We Have Met the Enemy

I hate to sound like a scold, but every one us is responsible for the oil spill and the workers who died in the Gulf and in West Virginia’s coal mines. BP and Massey Energy may deserve bankruptcy (and jail time for their executives) but there’s no escaping that they did it for us.

Hydrocarbon production is a dangerous, filthy job. They are only doing it because our great leaders think every American has the right to cheap fuel to power our extravagant lifestyles. Don’t get me wrong, I love my car and my warm house - but this can’t go on forever. We are living at the tail end of the hydrocarbon era and our great grandchildren will unquestionably ask what the heck were we thinking.

If our politicians had any guts, they would start raising the gas tax a penny a month and keep raising it until we stop wasting it. If they could see past the next election they would understand this is the only way to get us out of this mess without destroying the economy.

But they don’t, and will wait until the whole ship sinks before they do something to stop it.

Race to the Top

Remember the Educational Race to the Top adventure from last year? That was the one where the Michigan legislature awoke from its slumber and started to madly legislate with an intensity rarely seen in recent years. And what aroused the sleeping beast? The smell of free money, which means money from Washington that the state desperately needs, but no legislator has the guts to actually vote for in the form of new taxes.

All we needed to get this free money was a massive "school reform", which was cobbled together in a firestorm of activity and then shoved down the collective throat of the school boards and teachers unions. Unfortunately, Lansing was a little late getting started, so when they needed approval from the teachers there was no actual bill yet. Teachers were asked to trust that what they agreed to would actually help the schools. Shockingly, they decided that trusting Lansing hasn't been working for them lately, so they said "no".

No problem, said Lansing. We'll just go ahead without you.

Now that Tennessee and Maryland have won the prize, it comes out that a critical part of their victory was achieving 100% buy-in from the teachers and school districts.

I guess our legislators didn't get to that part of the instructions. Or maybe the thought of easy money caused their eyes to glaze over and they couldn't read the fine print.

So now we have costly "reforms" and no money to pay for them. Nice work boys.

Dear Jared;

Reading your piece in this week's Business Review, I have two comments.

The first is how do you reconcile John Engler's record of endlessly cutting taxes with where Michigan is now? If cutting taxes is the sure path to economic prosperity (as you imply), why did Engler leave the state in such a mess (and no, you can't blame it all on Granholm). My point is that cutting taxes may result in increased business activity - but you have no way of knowing that. If all other states do the same thing, the net gain to any one state could be zero.

Second is that it is easy to demand cost cuts in the abstract, but a lot harder in specifics. If the GRCC thinks the State needs to slim down, where exactly should this happen, and what are the economic consequences of that? The easiest political solution is to take money out of the pockets of state employees (especially teachers). Whether that is a good or bad thing, it unquestionably takes purchasing power out of a large group of Michigan residents. If you make 50,000 residents poorer isn't there a negative impact as well as a positive one? I could argue that the net impact is zero and that you are only transferring purchasing power from one person to another.

If you release more inmates from state prisons (which I would agree with) what happens to the communities where the prisons are shut down? If you cut road spending (which we are about to do in spades to save 16 cents in gas tax) how can you tell me this improves the business climate? If we continue to cut school budgets, why is anyone going to bring their businesses here if they know their kids are going to suffer. Health care? Foster care? Fire and Police? I'm sorry, but there is no low hanging fruit left and if you are going to constantly demand cuts, it is cowardly to not to say where.

Oh, and your comment about how individuals can make their own decisions about how to mitigate higher sales taxes? How exactly does one do that other than purchasing less, and why is that a positive for the state's businesses?

Best regards,

- Snipe

The Gift that is Justin Amash

The more I learn about Justin Amash, the more I think he might be the only candidate that a qualified (i.e. serious) Democrat could actually beat.

Amash is a Libertarian at heart, and it appears that he has drunk the Tea Bagger's cool-aid and is fully on-board with the right-wing fringe of the GOP. On one hand, I think this makes him a strong contender in the GOP primary, where I suspect the baggers will have an outsized influence.

In the general, the key will be to force him to admit, over and over, that he really does think Social Security should be abolished and Medicare should be turned into a means-tested insurance voucher program. Unlike a seasoned politician, Amash may actually get up and say what he believes, instead of burying it in a bunch of poll-tested bullshit.

It will be up to the Democrat to force Amash to throw his support behind Paul Ryan's roadmap to the GOP future and not let him get away from it. Only when voters are viscerally confronted with the insanity of the GOP's platform will they understand how radical it really is.

On the other hand, maybe this is what the majority of Kent County actually wants, in which case Canada is really not that far away.

