Thursday, February 4, 2010

Granholm running for 3rd term?

Apparently she didn't get the memo on term limits because last night's state of the state speech was a campaign speech.She ticked off a list of her accomplishments,of all the jobs she created and how NOW is the time to re-invent Michigan.What was wrong with 8 years ago when we merely had a bad economy?Shouldn't we have taken all these steps before the policy route she chose helped to destroy the economy?

It's pretty easy to list off all the things that need changed when you won't be around to do the heavy lifting.Here are a few grandiose claims;
-She completely re-invented the Michigan education system
-She has laid the new foundation of the Michigan economy away from the auto industry
-Clean energy,life sciences,homeland security,advanced manufacturing,films and tourism.These are the 6 new pillars of our economy
-She claims we have the most skilled workforce,manufacturing know-how and capacity,natural resources and universities.The best anywhere,2nd to none,it's our competitive advantage
-She also claims to simultaneously have strengthened our core industries

Sounds impressive,doesn't it?It leads one to ask the question-how in the world could you have screwed it up this bad with all of that going for us?The answer is obvious,of course.Her claims are nowhere near reality.For every job she claims she created,3 more evaporated.By the end of her term,she will have a net loss of around one million jobs over 8 years.She is tied to the pathetic MEDC/MEGA,which hands out millions in tax credits yet creates less than 30% of the announced jobs.

The education system?Another disaster.The MEA on top of the NEA has only served their self interests well.The promise scholarships are gone.The high pay and benefits remain without the achievement scores to back it up.Since proposal A was adopted,education has had nothing but increases in funding overall.

Families are leaving our state at the rate of one every 12 minutes.A natural disaster couldn't exceed the exodus rate as people are leaving in droves to escape her utopia.

Strenghtened our core industries?And she said it with a straight face!A claim so ridiculous,it really doesn't deserve comment.Let's just say ask your neighborhood auto worker their opinion.

No plan to overhaul the tax structure.No plan to eliminate the MEDC/MEGA.The two most important agenda items she could address if she were serious about revitalizing our economy.She claims that she has no silver bullet and that the next governor won't have it either.I say you don't need it.No magic required.Only a sound fiscal policy is needed.Reduce tax RATES to the lowest in the nation.Across the board.No more tax credits and incentives.Businesses want to see the long term,low tax rate structure in place.This is the irresistible carrot to get them to come to Michigan and invest for the long-term.Temporary incentives never deliver the results because they are just that,temporary.Eliminate the MEDC/MEGA.Then just sit back and watch the tax coffers fill up.

To many,it's a difficult concept.How can reducing rates increase overall revenue?It's not when you consider what drives business.Profit!That's it.Business is in business to make profit.Period.They will go anywhere on the planet that allows them to make the most profit.That's why we must have the lowest rates anywhere.Growth,expansion,investment,hiring.They all follow.Those businesses also invest locally as do the employees.It becomes a snowball growing bigger and the cycle keeps repeating itself.

The only fly in the ointment is politicians.You can pass a balanced budget like she states,and every state already has this requirement,but if you don't cap the spending it's meaningless.They can all figure out that they merely need to raise taxes to have more money to spend.

So to make the statements she did exemplifying the benefits of our state just makes her look like an incompetent fool.She should have taken the high road and simply put out a press release admitting that our state is in the state of confusion and that she is just going to get out of the way and not ruin it anymore for whoever has to fix it.More to come...

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