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This is what a survey of business leaders in five states said about Governor Granholm’s $1 billion (tax money) vote-getting fiasco.  

“trying to build a technology and science economy without first constructing a solid tax and education foundation is folly.”  

I told you previously that this was a mere vote-getting scam. Why else would Granholm ignore such findings? Oh; because she didn’t bother to survey business leaders, you say?  

Hmmm; do you think maybe she did conduct a survey but ignored the findings? Hmmm; do you suppose she actually didn’t conduct a survey, even though anyone else would have? Hmmm; do you suppose she delegated getting the survey conducted to someone she appointed from Detroit (Kilpatrick pay-back), and they forgot to do it? 

No matter how you look at it; from a bad business decision not to conduct a survey of people who would actually be responsible for making the decision to come to Michigan, to just plain old vote-buying, it’s all the same- Granholm is not a leader; she is however, a politician who does not have a plan.  

The politics of running state government is not just addressing the needs of the people, it’s doing it with a business sense. Jennifer Granholm does not cut the mustard! 

Full article follows… 

Detroit News

High taxes and low skills dim state's high-tech dream

WMU survey finds execs don't think much of Mich.

Michigan is seeking to create new-economy jobs with $1 billion in seed money it hopes will attract life sciences and biotechnology companies.

But a new survey suggests the state is putting the cart before the horse. It hasn't created the tax and education climate that new-economy job creators value.

"Michigan is not a new-economy powerhouse," Judith Bailey, president of Western Michigan University, said Tuesday, stating the obvious.

The university commissioned the poll by EPIC-MRA of Lansing, and Bailey unveiled it at an Inforum luncheon in Dearborn. It asked business executives in five states -- Michigan, California, Massachusetts, Illinois and Ohio -- to rank the most important attributes for a state hoping to draw life science businesses.

Topping the list is taxes, and the executives rank Michigan near the bottom in favorable tax policy.

But, the executives say, a state can overcome an onerous tax burden -- as California and Massachusetts have -- by offering a highly educated work force.

Sadly, Michigan trails in that category as well. The executives don't think much of Michigan's brain power.

That's a reflection on the state's culture, which places a low value on education. Barely one-third of the Michigan executives in the survey view a highly educated work force as very important to the state's success.

Their response dovetails neatly with earlier surveys from the Your Child organization and The Detroit News, which found only 27 percent of Michigan parents view education as essential to their children's success.

What's the poll tell us?

First, that Michigan risks squandering the $1 billion 21st Century Jobs Fund if it doesn't first lay a foundation for supporting a science and technology economy.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has resisted tax cutting, clinging to the argument that a state's tax structure is not a detriment to attracting business.

She's right -- as long as the state can offset taxes with a vast pool of highly trained workers. Michigan can't. At 22 percent, its percentage of adults with college degrees is about half of what Massachusetts boasts. And it can't even begin to compete with California for cool.

So those states can get away with burdensome taxes.

Michigan has to work harder. Western Michigan's Bailey noted that capital in the 21st century will follow brain power.

But most of the executives surveyed don't see Michigan as capable of supporting science and technology industries.

The state would do better to invest the $1 billion in dramatically reducing the business tax burden or slashing tuition cost so that everyone has ready access to a college education. Or both.

But trying to build a technology and science economy without first constructing a solid tax and education foundation is folly.