Lame Ducks

Representative Tom Pearce was recently quoted in the Press saying we shouldn’t expect much from the legislature in an election year – a statement that was remarkable for both its candor and its fecklessness. Since Representative Pearce is term-limited, he can actually tell the truth – something Michigan politicians seem to have trouble with when they think their positions are on the line.

At the same time, Pearce’s statement revealed just how broken our political systems is. If there is any time we should expect results from our representatives, it is in an election year. Even more so, it is at a time when the state’s budgetary and tax systems are in desperate need of a complete overhaul. Instead, it’s business as usual in Lansing.

It should be obvious that term-limits have been a colossal failure in Michigan. Instead of experience and wisdom we have legislators who are either learning their jobs or looking for the next one. However, if there is one saving grace it should be the ability of representatives to use their final term as a chance to get the right things done for Michigan without the fear of partisan reprisals.

With the Governor, one third of the House and entire Senate being evicted in 2010, now is the time for bold action on the tax system. Failure to act will only pass the problem to next year’s trainees, and Michigan will continue its pathetic race to the bottom. Business as usual is no longer a viable option.

Pandering

On Friday, the Press reported that the state was canceling 243 highway construction projects, resulting in the loss of 10,000 jobs and the accelerated deterioration of Michigan’s infrastructure. The reason is that Michigan’s gasoline tax is too low to win Federal matching grants. Because of this, we will forgo $2.1 billion in grants and get back only 50% of the federal taxes we pay at the pump. And how much do we need to raise the tax? Eight cents over two years.

On Saturday, the Press reported that six Republican gubernatorial candidates agreed there should be no increase in the gas tax. During the same event, the candidates droned on and on about how the state must attract new jobs. To which I can only respond: what planet are these people from?

As a small business owner, I know there is very little politicians can actually do to increase private sector jobs in the short term. I will hire more people when I have customers demanding more of my products than I can produce. Period.

What politicians can do is create an environment where people want to live and grow their businesses, which includes decent roads and schools. Pandering to political extremes and the “no new taxes” crowd are part of what got Michigan into this mess, and it has to stop. We need smart governance, not political dogma.

Pandering may get you elected, but it will not make Michigan the great state it deserves to be.

Conservative Activist Judges

For years, conservatives have flogged the theme of “liberal activist judges”. The message is that unelected, liberal judges subvert the will of the people when they overturn laws on constitutional grounds.

The Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn nearly 100 years of precedent and allow corporations unfettered rights to influence political campaigns should put to rest the canard that activist judges are by definition liberal. This stunning decision was promoted by the Court’s most conservative justices, including Chief Justice Roberts.

You may remember how when Roberts was being confirmed he said he was a conservative judge who would respect precedent and favor incremental, narrow rulings over sweeping motions. His actions in the recent case show that he has either a short memory, or simply lied to advance his confirmation. He is a conservative activist judge who ignored precedent and used a case that could have been interpreted narrowly to hand vast powers to the corporations who already hold too much influence in Washington. No one can deny that this was a radical, activist ruling enacted by a staunch conservative.

It should be clear by now that conservatives don’t really care about judicial activism. Judicial activism is only a bad thing if it works against their purposes. The duplicity of this no longer surprises me. What surprises me is how Democrats continue to ignore the obvious and allow for the confirmation of radicals like Roberts.

Dear Mr. President

I am as serious a Democrat as you are likely to find. I am Treasurer of my county Democratic Party. I have run for state office more than once in hopelessly Republican districts. My entire family knocked on doors to help get you elected.

I have never before written to a President but am writing to you now because I am afraid that you are letting everything we achieved run down the sewer of Republican opposition. I did not vote for you so you could be nice to bankers and insurance companies. I did not vote for you to achieve bipartisanship with selfish, ignorant, bigoted Republicans. I voted for you to lead us out of an unbelievable mess, and you are failing.

I cried the night of the election for two reasons. One because I was overjoyed, secondly because I was afraid that it would be all downhill from there. It’s time for you to take off the gloves and prove me wrong.

As Digby just pointed out, the Republicans always need to create something (or someone) for their dense minions to hate. Unfortunately, you have become it, and you have to change the dialog.

Is it Just Me?

Many blogs ago I asked the question: Now that we've won, how do we turn this into good public policy?

On the national level there were a few gimmes at the start: expansion of CHIPS, the Ledbetter equal pay act, Sotomayor, and... (help me out here - there must be more.)

At the Executive level there have clearly been major changes in attitude at places like the Interior Dept, where they will stop giving everything away to the extractors. But at Treasury it's business as usual, which means giving Goldman Sachs everything they want so they can pay their precious bankers and traders $10 fucking billion in bonuses.

