Where’s the beef? Governor Granholm delivered the final speech of her 2006 campaign during the State of the State. We got 50 minutes of spending increases and 10 minutes of tax increases. It was like the $8 billion red elephant of a state budget was in the living room and all she talked about was the drapes.
The governor said Michigan was at a turning point. The reality is that we are at a tipping point, one that might very well be a point of no return. I was looking to the governor to give it to us straight and unvarnished. Instead, we got bromides and “highfalutin” promises of how great Michigan can be. Some of her ideas are good, I am sure. But the most pressing problem is the economy and fixing the way Michigan provides government service given the realities of a 21 century Michigan that produces less automobiles than does Alabama.
Look, we all knew she was going to say we needed more revenue, which means more taxes paid by us. Her administration has been telegraphing it for months. Her hand-picked emergency financial advisory panel said as much last week. She had to begin making the case for her tax increase tonight and she didn’t do it. It’s going to be a hard sell no matter what, and every missed opportunity to make that case is one she won’t get back. She gave skeptics to her plan to raise taxes no reason to sway their opinions.
February 7, 2007 at 5:13 am
Ah, the first naysayer of the night. That didn’t take long. Cutting taxes for 15 straight years has not worked, so let’s try it again when we face cutting the essential services that actually attract businesses, companies and people to the state. Another brilliant plan by the Senate Republicans. Speaking of Senate Republicans, that was a brilliant rebuttal by Sen. Stiff. It’s hard work, right. What a joke. They have not done anything in the last two years, but now they are actually going to do something – or so they say, including addressing out-of-state-trash.
What a sick joke. The voters are not that stupid.
February 7, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Yes, if pointing out the emperess’ speech had no clothes, then, yes, I will happy take the moniker “naysayer.”
If pointing out that Governor Granholm proposed at least 17 new programs or initiatives that require new spending but didn’t mention how she plans to deal with the nearly billion-dollar hole in the current budget makes me a “naysayer”, then I say, that’s me.
If mentioning that states like Alabama and Georga and Mississippi have economies that are growing like gang busters with the auto jobs that Michigan has lost over the last decade, the last half of which “our governor” has been in office, makes me a “naysayer”, then I say, if not me, who?
An on this point. I guess all those auto companies are moving — have moved — to Alabama, Georgia and Missississippi because of the all essential services those states provide, for the quality of the schools and universities there, and for the highly skilled work force. R-i-g-h-t!
On out-of-state trash, there’s nothing the state — or the Democrats — can do to stop it without violating the interstate commerce clause of the US Constitution. Without federal legislation allowing states the right to regulate out-of-state trash, the only alternative is to raise the cost of dumping in Michigan landfills so high that it would cost less to bury in another state. But that would me Michigan residents would have to pay more, too. Some solution….make the people who aren’t causing the problem pay more to deal with it.
February 7, 2007 at 1:28 pm
I agree with Lunchbucket. The Gov is putting the cart before the horse. I have twin 9 year olds and I want top quality education for them…but first we need an economy to pay for that education to provide jobs to them when they graduate. Water…water is our future. In ten years, all those manufacturers who have left for warmer climes or cheaper labor will be knocking on our door because water is getting scarcer and scarcer west of the Mississippi and south and east of the Ohio. We’d better be prepared.