Census: Michigan's economic rank falls
Median income declines as home values shrink more than U.S. average.
By nearly every measure, Michigan has lost ground economically compared to the rest of the country, according to census figures released today.
The state lost nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs from 2000 to 2007, according to census figures that paint a portrait of a state that looks far different than it did just a few years ago, when tens of thousands of those workers wouldn't have believed their futures could include a switch from making cars to making sandwiches.
The numbers, released as part of the 2007 American Community Survey, taken annually by 3 million households nationwide, show how quickly the state has transformed. As recently as 2004, Michigan incomes exceeded the national average and its home values, although lower, were rising as well.
The median household income for Michigan slid by more than $7,100 to $47,950 while the national average dipped by just over $1,000 to 50,740. Meanwhile, Michigan homeowners saw more than $4,200 in value slip away while home values nationwide rose by nearly $18,000.
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With statistics like these why shouldn't Michigan either:
A) Secede from the union.
Or
B) Make Granholm pay for her mismanagement out of pocket.
Michigan had been breast fed from the teat of the auto industry for way, way too long.
It made those suckling lazy and unappreciative and those who couldn't get to the teats disgruntled and spiteful.
We have a state society where trying is not rewarded and failure is not to be avoided.
Just look at the auto industry here in Michigan, there virtually was no one here in Michigan who didn't see higher gas prices, performance, reliability and longevity as prime requisites needing attention by the big three and the big three could not break the paradigm of doing it old school even at the cost of their own throats.
But why should they? Failure is rewarded internationally, nationally and locally.
The big three have been lobbying for a financial bail out for quite a while now and why not when everyone is getting a buck from you and I.
How do corporations end up on the dole and those who make the least income pay for it?
The answer is quite easy actually, the U.S. government now serves corporations and not the people it's sworn to represent.
Doubt my words? Prove me wrong.
Well back to Michigan...there are some things we could do locally, painful but the rewards are there.
1) Let the automakers here in Michigan start paying their bills namely taxes.
The auto industry here in Detroit and Dearborn get huge tax breaks for their gracing us with their presence. That needs to stop, they can start paying their bills just like you and I for although the much publicized poor domestic market in the auto industry is still limping, internationally the big three have never seen better profits.
You won't see that on the news they don't WANT you to know, they want that bailout money, you can't get that by telling the world your Asian and European markets are doing bang up business and costs are down because you outsourced everything from the U.S. it's just not good public relations.
2) Require Michigan (preferably all of the U.S. ) companies that choose to outsource to be liable to hire two Michigan citizens for every national they hire over seas. Make it a penalty to outsource, not a reward.
If they are caught and convicted of circumventing this proposed law, jail time.
No plea deals, no parole....jail time, mandatory.
3) Tax those who make higher incomes at a higher margin, don't be greedy you know it's right to help a society the more you benefit from it just ask Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, they give away millions to the great benefit of many people and don't even have to be asked.
4) Force those responsible for repairing and maintaining Michigan roads to actually do their jobs.
If you have ever driven through Michigan at any point it's like going from pavement to a battlefield as soon as you cross the state line.
Why? Because a long time ago the auto industry somehow convinced (ka-ching) those in the state government to allow a higher weight limit in Michigan to allow the automakers to have heavier trucks to ship cars than they could have in the rest of the U.S in order to keep them in Michigan.
What do you get? Roads that last about 45 minutes after opening. Pay off for Michigan residents? Zero.
The OTHER why? Michigan road service and repair sucks ass. This state department needs a total overhaul and held to a pay for performance criteria...in other words they just plain suck at their job.
I have seen road workers for years not even bother to tamp asphalt into potholes (which is a shit repair to begin with.) and then you get asphalt you bought all over your car you also bought performed by workers you paid to not do a good job.
Asphalt poured into a hole is not a repair...cut the concrete and pour new concrete....they can make landing strips at airports out of special concrete that would last one hundred years before cracking from typical car use...lets just pay a lot once and not need repairs for a century, let the guy who is paid $55k a year to shovel asphalt into a hole get a real job.