At the state level, it's business as usual with more taxes on beer and cigarettes because they are so sinful and Granholm clearly doesn't give a shit for the predominantly poor people who smoke and drink (let alone the awesome Michigan beer industry.) Everything else coming out of her office is nothing but chipping away at budgets with no constituency so she can keep shoveling money out the door to movie makers and any corporation that says it will add a few jobs. The vision thing just ain't there, and if Andy Dillon is the only person making grand statements (about dismantling union negotiated health care agreements no less), we've got problems.

And then we have health care, and the willingness of the Administration (which is supposed to be Our Administration) insisting that there is such a thing as a bipartisan Republican. Is the President that we worked so hard to elect really going to cede decision making to gas bag Senators from rural stares with less population than Grand Rapids? Is he really going to gut health care reform even though it is obvious the not a single Republican Senator is going to vote for it? He can't be that naive and he's clearly not stupid.

Please God tell me this is just a well laid trap where Rahm and Barack will come back from vacation and announce that they have seen enough of the Republican bullshit, and that it is obvious that they have no intention of negotiating, and the the Democrats are going to pass the right bill. If they have to ram it through reconciliation and cause the GOP to wet their pants with indignation, so be it.

Mike Cox and the Big Lie

Not that it's a surprise to anyone, but Michigan AG Mike Cox is running for governor. He's been sucking up to the hard right for years so it's clear which way he's going to lean to try to win the GOP primary.

In a recent Press exclusive Cox leads off his platform with the Big Lie, the conservative meme that refuses to die, the GOP fantasy that cutting taxes will actually increase revenues to the state. This is the so called Supply Side Economics cooked up in the Reagan administration - that has as much to do with economics as my dog's nuts.

Cox the Magician says he will cut state taxes by $2 billion:

Cox insisted that increased revenues stimulated by the tax cuts would help Michigan close a projected 2010 budget deficit of $1.6 billion.

"When you reduce tax rates, revenue going into government actually increases," Cox said.

What planet does this guy live on? Hello Mike, this is 2009! We just tried the Supplied Side crap for eight years with your soul buddy George and, uh, I don't think it worked too damn well. And then there's John Engler - remember him? the guy who cut Michigan taxes 30 or 40 times? That worked really well too, didn't it? Just look at all the economic growth that flooded in after all those tax cuts.

As if that's not enough, Mr. Cox also thinks Michigan needs more Nuclear and coal-fired power plants:

"I think we ought to aim to be the energy capital of America," Cox said. "Nuclear is one way we could be more competitive in the long run. In the long run, that's a way to diversify our economy."

He noted he backs a $2 billion, 800 megawatt Consumers Energy "clean coal" operation in Essexville.

Clean coal? Another big stinking turd dreamed up by our friends in the coal industry. There is no such thing as clean coal, period.

And not to forget the religious right, Cox tops it off with his opposition to gay marriage and civil unions:

"Gay individuals by and large do enjoy the protections that heterosexuals do," he said.

Go for it Mike, wanker extraordinaire that you are.

Green Economy my Ass

In her radio address today, Governor Granholm again touted the miracle of Green Business and how it is going to save Michigan. She conveniently failed to mention that United Solar Ovanics just put its Greenville plant on a two week shutdown and is postponing opening a new plant in Battle Creek until orders pick up.

I have nothing against wind turbines, solar cells, battery powered cars and the rest of it - but these industries are highly competitive, global and cyclical. They're also not all that big. As for the Governor, she did nothing to promote renewable energy for her first five years in office and Michigan fell behind dozens of states in authorizing a Renewable Power Standard - the essential first step to attracting renewable power. And when the RPS was finally voted in, it was part of a sweetheart deal for Consumers and Detroit Edison.

The Green Economy is going to be a real deal but it is not the magic wand that is going to cure Michigan's economic disaster. By focusing everything on this new fad, other businesses struggle, and wonder where's the love for them?

Tell Me Agan who runs the National Association of Manufacturers?

An interesting sign of the times today: Duke Energy quits the NAM because of the organization's opposition to regulating global warming gasses.

The NAM is one of the most powerful business lobbies in Washington and has consistently fought against even accepting global warming, let alone trying to do something about it. Duke is a huge utility and clearly not the kind of company that one would call Progressive. Still, they aren't stupid - and recognize that fixing global warming is as much an opportunity for profits as something to deny and fight.

So who is leading the NAM's rear-guard action? None other than our favorite ex Michigan shithead-in-chief, John Engler.

