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I have seen in many southern states that the mexicans are taking over the work little by little. How long before michigan looses it work to mexicans. Just what the state needs is to loose more work and people.
Here's what I hate about Michigan, I don't get to live there because I had to move to Tucson (aka hell) for a job. No place has more natural beauty or better people or a better climate than Michigan. Our problem is that businesses were ALLOWED to bail out on the people of this state and the people that allowed that to happen is our federal government.
Going back to at least Reagan and probably before that they've allowed businesses to run the country and ship all the jobs they want overseas while they continuously get tax cuts and incentives to build in a certain area. Businesses should serve people, not vice versa. The economy works against everything tearing families apart because they have to move across country for work, supressing wages and forcing people to work odd hours so businesses can turn a bigger profit, and all the while families never see each other or live in poverty. We need a federal government that requires manufacturing businesses to do a certain amount of manufacturing in the country. If they want to do business in America then they need to serve the people not the other way around.
We live in the greatest country in the world and we are capable of so much more and we are capable of being self sustaining (once we can be less oil dependent) but we need to rethink our free market let businesses run the show policy.
I'm sorry for the tangent. I love Michigan and would give anything to live and work there, but I was forced away and I personally believe that the job market problems are caused by something much bigger than the state itself.
The national dynamics are only made worse by the resist-all-change mentality in Detroit and Lansing.
It's a perfect storm that exiles families to Tucson.
Well yeah that can be a problem, but how much of that change is positive or negative. I personally think Michigan was a shining example of how working families should be treated and a great way of ensuring class mobility by giving working class families good wages, AND the rich executives still were able to have their vacation houses in Northern Michigan they just might not have been quite as big. This was undermined by "competition" with other states and other countries where children could be forced to work 12 hour days.
The downfall of the big three (and arguably Michigan being dragged down with them) was the failure of executives and upper managerial people. They gave lucrative contracts to unions and failed to save adequately for the retirement of the workforce. Then it was compounded by their riding the "bigger is better" SUV craze and not diversifying their fleet by adding smaller efficient cars, their lack of preparedness was passed down to the workers.
Toyota pays its workers near the same amount as the UAW gets for its workers (without a union and treating workers fairly *gasp* I don't think the big 3 could ever do that) All the UAW has done in the past few years is make concessions, now the people at the top need to finally start doing their jobs with more sellable cars and better quality control.
All the union has done is prevent its workers from being exploited by people at the top with too much money, and it should resist that sort of change, we don't need to regress back to the 1890s.
Why is it that whenever anyone wants change in MI they always expect it out of the unions?
I hate the fools who got out of high school and thought "I don't need to get more education, I can just work for GM like my Dad and Grandad did". Now those same people are whining because they can't find a good job for the money they used to get and are angry they can't afford all their expensive toys anymore. Oh, and they blame it on everyone but themselves.
I hate whiners and complainers who blame the UAW and unions in general for the shrinking market share and downsizing of the (formerly) Big 3. Shop rats don't design and market the cars, they don't make broad policy decisions (mileage? who cares about mileage? etc.) for Ford or GM, they just build the best cars they can with the tools they're given. Management, especially at the top, is why the auto companies are in decline. The domestic makers had over 70% of the market in the mid-90s, now they are around 50% and still losing ground. Is that a UAW workers fault?
I hate the "our taxes are going up and up" types who don't cite real facts and who apparently don't know the MI income tax rate (even with the new increase) is lower than it was 20 years ago. If you use truely non-biased figures (from the US Census Bureau) Michigan ranks 26th in state and local taxes as a % of total personal income. Not as good as I'd like, but far from the gross exaggerations I hear spewed hereabouts.
I hate the "Granholm is the Anti-Christ" nonsense that characterizes far too much of what should be a discussion about Michigans problems and challenges. In 2000 under the 3 term Republican Engler Michigan had over 61,000 employees....in 2006, after one Granholm term, Michigan had around 52,000. This looks like something she should be given at least some credit for, but you won't hear that from the "Granhole" creeps. The fact is, she inherited a huge deficit from Engler,who looted funds from every which-where to get his last budget balanced and left it to someone else to clean up.
I hate the "I hate Michigan, can't wait to leave" people....what's stopping you, folks?? And don't let the door his you in the wazoo on the way out.
I hate the term-limited Legislature. Term limits probably seemed like a good idea to the throw-the-bums-out people, but the real impact is that everyone there is looking for their next job and the relationships needed for common-sense compromise and deal making don't have time to develop. A part time Legislature with no term limits makes a lot more sense. Same for the Governor. Once he or she is elected for a second term it's instant lame-duck time, and the Gov. has little arm-twisting leverage on anybody. People pay more attention to a Governor that they know they'll have to deal with down the line. That's why it's LAME duck, and why Lansing is taking for-fricking-ever to get a budget deal DONE.
