Well…there has been a new theme that has surfaced in the repub talking points here in Michigan that is audacious to say the least, or just another incidence of the repubs taking credit for the recovery that they had no hand in. You decide. This latest theme or story, tries to tell the narrative that it is only the repub policies of cutting taxes for business, and raising them for everyone else that is responsible for the nascent recovery here in Michigan and that we should continue these policies or we will fall back into recession. I can’t even name how many ways this is wrong, but I’ll give a couple a try. First, it’s never been proven and it has never been documented that one job was ever created by tax cuts for business….especially in an environment where corporate cash on hand and profits are at the highest level in history…so, they won’t invest with a billion dollars on hand but they will if they have 1.25 billion on hand? the whole story is demand, demand, demand….and if middle class wages continue to fall, demand will fall along with it. Second, most of the job growth here in Michigan has been in and related to the recovery of the auto industry that the repubs vehemently opposed and still do….so now, they take credit that their policies resulted in this recovery? Just another instance where the repubs will do or say anything; counting on the electorate to have no memory at all of history or the truth. I guess it’s up to me to remind people….geez…
Tag Archives: Michigan
More Republican nonsense here in Michigan…
Well….I’ve started to feel a little better so I thought I’d get at one that I have been thinking about for a few days…since the takeover of our government by the repubs here, the preponderance of laws that have been enacted by the legislature have been for immediate effect, which takes a 2/3 majority in the House…but, the repubs that are running things aren’t even taking the votes, they are just assuming that they have the votes for immediate effect but they don’t…the counts done by many news organizations along with the dem minority show that, in over 90% of the cases, they didn’t have the votes but put the laws in effect anyway. Now, lawsuits filed by the dems are being considered by the appeals courts here and the repubs are howling that it is activist judges that are usurping their authority. Authority for what, to break the law? The Michigan Constitution is clear on this point and the repubs are violating the constitution….but, what do you expect? These guys wrap themselves in the constitution until it becomes inconvenient and puts a brake on their radical, right-wing agenda…what happened to true conservatives that put tradition and the rule of law ahead of party and personal gain? This is what we have to look forward to if the repubs take the White House….geez….
More shenanigans by Michigan Republicans…
Well…it must be nice for the relatives of the Michigan republicans these days when they can lose money, get sued, and then get a law passed that wipes out 2.4 million dollars in debt. If you haven’t heard, that is just what happened last week when Snyder signed into law a bill that relieved the brother of the house repub chair here, Bobby Schostak, of the 2.4 million dollar loss that the appeals court said he owed on a failed property in Traverse City. The gist of the story is that the Schostaks are wealthy developers here, and the younger Schostak signed a contract that said he would be personally responsible for losses on this property…when the economy tanked, he walked away from the property that was worth 2.4 million less than he owed on it, the bank sued, and all of the courts here said he owed the money. So, what does a connected republican do here in Michigan? As always, they change the rules and use crony capitalism to pass this law that retroactively immunizes the leader’s brother from the loss…wouldn’t you like to be able to do that with the house you are upside down on? It is a breach of the public trust for the repubs to cheat the system for personal gain…but, what else should you expect from these guys? After all they are the ones who raised taxes on workers so they could hand a 2 billion dollar tax cuts to the corporations that bought them the election….and it just goes on and on…geez….
One last thing…the bill was written by the Schostak brothers attorney…..
Organized labor wakes up…
Well…I was really surprised and interested reading the latest developments in the war on labor being perpetrated by the repubs here in Michigan…and while I do applaud Gov. Snyder’s telegraphing to his repub cohorts that he doesn’t want a right to work law to get to his desk…I have no faith that he will veto the bill if it does get there…in fact, he was asked if he would and he ignored the question. So, when I heard that there is a coalition of labor organizations that is putting together a petition drive to change the state constitution ensuring that no party can take the rights of labor away, I was heartened somewhat but saddened as well that we that oppose restriction of the rights of you and me to bargain with our employers had to resort to the nuclear option. One of the things that I find troubling with this entire issue is the fact that the repubs are leading a race to the bottom for workers that will only benefit the rich…if wages drop in right to work states, where does the profit go that used to go to middle class wages? Straight to the top 1% in the form of bonuses that will further decrease purchasing power that used to drive the economy…this increased concentration is what has caused this recovery to be so weak since middle class wages and consumption are more than 70% of economic activity. I ask the same question of the rich that I always ask in this situation: “how much is enough?”…geez…
Should comment a little on Michigan…
Well…with the passing of the repub primary yesterday, I thought I should comment a little on the event since I live here…first thing I want to say is “what were they thinking?” when both of the candidates bashed the auto bailouts and unions as they crossed the state…are they trying to lose the general election? One of the things that I think the repubs have lost sight of is the fact that the people in Michigan (even republicans) liked the auto bailouts and the hundreds of thousands of jobs they saved and the repubs slide to the right to unbridled and unregulated capitalism is not going to play well in the general…and ole Rick’s anti womens rights screeds and his lying attack on Obama for being a “snob” backfired to ensure his loss. Now, he is trying to soften his stand as the pope in chief and moralizer but, while it may work with the tiny sliver of the repub party that votes in the primary, it has caused the repub establishment to basically write off Michigan for the general election since even Romney has been dragged so far to the right that he won’t be able to repair the damage if he wins the nomination. But, let’s not cheer too much right now…as much as I love to see these idiots pummel each other, I never underestimate the ignorance of the electorate as evidenced by all of the lower middle class folks voting against their own economic self interest in the last election and putting the repubs in charge of the House…where did that get you? Where are the jobs plans and the plans to get the income of the workers growing again? Nowhere, since the repubs in control always revert back to the culture war when they are in power since they don’t even believe that there is anything that can or should be done by government to help the economy grow…geez…
It’s all about what vision you want for America..