Silver Line

Well, the Silver Line crashed and burned with the operating millage failing by 52 to 48%. Bill Harris analyzed the vote breakdown by district and it's clear that the supporters just didn't convince voters in Kentwood, Grandville, Walker and Wyoming that this was worth the money.

The Press today had a clear headed editorial that laid the blame on the transit officials for failing to make the case that this investment is worth it for the community. The cost per household is not extravagant ($12 per year on a $150,000 house plus $84 for continuing costs) but people said no.

I have to think part of the problem is that there are vast numbers of people in Grand Rapids who have never ridden pubic transportation in their lives. This sounds ridiculous but I would bet on it. If you haven't lived in an old East Coast city (or Chicago, or anywhere in Europe) pubic transit is something only poor people use - because it generally sucks. Voters just haven't had the experience of living with good public transit and the joy of not having to drive everywhere. I lived in and around New York for years and could go a week without getting in a car - and it was great.

Maybe the Silver Line pitched itself too much towards riders and not enough towards the economic development aspects of the project. It also never made the case to places like Kentwood that are miles away from the where the Division line would run. There was no vision for how the Silver Line would eventually tie into something larger that could actually connect the various cities.

Voters needed to be convinced that this was going to add value to the community beyond those who actually use the service. This message got through to East Grand Rapids but none of the other cities. It's really a shame, because this project would have been something good for the area.

Plutocrats for Change

The Joanne Voorhees story is the perfect summation of how small minded the local GOP can be. Telling Jon Huntsman he's not conservative enough for West Michigan makes me wonder how they can go about their daily lives without constantly being exposed to the dreaded Liberalism

Anyhow, the lightning speed with with the state GOP was able to to get Betsy DeVos to sponsor a substitute soiree for Huntsman shows how plutocrat Republicans can be counted on to stick together. Ms. DeVos is the daughter of billionaire Edgar Prince and the wife of the son of Billionaire Rich DeVos (and don't forget, the sister of Blackwater founder Eric Prince).

Jon Huntsman is the son of Utah Billionaire Jon Huntsman Sr. - so of course he felt right at home with the DeVos's (who hosted him at their own hotel, the ultra-deluxe JR Marriott in Grand Rapids. Ohmigod - the Marriotts are from Utah too! (Probably billionaires).

A splendid time was had by all. Sorry Joanne.

Shut Down the WEMET

The Press has a decent piece of investigative reporting on the front page today that can only lead to one conclusion: The West Michigan Enforcement Team (WEMET) should be disbanded and the officers reassigned.

What does this outfit do? They overwhelmingly go after low level pot dealers by making pathetically small $50 "buys" based on tips and then stage a big bust where they net small quantities of drugs, some cash and sometimes guns. The scorecard for 2008 tells the story:

Marijuana: 639 lbs
Coke: 12.4 lbs
Crack: 44 oz
Heroin: 22 oz
Meth: 6.5 of
Guns: 100

That's it for 25 officers and a half-million $ annual budget. The fact that the most dangerous drug (Meth) is at the bottom of the list shows how lame this effort is. They are busting part-time pot dealers and growers - and ignoring the drug that is brutally addictive, dangerous, toxic and pervasive in rural Michigan. The haul of guns is largely meaningless since you can walk into practically any home in Michigan and find guns (and probably a small amount of pot as well).

If the State Police don't have anything better to do with 25 officers and a half million dollars, they should give the money back. This is a joke.

Fred Barnes Doesn't Get It

This is not specifically a Michigan issue, but then again it is, because health care reform may be the most important legacy the Obama Administration can leave the country (which includes us)

Anyhow, Fred Barnes at the increasingly lame Weekly Standard is calling the GOP to the trenches to defeat "Obamacare". He's feeling good because the GOP has pretty much de-railed EFCA and the Democrats don't seem to have the balls to deal with global warming. The next liberal monster, of course, is health care. So what does old Fred drag out as a reason to continue denying coverage to 40 million Americans: Canada kills celebrities.

I'm not kidding:

It's worth noting how Canadian health care failed to save the life of actress Natasha Richardson after a recent ski accident. The nearby hospital had no scanning equipment or neurosurgeon, and there was no helicopter to fly her to a trauma center. By the time she arrived at one, she was brain dead. Why wasn't proper treatment and equipment at hand? Government had decided not to pay for them.

Oh my god. In Canada, they don't provide helicopters for celebrities who fall down during their ski holidays. So Fred, tell me again about all the helicopters waiting in the U.S. for poor people to get to the hospital. Oh, you mean there aren't any? They're all out in Colorado waiting for celebrities to fall down?

