Michigan: Found and Lost - a Microcosm of the Country

I Love Michigan: Born and Raised.

Troy, Michigan: where I grew up. Spending summers at water parks like Four Bears, learning to ride a bike down one of its moderately hilly streets. Where I got married. Where I went to grad school.

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan: where I attended high school. Knowing nothing about football and attending the games anyway during the crisp, fall nights. Building floats and dreaming of being a musician.

Ann Arbor, Michigan: where I attended school for my undergrad. Where I got my start as a performer and learned to love music at some of the finest performing institutions in the state. Did you know that as of 2002, Michigan had the most seats in entertainment venues per capita than anywhere else in the entire country? Boggles the mind.

Birmingham, Michigan: where I started a band in my then-friend-now-husband's apartment. Where I used to hang out with my high school friends.

Detroit: where I've gigged, auditioned. Farmington Hills: where I've worked. Royal Oak: where I was born and now live.

And on and on. Despite itching to move to some big city in my early 20's, I have grown to love this state: its beauty, the seasons, the people, the diversity, and the opportunities. Yet I feel like I'm being driven out. Mike and I have "back-up plans" in case we lose our jobs, our home. We agonize over every expenditure that is not groceries and worry if getting another dog, having a child, or getting a second vehicle (motorcycle with sidecar, ha!) is irresponsible.

Michigan has some of the most incredible competitive advantages in the country: a highly-educated and motivated workforce in industrial and scientific industries, ample natural resources, proximity to Canada, major road, air and water ports, wonderful educational institutions. (I know some of you will jump to mention some of these things are funded by taxes, but you will be missing my point entirely.)

What's Bad for the Goose is Bad for the Gander

Sadly, Michigan is continuing to be a petri dish for the rest of the country when it comes to spending. (What's the current unemployment rate?) For those of you who read my blog regularly, you know I have some serious reservations about Governor Granholm's decision-making in our state, and I warned strongly against her policies in November of last year: that how Michigan goes, so will our country. Up to now, it seems I have been correct. Let's hope I am proven wrong soon.

Ms. Granholm recently said in the 2009 State of the State address: "President Obama's priorities are nearly identical to ours." She further explains, "He, too, is focused on jobs for middle America, and new, renewable energy jobs. He, too, is focused on education. He too is focused on protecting people. He's proposed a sweeping economic recovery plan for the nation."

Never mind that the word "focus" is a surrogate for "government spending." Never mind that "focus" won't be bringing jobs back. Never mind that "focus" has led to spending sprees, torn up roads that may or may not have needed repairs, and hours of productivity lost by people who are blessed to still have jobs to waiting in long traffic lines so that "Americans" can be put to work.

I put "Americans" in quotations because as far as I can tell, they are invisible, or must transform themselves into large orange road cones when I pass, as I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen any bodies performing road repair work. And worse, these Americans are asked to perform needless glamour work - like tearing up sidewalks in downtown Royal Oak to replace them with pretty bricks. Seriously. I'd rather someone get a job doing something more useful - we don't need beautification. We need sustainable growth.

Back to Granholm. She tries to allay our fears by adding, "If anyone thinks we should use the stimulus package to create bigger government in Michigan, they should think again. I have a veto pen and I will use it." Those words would be enthralling coming from anyone who had a track recording of not growing government, bailing out companies during their tenure (not just in recent months), and giving favors to special interests and private corporations without competition or merit.

Michigan: The Next Hollywood? Hardly.

One example of the deceit and theivery going on under the guise of economic growth is in the fast-growing Michigan film industry. Michigan Representative Peter Lund (a former professor of mine) is leading the charge against the cash subsidies for the film industry. While a recent economic report indicated "Entertainment" is the fastest-growing sector in my home county this year with over $83 million in investment - the term "investment" is left undefined as to whether it is in private or public dollars, which matters greatly. Lund argues that the tax breaks given to the movie industry are leading to effective cash subsidies which drain Michigan taxpayers further, rather than reducing their financial burdens to the state!

Don't get me wrong - I am all about tax cuts, but not when they result in tax increases for the taxpayer to fund major movie corporations! That is not my idea of economic growth or equity, nor should anyone else be fooled into thinking is it.

Furthermore, as a colleague of mine recently pointed out: what's to stop another state from doing the same? There is little competitive advantage in the film industry here, and Big Hollywood will go where they can get the most bang for their buck.

I could go on and on, but instead, I'm posting the following video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity featuring Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute, since he does a very good job outlining 8 reasons why bigger government and its accompanying spending sprees is unequivocally bad for the fiscal health of a country (or city, or state).

To learn more about this topic, watch the short video. Oh, and email me: milena@quietthethunder, because we need to change this thing, and I'm looking for rational, dedicated people who are willing to work with me to do so.