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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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Dear Governor Granholm, and legislators of both parties
Who do you work for?
Do tou work for the MEA, the insurance lobby, the trial lawyers lobby, the medical lobby, the manufacturer's lobby, the education lobby, or for the people of the State of Michigan?
Is partisan politics and getting reelected more important than the overall good of the population of Michigan?
Simple answers only, please. Political buzzwords and standard political posturing masquerading as answers will not be accepted.
Signed:
Fed Up. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:34 am |
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00SL2
F L I N T O I D
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They're supposed to work for the citizens. Citizens have a right to be informed of the budget balancing process and the considerations and cuts being made instead of being blacked out. It is not fair to pass any tax increase to balance the budget without our knowing what they've done to reduce costs elsewhere. It's also not fair for Blue Cross or any other entity to be allowed to tack on a rider to any bill increasing sales or income tax. Citizens should be allowed to participate, to voice their concerns, and be provided a link to view the status of the budgeting process.
I've read proponents of sales tax increase say it's fair because "everybody pays." That would affect not only non-residents passing through the state, but residents living on a fixed and limited income.
I would approve bringing the income tax back to 4.9% if first truth be told about what cuts they've already made to balance the budget--including health care expenses for themselves and other state employees. I don't believe this increase in income tax would hurt the low wage earners as much as a sales tax increase, and it wouldn't affect the purchasing power of those on fixed and limited incomes so much. |
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Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:10 pm |
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FlintConservative
F L I N T O I D
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Right to be informed. That's a good one.
I keep hearing we're facing a $1.7 billion deficit. For the fiscal year ended 9/30/06 total general fund expenditures were $23.1 billion. That would make the forecasted deficit over 7% of total expenditures. It is logical to assume that expenditures (as well as revenues) would rise at a rate approximating the rate of inflation (more like 3%). In order to have a 7% deficit, expenditures would have to rise (or revenues decrease) by roughly 10%. That's a huge change year over year. If revenues are expected to drop by 10% (highly unlikely, even in our economy), one might expect the governor to cut spending. So does that mean that the deficit is caused by a projected 10% increase in spending? For what? Why?
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/budget/B1_191864_7.pdf |
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Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:21 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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| Beacuse, like all good dems, Jenny never saw a buck she didn't want to spend; even those she didn't have. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:20 am |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Dave Starr schreef:
Dear Governor Granholm, and legislators of both parties
Who do you work for?
Do tou work for the MEA, the insurance lobby, the trial lawyers lobby, the medical lobby, the manufacturer's lobby, the education lobby, or for the people of the State of Michigan?
Is partisan politics and getting reelected more important than the overall good of the population of Michigan?
Simple answers only, please. Political buzzwords and standard political posturing masquerading as answers will not be accepted.
Signed:
Fed Up.
You left out government employees and social welfare recipients. When you include the MEA, the insurance lobby, the trial lawyers lobby, the medical lobby, the manufacturer's lobby, the education lobby, with a democracy it deosn't matter what the rest of Michigan's taxpayers want!
I'm not sure citizen is the incorrect term. Citizens are supposed to have rights and not require licenses from the government to do things like bear arms, keep their income or build on their property or even marry someone. Taxpayers exist to support the government. |
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Adam
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Mysearchisover.com
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FB
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Jobs
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Tue Sep 25, 2007 2:06 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=22543
Will the Last One to Leave Michigan Please Turn Out the Lights?
In 1950, Michigan was one of the most prosperous states in America. There were 1,800,000 people in Detroit, and Detroiters enjoyed the highest per capita income of any large city in the country.
Today, Michigan is an economic basket case. Its unemployment rate is a crushing 7.2 percent -- the highest in the nation. And to make matters worse, Michigan taxes are higher than the national average.
So with no jobs and high taxes, it's no surprise that Michiganders are going elsewhere to live and work. Its population is declining so much that the wry joke in Michigan is that the last one to leave please turn out the lights.
Michigan and the Virtual Circle of the World That Works
But there is a way forward for Michigan. It's not complicated, and it's not theoretical. It's a simple story, taken from Michigan's recent history, of government in the world that works.
When former Gov. John Engler (R.) was leading Michigan, its economic outlook was much different. Gov. Engler brought Michigan to 3.2 percent unemployment, the lowest unemployment rate in the state's history. And he did so while cutting taxes and controlling spending.
And Gov. Engler did something else that was critical to Michigan's prosperity: During his time as governor, Michigan regained its AAA bond rating. The reason this is critical is because a state's bond rating determines how much its taxpayers pay on the state's debt. The better the rating, the less taxpayers pay. The less taxpayers pay, the more money is available for tax cuts or other priorities.
It's the virtual circle of prosperity of the world that works: Lower taxes means more jobs means higher revenue from a bigger economy means controlled spending means a better bond rating. And a better bond rating means a lower cost of debt which means more money available for lower taxes which means the creation of even more jobs.
'Like a Teenager Getting a Credit Card and Not Realizing He Has to Pay'
That's the world that works. Now we get to the world that fails.
In 11 short months after gaining power, Democrats in Michigan managed to lose the AAA bond rating. As I told my audience of Michigan Republicans gathered on Mackinac Island last weekend, it was like a teenager getting a credit card and not realizing that he has to pay. (You can view the entire speech here.)
So, today, Michigan is in the virtual circle of the world that fails: It's losing jobs, losing people and losing money, and now it has to pay even more to service its debt.
And, predictably in the world that fails, the solution that Democrats in Lansing are proposing is a huge tax increase to close the gap between the state's higher costs and declining revenues.
Higher taxes are precisely what Michigan does not need right now. So far, the battle over the tax increase has been a fairly partisan one -- with a Democratic majority in the legislature and a Democratic governor pushing for the taxes, and Republicans, under the leadership of state party Chairman Saul Anuzis and others, pushing for lower spending.
But this doesn't have to be a partisan battle. The guiding principles of the world that works aren't red versus blue. They're red, white and blue. Michigan simply needs to do what we know works and have the courage to carry it out. |
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Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:46 am |
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