall”.
Funny how yet another .gov subsidized P3 project always has these budget “shortfalls,” isn’t it?
The May 1 letter, which has not previously been made public, discloses that Detroit applied for a supplemental $12.2 million grant from the Transportation Department’s TIGER grant program. The project received $25 million in federal funds from the program in January 2013.
“Without the requested $12.2 million TIGER grant, this important project will be delayed indefinitely, and we fear the resulting costs could make the project unaffordable,” said the letter signed by Sens. Carl Levin of Detroit, Debbie Stabenow of Lansing and Reps. Sander Levin of Royal Oak, John Dingell of Dearborn, John Conyers of Detroit and Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township. The lawmakers, all Democrats, urged Foxx to “award a TIGER grant to close the funding gap.”
Ah, all Democrats Socialists. I guess that is where the Ilitch’s paid their “fair share” already.
Subsidies in perpetuity! Get ready to keep paying up, Nerd voting suckers.
(15)Nuh Uh.(0)
This Is NOT Your Daddy’s ‘Paul’
Some of the ideas are familiar, but limited in ways typically embraced by establishment Republicans.
Rand Paul’s visit to Detroit was precipitated by a conference call being reported by the Detroit News. In it, Senator Paul speaks of enterprise zones, with taxes so low as to “bail yourselves out”. Adding to this an loosened visa incentive for a flow of foreign “entrepreneurs” into the city.
Paul, widely considered a 2016 potential presidential candidate, said he will introduce legislation Monday to create “economic freedom zones” by dramatically lowering taxes in depressed areas and loosen visa rules to encourage foreign entrepreneurs to immigrate to the city.“We hope to create taxes so low you essentially are able to bail yourselves out,” Paul said Thursday in a conference call outlining his plan.
So now instead of “jobs that Americans don’t want to do,” perhaps we will be talking about cities that Americans don’t want to live or work in.
I wonder how that would work?
Maybe something like this?
“Mr Chen, you are welcome to stay, invest, develop, and work in our country. However, you are limited to this particular region. If for some reason you are not satisfied there, I guess you are out of luck.”
Or in other words,
“Welcome to the Hotel Detroit. Love it, or get the hell out of our country..”
Right, somehow I can’t see THAT happening.
Which of course begs the question of what happens to those who emigrate, and decide to move somewhere a little safer than Baghdad of Michigan? When “loosening visa requirements,” it seems that a genie let out is a little hard to stuff back in the lamp. Its hard to imagine ‘restrictive’ movement placed on those who simply seek a better life, and upon finding out that Detroit is no better than the hole they left, it is highly likely that they will indeed “seek” such a place.
And it seems we have heard those words about foreigners feeling welcomed before.
(3)Nuh Uh.(0)