I hate posts that go on too long...so that's all.
I hate the fools who got out of high school and thought "I don't need to get more education, I can just work for GM like my Dad and Grandad did". Now those same people are whining because they can't find a good job for the money they used to get and are angry they can't afford all their expensive toys anymore. Oh, and they blame it on everyone but themselves.
I hate whiners and complainers who blame the UAW and unions in general for the shrinking market share and downsizing of the (formerly) Big 3. Shop rats don't design and market the cars, they don't make broad policy decisions (mileage? who cares about mileage? etc.) for Ford or GM, they just build the best cars they can with the tools they're given. Management, especially at the top, is why the auto companies are in decline. The domestic makers had over 70% of the market in the mid-90s, now they are around 50% and still losing ground. Is that a UAW workers fault?
I hate the "our taxes are going up and up" types who don't cite real facts and who apparently don't know the MI income tax rate (even with the new increase) is lower than it was 20 years ago. If you use truely non-biased figures (from the US Census Bureau) Michigan ranks 26th in state and local taxes as a % of total personal income. Not as good as I'd like, but far from the gross exaggerations I hear spewed hereabouts.
I hate the "Granholm is the Anti-Christ" nonsense that characterizes far too much of what should be a discussion about Michigans problems and challenges. In 2000 under the 3 term Republican Engler Michigan had over 61,000 employees....in 2006, after one Granholm term, Michigan had around 52,000. This looks like something she should be given at least some credit for, but you won't hear that from the "Granhole" creeps. The fact is, she inherited a huge deficit from Engler,who looted funds from every which-where to get his last budget balanced and left it to someone else to clean up.
I hate the "I hate Michigan, can't wait to leave" people....what's stopping you, folks?? And don't let the door his you in the wazoo on the way out.
I hate the term-limited Legislature. Term limits probably seemed like a good idea to the throw-the-bums-out people, but the real impact is that everyone there is looking for their next job and the relationships needed for common-sense compromise and deal making don't have time to develop. A part time Legislature with no term limits makes a lot more sense. Same for the Governor. Once he or she is elected for a second term it's instant lame-duck time, and the Gov. has little arm-twisting leverage on anybody. People pay more attention to a Governor that they know they'll have to deal with down the line. That's why it's LAME duck, and why Lansing is taking for-fricking-ever to get a budget deal DONE.
I hate posts that go on too long...so that's all.
Wow,and again the protection of idiot politic's in one form or another,again the political brainwashing machine work's.It does not matter,either side,Stop looking for excuses to protect their ideologies.All sides are at fault,there is no one side better than the other,they are all in bed together,using all the people,keeping them divided.There is strength in number's,ever heard that?
Wow,and again the protection of idiot politic's in one form or another,again the political brainwashing machine work's.It does not matter,either side,Stop looking for excuses to protect their ideologies.All sides are at fault,there is no one side better than the other,they are all in bed together,using all the people,keeping them divided.There is strength in number's,ever heard that?
If you think politics in one form or another is going away, you're dreaming. And what's the point of "oh, they're all evil" attitude? Is the populace going to rise up and change things? Dreaming again.
There IS strength in numbers...but if you examine the last statewide election you'll see that just over 3.8 million (53%) voters bothered to vote. And this is a RECORD turnout for a non-presidential election. With all the challenges facing this state, with so much at stake, two very different choices for Governor, a bit over HALF of eligible voters bothered to participate.
Strength in numbers? Sure...but nearly half the "numbers" couldn't be bothered to vote for local, regional and state offices. So....you expect "the people" are going to all of a sudden start marching in one direction and change things? I wish...but I know better.
Politics can be disgusting.....on either side. I'm major peeved at both parties (and the Governor) about the ridiculous budget fiasco. But short of a Michigan Dictator, who presumably could make the trains run on time, politics is what we've got.
Maybe I'm too dense (poor 'lil politically brainwashed me!) to read between the lines of your post. Got any concrete suggestions for change? Let's see the agenda. Thanks in advance for your sage advice.
I hate all of the sprawl in many of Michigan's cities. I also hate not having mass transit options in most of the state. I have the drive up 75 from Toledo to the Detroit sprawl. I also hate 75 all the way up until I get past the thumb area. I hate the mentality of suburbanites who don't support inner cities and run from them.
I have to say economy, economy, economy...I was born and raised in michigan, I love the lakes and the autumn...back in 79 my daddy had moved us to California because the economy was so bad...shortly there after we moved back to Michigan and daddy went back to Cali to work. Back in 2001 I lost a good job in the automotive sector, UAW, U aint workin! 2 years later I lost my farm and ended up back in California working. I was not the only one who lost my job,nor my home respectfully. I would never move back...
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More whining....gee, that's helpful!
