[magellan]

Fight brews over possibility of state windfall | Michigan Radio

I don't remember MI having budget surpluses in over a decade. What to do with that money?

[Retroit]

Use it to pay off some of the $1.3 Billion debt.

Let see I have $1300 credit card debt but I just found $258 in my sock drawer. I guess that means I can go to the casino tonight.

[snoshoewalkr]

"Let see I have $1300 credit card debt but I just found $258 in my sock drawer. I guess that means I can go to the casino tonight."


The sad thing is, lots of people would see that as the logical thing to do...

[canudigit]

Umm...well, they could try giving it back to those of us who earned it. Even if each person's share was just enough for a tank of gas, that would be something.

Hey, why not? If they are that poor at managing their money that they didn't even know how much they had, why not let it be used to benefit the hard working people of Michigan who are forced to hand our tax money over to them to manage? We should get some kind of compensation, dontcha think?

[malamute]

Wow. What a turn-around!

[Mook1244]

Take that surplus and pay down the debt! And do the same next year, and the year after that, and the year after that...until one day you wake up and your debt is gone and you start to have surplus. Good things will start to happen when the state is debt free..business will come back and with that jobs. Then you have to be vigilant of the tax and spend crowd...they will come running as soon as they hear you have money!

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Retroit

Use it to pay off some of the $1.3 Billion debt.

Let see I have $1300 credit card debt but I just found $258 in my sock drawer. I guess that means I can go to the casino tonight.

All State governments carry some kind of debt. It's more like a mortgage than it is a credit card. Some is short term and has to be repaid in the fiscal year it was borrowed, or some of it is long term (bonds) that are repaid to the bondholders over an extended period of time. Major infrastructure projects are almost always done using bonds, as most municipalities don't have piles of cash lying around.

Michigan's current debt load puts it in the top 20 best States for fiscal management, which is not that bad considering how our economy has been gutted over the last decade.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by canudigit

Umm...well, they could try giving it back to those of us who earned it. Even if each person's share was just enough for a tank of gas, that would be something.

Hey, why not? If they are that poor at managing their money that they didn't even know how much they had, why not let it be used to benefit the hard working people of Michigan who are forced to hand our tax money over to them to manage? We should get some kind of compensation, dontcha think?

They still don't "have" the money. Revenue for the upcoming year is based on estimates, as the State just doesn't know how much revenue it'll take in until they get it (companies have good years and end up paying more taxes at the end of the year, or individuals make more money which increases your income tax revenue at the end of the year).

This is an interesting budget summary (seems to be non-partisan) that I found on the Michigan.gov website, by Snyder's office:

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/sn...1_344193_7.pdf

There are a lot of State income tax credits/exemptions they are planning to take away this year, which might hurt a lot of people who are struggling already. Maybe they should rethink taking those away?

[YoungTraveler2011]

we can start by demolishing all abandoned houses/buildings in detroit.

[313Weather]

The LOGICAL thing to do with this money would be to put it towards a jobs program for the people getting booted of welfare in the worst economy since the 1930s.

But that's wishful thinking, it'll never happen.