5) Have the state take over the Detroit school system. No explanation needed here if you live in Michigan but for "normals" in the real world outside of Michigan here goes...
Detroit runs their school system separate but equal from the state....ok stop laughing it's true.
While the rest of the state school system has benefited immeasurably from the state lottery, Detroit being separate is not part of that system because they wanted to run their own house.
The results speak for themselves. No pencils, no toilet paper, no books, massive school closings and one of the lowest graduation rates in the Country....yay Detroit.
Detroit would argue that it is their problem not the states, WRONG, when you churn out unemployable social misfits year after year after year that DOES effect the rest of the state through crime and unemployment so we DO have a say how you run your house.
6) Raise licence fees on hunters coming to Michigan from out state to hunt. Michigan has some of the best natural resources left in the country and we could easily change that into our state economy and away from industry and the auto makers in particular.
Taking care of hundreds of thousands of acres of state forest could employ countless Michigan citizens on a myriad of levels. Look at Yellowstone, Look at Custer..there are park systems that are very successful and we don't have to build much infrastructure to start them.
7) Bring in new business, why is this so hard? Kwami Kilpatrick and Jennifer Granholm were and are both dismal failures are doing this, why?
"Give" a business an empty building to get started here, we have enough of them. Doubt that? Pull out the foreclosure list, empty buildings aren't making any money for banks or the citizens, they are just sitting here like magnets for crime and economic despair.
If you can show a financial plan that ensures you will employ 50 or more people for three years or more you get the building for three years free....free!...businesses will be flocking here.
After three years they get a no bid offer to rent at market price locked for ten years so as the economy grows their rent won't for a decade.
Whats the difference? The buildings are just sitting there empty now not making money for anyone.
8) Get rid of the casinos, they do not employ as many people as they promise and they create little to no economic benefit in their wake.
I could go on but the point being there ARE things that could and should change in order to get us back on track as a state....what are we actually doing?
5) Have the state take over the Detroit school system. No explanation needed here if you live in Michigan but for "normals" in the real world outside of Michigan here goes...
Detroit runs their school system separate but equal from the state....ok stop laughing it's true.
While the rest of the state school system has benefited immeasurably from the state lottery, Detroit being separate is not part of that system because they wanted to run their own house.
The results speak for themselves. No pencils, no toilet paper, no books, massive school closings and one of the lowest graduation rates in the Country....yay Detroit.
Detroit would argue that it is their problem not the states, WRONG, when you churn out unemployable social misfits year after year after year that DOES effect the rest of the state through crime and unemployment so we DO have a say how you run your house.
6) Raise licence fees on hunters coming to Michigan from out state to hunt. Michigan has some of the best natural resources left in the country and we could easily change that into our state economy and away from industry and the auto makers in particular.
Taking care of hundreds of thousands of acres of state forest could employ countless Michigan citizens on a myriad of levels. Look at Yellowstone, Look at Custer..there are park systems that are very successful and we don't have to build much infrastructure to start them.
7) Bring in new business, why is this so hard? Kwami Kilpatrick and Jennifer Granholm were and are both dismal failures are doing this, why?
"Give" a business an empty building to get started here, we have enough of them. Doubt that? Pull out the foreclosure list, empty buildings aren't making any money for banks or the citizens, they are just sitting here like magnets for crime and economic despair.
If you can show a financial plan that ensures you will employ 50 or more people for three years or more you get the building for three years free....free!...businesses will be flocking here.
After three years they get a no bid offer to rent at market price locked for ten years so as the economy grows their rent won't for a decade.
Whats the difference? The buildings are just sitting there empty now not making money for anyone.
8) Get rid of the casinos, they do not employ as many people as they promise and they create little to no economic benefit in their wake.
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I could go on but the point being there ARE things that could and should change in order to get us back on track as a state....what are we actually doing?
Welcome To Detroit
