foolmenot.com2006 DEM plan for Michigan? Here’s what I think- Detroit Free Press columnist, Ron Dzwonkowski, (article follows) in quoting Jennifer Granholm says she is going to change the face of Michigan… This is a great article by Ron. For me it finally clarifies the 2006 Granholm election strategy. Ever since she’s been touting this new strategy of providing education to future engineer types that will save Michigan, I’ve been thinking- but who will they work for? What are they going to engineer? Well, now I have some answers. Stick with me; I will explain it all to you.
First, you’ve got to put your self in the governor’s shoes, so to speak… 2006 is when she gets re-elected or, as Tim Skubick would say, it could be when she gets the boot! She knows she hasn’t done anything yet that could stop a political challenge from someone with a successful corporate background; someone who could point to job creation and actual success in the market place. She knows Michigan is remaining stagnant while national job creation grows (numbers driven by states other than Michigan). What to do…. What to do…
She knows that economics is cyclical; there are good years and bad years. Economic forecasts for 2005 had the U.S. looking good; tax reductions, etc., would create jobs and generally be good for business… It happened, except in Michigan. She also knows that economic forecasts for 2006 don’t look quite as well, and with the current trend of Michigan coming in behind other states anyway, she has no notion that things will get any better for the state.
Now here’s her shining light at the end of this tunnel- The Governor has also read that economic trends will start an upswing going into 2007. Perfect, she doesn’t have to do anything in 2006 but give voters the impression she is setting the groundwork so that Michigan will be heaven-in-07! Perception is Reality; Reality is Perception!
The next piece of the puzzle- The Governor is thinking; how can I create an impression large enough to do the trick? Thinking, thinking; ah-ha… There’s this 1 billion dollars from a state investment fund (code for money belonging to taxpayers) lying around that needs a home, she thinks. (Well, it may not be her thinking this stuff up, it has to be some folks who have learned from somewhere else)… Anyway, the state has this 1 billion bucks. So, they take the 1 billion bucks and buy all kinds of good feelings with it. First they create all these “tunnels with lights at the end”, almost a thousand of them, I’m thinking. Anyway, the tunnels represent a whole bunch of stuff that focuses on “alternative fuel”- the darling of the media, the saving grace of the world as we know it… Don’t get me wrong here folks, I too think that alternative energy will one-day provide an answer to many of our problems. In fact, let me stop for a moment and share with you just how supportive of “alternative energy” I am.
Some years ago I invested in alternative energy stocks. Although most of these companies are still around, for the most part their stock prices are in the $2 range. When I was buying, I paid a share price around $10. Political rhetoric at the time was high on alternative energy, as today; folks like the NY Times touted alternative energy stocks as a great investment. I smiled as some stocks climbed above $20… Oh boy, oh boy! Then, boom… As the intellectuals suddenly tuned in realistically, the stocks plummeted; I didn’t sell in time!
Today, “Big Oil” hate mongers again tout alternative energy but stock prices remain low. Now, don’t get me wrong regarding “Big Oil”, I too think they are a bunch of crooks and that they gouged the hell out of us with gas prices; and still do. But in fact, stocks representing “big oil” continue to rise… For me, I believe the phrase “alternative energy” is being misused to achieve political ends; and I think that is also the plan of this governor.
Now on to the next piece of the puzzle- They have a focus, “alternative energy”; this should net her some votes. The next step is to present a grandiose plan representing to the [paying] public, that there is a huge need for engineers and the like, and with the 1 billion bucks of tax payer money, she will provide a free education for thousands of individuals who want to engineer something. That alone should get us through the election cycle of 2006… From there on; whatever!
That’s it folks. It’s that simple. The DEMs figure they can get their candidate (Jennifer Granholm) re-elected in 2006 by waving the flag of Alternative Energy and buying votes; , and it won’t cost the party a nickel. It can all be paid for by using 1 billion dollars of Michigan tax payer money. It’s a great plan! And who knows, maybe all those lights at the end of all those tunnels will not be trains!
Full story follows...
December 9, 2005
LANSING -- As the daily headlines blare the latest woes of the auto industry, you keep wondering if Michigan is finally going to disprove the cliché about a light at the end of the tunnel and just hit a wall.
Then you spend 30 minutes with Gov. Jennifer Granholm and you find out that we will avoid the crash by jumping onto a number of smaller tracks, auto-related and otherwise, but, importantly, each with a bright light at the end.
Trouble is, there's some pretty rough travel immediately ahead, before we hit the switches, and some changes we have to be willing to make to get on the right tracks. "It is critical that people understand that we do need to reshape the economy," Granholm said Wednesday.
"We've said this before but we haven't done it, because we've been in a cycle before, and once we started selling SUVs at a clip, people forgot about it and they went on their merry way and assumed that we were going to be fine."
Well, we're not. Anyone who thinks otherwise is in serious denial. Michigan's century-old economic foundation, the auto industry, is in a tectonic shift with Detroit at the epicenter. There's no way to escape damage. A pretty darned good way of life is shrinking before our eyes.
If you sit where Granholm does, you have to see opportunity arising from crisis -- a chance born from dire necessity -- to broaden the base of the state's economy and lessen its vulnerability. After all, leaders aren't supposed to sit around wringing their hands. That's for columnists.
But navigating 10 million people through fundamental change is, as Machiavelli observed, politically perilous: "There is nothing more difficult to take in hand ... or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things," he wrote back in the 16th Century. And the venerable Niccolo wasn't even up for re-election at the time.
The governor would never disavow the auto industry or even blame it for Michigan's troubles. It's been too good to us for too long, and "we can't run from it," she said. Besides, with a potential new car owner born in North America every 12 seconds, "the car as a product is not going to go away."
But in the speech she will deliver Tuesday to the Detroit Economic Club, look for the governor to describe Michigan moving from a center of auto assembly -- Ontario already tops our vehicle output – to the undisputed global center for automotive research, design and technology. With an earnest lean forward, she ticks off all the lab-coat jobs of tomorrow in auto-related fields and speaks of her "passion" for making Michigan the world leader in developing alternative fuels.
Newly available to help make all this happen is more than $1 billion in a state investment fund. If used wisely, for ventures that leverage the intellectual resources of the state's universities and promise job creation in Michigan, the fund should make a difference. So could the emphasis on more rigid high school graduation requirements and the state's stress on higher education, including vocational-technical training, as an economic necessity.
"Every single OEM is saying, 'You've got to increase your number of engineers.' They desperately want us to expand that pipeline of intellectual talent for the 21st-Century vehicles," Granholm said.
Long-term, all of this makes sense and most of it is overdue and none of it was done before because, as Granholm says, the auto industry always came back and it wasn't necessary. Now, perhaps, stuck between a bumper and a barricade, Michigan will, finally, change -- unless the disruptive process of doing so causes a populist implosion.
That's where leadership is going to be needed, and more and better than has been shown to date. Our congressional delegation can't get anyone's attention in Washington and our Lansing officials have been too consumed by their own political agendas to come together for the common good. I am put in mind of the crew fighting for the helm of the Titanic -- after it's hit the iceberg.
There's no sugarcoating what the next 12 months or so have in store. But folks also need to know that in Michigan there will be life after the assembly line. It will be different, but it doesn't have to be worse.
"I'm thinking about this 24-7, this issue of what the next Michigan is and what it looks like," the governor said. "It's important that people understand there is a plan to get us from A to Z."
The coming months should determine whether we have the leadership -- public and private -- to manage the trip.