Dear Tom: Your Theories Don't Work

From a recent e-mail from my State Representative Tom Pierce:

What if government leaders looked at the economic crisis differently and reduced the tax on all job providers, making Michigan the most competitive state in our region or even all fifty states? If they did, I believe the State of Michigan would be saying to all job providers interested in starting a new company or growing their business that Michigan welcomes them with open arms. Reducing the tax burden on job providers would enable them to grow and hire additional employees, resulting in greater income tax revenue to the state. It would also generate economic activity in Michigan creating greater revenue from sales tax. A change like this could turn job losses into job growth and reduce the pressure of growing demand on the state's welfare budget. Making Michigan business taxes more competitive across the board would level the playing field for all job providers and would remove government arrogance in picking winners and losers.

Dear Tom;

I think your analysis of the benefits of tax reductions to attract business is deeply flawed and I'd like to see some facts and data that backs it up. John Engler cut taxes for years and all it did was drain the state government of money it needed to provide the services people expect. Engler's policies did not attract new businesses and did next to nothing to stop the major manufacturers from leaving.

I am a small business owner and I can say from experience that state tax rates have absolutely zero impact on my business decisions. The decline in state services ranging from university and K12 budgets to deteriorating infrastructure, dilapidated parks, overwhelmed social service providers are far more important to me - and the only way to pay for them is adequate taxation.

The idea that lower taxes generate economic growth and higher revenue is a pipe dream that has no support in the economic data. It's a belief not a theory. If you can provide impartial data that backs it up, I'd be happy to reconsider.

Best regards,

- Snipe

Guns & Ammo

Since Barak Obama's election, the gun business in the U.S. has been going crazy. As described in a recent article in the Press, applications for concealed weapons permits have doubled in 2009. Ammunition is in short supply because people are buying and hoarding it. An NPR story told about a 69 year old woman buying a case of ammo for her AK-47.

The story being floated by the conservative media is that Obama is going to take away people's guns - so you better arm yourself now. A second meme is that the recession is making the country more dangerous so you'd better start packing before the poor people come after your stuff.

Both of these lines share a hideous fear of the other, particuarly if the other is urban and black. This is scary shit and shows how some hard core conservatives are reacting to the loss of an election. There are way too many crazy people out there - and now they are armed.

GR Press goes 1 for 2

I was impressed that the Press came out with a positive editorial Saturday about the new Medical Marijuana rules. Instead of trashing the decision made by Michigan voters to legalize MM, the Press took the progressive tack of how can you legalize use while procurement is still illegal?

I wrote letters to the Press's Editor and Publisher about the sad and tragic Dave Mayo situation and received well thought out responses that showed they understand the absurdity of the current laws. The idea that a respected journalist and his wife can be looking at serious jail time for growing weed is a clear example of the stupidity that has captured this issue for the last 30 years. The shooting of a Grand Valley State student in his apartment by a Sheriff's posse because maybe he was dealing pot takes the situation to its absurd extreme.

Something has got to change - and people are finally talking about it like rational adults for the first time in decades.

So the Press got one thumbs up but then gave it back on Sunday with a classic West Michigan union-bashing piece of crap editorial about the pending EFCA legislation. The Press ladles out the conservative argument that card check union organizing takes away the precious secret ballot and is therefore no good.

First off, its a lie. There can be a secret ballot if the employees want one. The big change is that it is the workers who get to decide, not the employers. The coercion employed by employers against union organizers over the past 20 years has been rampant and its time to level the playing field. The wretched excess of corporate executives is painfully obvious. We nee more unionization, not less, and the Press has it wrong.

John Cherry for Governor?

Before the entire Democratic Party apparatus gets on board the John Cherry Bandwagon, I'd like someone to explain why is he going to be any better than Governor Granholm.

This has nothing to do with whether he is the person most able to get elected. We got Granholm elected twice and at this point I would have rather have seen what Dick DeVos could have done. Granholm has been wrong on education, wrong on energy policy, ineffective in economic development and gutless in prison reform. Our state as gotten worse, not better, under her leadership.

I understand this is impolitic, but I no longer care if the best person is a Republican or a Democrat. I care who will make this state a better place to live for the most people, and a lousy Democrat is not necessarily better than a good Republican.

So what does John Cherry stand for? What is he going to do to dig Michigan out of this mess and how complicit has he been in Granholm's failures? If he has done nothing as the Lieutenant Governor he can only be criticized for being a typically boring person in a typically useless position. I suppose this is better than being an active participant - but says nothing about what he will do once woken from his LG stupor.

I have seen nothing yet that explains who he is and what he stands for. OK, he's a Democrat. Now tell me something useful.