Well….it has been almost two years since the repubs did well in the 2010 elections and we now have a very clear view of what this country will be like if they win again in 2012. All we have to do is look to Wisconsin, where the public unions gave back everything they were asked for in cuts to wages and benefits but the repubs had to take more and push their fringe agenda of stripping the unions and the middle class people in them of their right to associate and bargain from a position of equality. Next we can look to Pennsylvania where the legislature just approved the fundamental human right of gays to marry but the tea party governor Chris Christie vetoed the bill and is now, by his own action and governing for only the 20% of the electorate that are tea partiers, trying to change the rules like the repubs always do to get his way. Then we have the debacle in Virginia that I talked about last week that would mandate an invasive and unnecessary procedure for any woman seeking an abortion there. Right here at home in Michigan, we have the Attorney General picking and choosing which laws to enforce or ignore that will drive his personal agenda to eliminate the voter approved use of medical marijuana…..these are just a few examples of what an America run by the right would look like….crony capitalism on steroids where the rights of the people are taken away on the whim of the moralists who think they know best for all of us…geez…
Are the republicans stupid or just brain dead?
Well…I have bee struggling with the question in the title since yesterday when I saw a segment on Keith’s show that described how repubs in Virgina are attacking a woman’s right to choose by legislating that before she can choose, she must underego an invasive procedure (which I won’t describe here but you can imagine) forced on her by the government. Where are the small government repubs now? When more of than 50% of the electorate are women, you would think that the repubs would put aside their war on women just for their own political survival, never mind that this is just a huge abrogation of womens civil rights and takes us back to the bad old days when men essentially owned women. How would these guys feel if the government told them they had to have an invasive prostate exam to get the rest of their healthcare? You can bet that law would be gone in a minute.
Then…we have the idiot Mitt here in West Michigan yesterday telling a hand picked crowd that he will fight against unions and destroy them if he is elected…I don’t even know what to say about that other than bye, bye, Mitt…it’s the last mistake you’re going to make…especially when over 70% of the people in the US want unions to remain as protection against unbridled business. Geez…
See what I mean about stupid?
Maybe I was wrong about Snyder…
Well…as you know, I have taken the governor here in Michigan to task on many occasions just for the fact that he screwed the middle class and retirees here with tax cuts for business while raising taxes on everyone else…and I still feel that this is wrongheaded since tax cuts for business as a means to spur job growth has never worked anywhere it has been tried….that said, I will give him his due for statements this week that tries to put a damper on the repub controlled legislatures headlong rush to attack organized labor by making Michigan a right to work state…I think he got it just right when he said that taking up this issue will end any other legislative work for the year and that Michigan can’t afford that….less than a ringing endorsement of labor but at least he seems to understand that, at least in this instance, that ideology has no place in trying to get the state moving again…so, I will applaud this stance while reserving the right to criticize when the situation merits it….
More GOP nonsense…here in Michigan…
Well…I was going to comment on the doubling down of the repubs on their nonsensical tax plans, or their hatred of gays, or anyone else that is not like them….but, for some reason, the bike ride emptied my brain of all of the thoughts that I had in there…and lately, the thoughts have been thin to say the least. Okay, going back to the papers to look for the topics that were there….there is one that I wanted to tackle is the whole transfer the tax burden from the rich and corporations to individual workers and retirees. First, there was the lie of the direness of the financial state of Michigan…we were told that without the corporate tax cuts and increases on individuals along with benefit cuts, that Michigan would have an unsustainable deficit that would stretch into the forseeable future…but, let’s take a look at what really happened…magically there is a billion dollar surplus in the state’s coffers at the end of the year…before any of Snyder’s tax changes took place and it looks like Snyder and his cronies were lying again to reward their corporate masters with 1.7 billion dollars in tax cuts. How much longer do we sit here and allow the looting of our state by these thieves? Geez…
The republicans are at it again here in Michigan…
Well….if you didn’t know it, the culture wars are alive and well here in Michigan with the passage of a couple of bills that were proposed here by the repub controlled legislature….the latest nonsense comes from the supposedly business friendly Snyder and his team who are now targeting private businesses, making it illegal to offer health benefits to non married partners and same sex couples. Why are these idiots still fighting this culture war when even businesses and their owners don’t see this as a problem? It’s just another example that the Michigan Taliban (aka the republicans) are all for freedom and individual choice when it is for someone they agree with but will use the full force of their government position to punish those they don’t. How is this making Michigan more competitive? How is this creating jobs? If governor Snyder is serious about making Michigan more competitive, he should veto these bills…geez….