foolmenot.comOK! Which is it? Governor Granholm says she is doing everything to get business to come to/stay in Michigan, while business associations such as the Chamber of Commerce say the reason they are not is;
“Because ergonomic standards that depart from U.S. standards kill jobs; taxation on Michigan business that differs from U.S. standards kills jobs; minimum wages that differ from the U.S. standards kills jobs”.
Is there a common sense approach that will resolve these differing positions whereby one side or the other is declared “winner”? Never!
However, the above quote provides a good mechanism that can get you going down that road. The quote identifies specifics that can be verified. However, since politics is about power, and power is about votes and not necessarily truth, the final arbiter is the voting public, not a truth detector.
So, as it goes; the specifics in the quote will, or should, be verified by the Republican candidate. Proven to be accurate, the Republican candidate will use the information to sway fence-sitter types and to maximize votes from their own base. The kind of information in this quote will do nothing to gain Democratic cross-over votes; Why? If you are an avid political observer, you already know the answer. If you are not, ask someone you know who will absolutely vote for Governor Granholm; do not pay attention to their answer, but instead pay attention to their [non-answer]!
Full article follows…
Detroit Free Press
February 16, 2006
How ironic that the same week Gov. Jennifer Granholm vetoed legislation that would have helped small business job providers, officials from Wyoming hosted a job fair in our state's capital to woo displaced Michigan workers. The hundreds of thousands of former manufacturing workers willing to pack up and move across country for other sector jobs are victims of our current administration's inability to see what Bob Dylan saw clearly, "The times they are a-changin'."
Of the 123,000 auto manufacturing jobs Detroit lost in the past decade, 100,000 have sprouted in the South. We also are losing jobs to Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. Why? Because ergonomic standards that depart from U.S. standards kill jobs; taxation on Michigan business that differs from U.S. standards kills jobs; minimum wages that differ from the U.S. standards kills jobs.
Businesses need an environment where they can grow, or they will simply go -- and workers will follow.
The governor criticizes President George W. Bush for not standing up for manufacturing jobs, but those jobs are moving to Tennessee and Kentucky -- not China -- because Michigan's taxes are too high, Michigan's business regulations are too burdensome. and Michigan's business incentives are reserved for a select few.
By vetoing legislation that would have provided tax relief to small business job providers, prohibited additional unnecessary ergonomic regulations and deposited excess revenue into Michigan's budget stabilization fund, the governor is pushing more businesses, jobs and people out the door.
-- Charles Owen, Michigan director, National Federation of Independent Business, and Tricia Kinley, director, Tax Policy & Economic Development, Michigan Chamber of Commerce