yeah, had absolutely nothing to do with oil supply and demand and the fact that the auto industry is the primary source of employment in the state. Or that businesses are turning tail and running to other states because they can tell that if the big 3 go away there won't be any way for them to run their businesses. or that tourism is down because people aren't driving to our ski areas or beaches.
yeah, the tax hike was the ONLY factor in the recession. you really nailed that one Casp.
We've been in a recessions since the 90s, dude. Where have you been?
Most people round here blame the previous governor, Engler, and Granholm for not doing enough to help right things. But yeah, the collapsed auto and manufacturing industries, draining work force, horrid infighting in our term limited state government, and general incompetence over the past 30 years has brought this state down.
Tax hikes were about the only way to deal with the massive budget deficit without cutting road services and state police forces, and ballooning the costs of going to college for people like me.
Right. Because government ONLY spends money on things that are ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. I love how roads and police are the go-to services Dems trot out when conservatives want to cut spending, despite the Pork Factory that is Democratic leadership.
Pork barrel spending is what Republicans do when they break from their base and go to the dark side, to be sure, but pork barrel spending is what Dems do by default.
In other words, while there are some Republicans who break from the conservative ideal of reduced spending, Democrats whole political philosophy is based on tax-and-spend.
There were severe, long-term issues with both Michigan's economy and tax structure long, long before Governor Granholm tried to balance the books
( ... )
I think the reason we're not ground zero for viable electric cars is because, as you said, the dickheads running the Big Three seem convinced that if they wait around long enough people will want their SUVs and trucks again. And now, I'm not even sure they have the money to put into R&D. Chrysler and Ford in particular will be lucky to survive the next couple years.
It'd be prime locale for someone new to try and start something up, but apparently auto jobs are going into the south(at least from foreign companies).
Actually there was an absolutely wonderful article in Portfolio this month about the future of The Big Three and according to the author, Ford has heaps of cash at the moment. It just lacks the will.
Now that it's privately held, I couldn't begin to say much about Chrysler although according to said article, their main problem is the gargantuan gulf in foreign sales between them and the other two.
I have missed that! Last I heard, and I'll grant it was last year, was that they were all in some serious shit monetarily over the next few years.
Seriously though, who running those companies honestly thought gas prices were going to drop back down to 90s levels after they hit two bucks a gallon a couple years ago?
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behold: resk
success
reveal:
!label Caspian
!analyze: Existential Crow Bowl
fail
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yeah, the tax hike was the ONLY factor in the recession. you really nailed that one Casp.
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What I said was that a tax hike DURING an economic down turn (which would imply that the economic down turn pre-existed the tax hike) is a bad idea.
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Regardless, Clinton and Obama aren't Granholm. I think we can all be thankful for that.
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No they're not, but they both want to hike our taxes by an alarming percentage.
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Most people round here blame the previous governor, Engler, and Granholm for not doing enough to help right things. But yeah, the collapsed auto and manufacturing industries, draining work force, horrid infighting in our term limited state government, and general incompetence over the past 30 years has brought this state down.
Tax hikes were about the only way to deal with the massive budget deficit without cutting road services and state police forces, and ballooning the costs of going to college for people like me.
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In other words, while there are some Republicans who break from the conservative ideal of reduced spending, Democrats whole political philosophy is based on tax-and-spend.
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It'd be prime locale for someone new to try and start something up, but apparently auto jobs are going into the south(at least from foreign companies).
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Now that it's privately held, I couldn't begin to say much about Chrysler although according to said article, their main problem is the gargantuan gulf in foreign sales between them and the other two.
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Seriously though, who running those companies honestly thought gas prices were going to drop back down to 90s levels after they hit two bucks a gallon a couple years ago?
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