Crazymank
MuscleChemistry Registered Member
My state sucks. We're going into governement shutdown, the jobs that are left suck, my house is worth less than i paid for it 10 years ago...
Daniel Howes: A state in the state of denial
With Michigan careening toward an official governmental shutdown, a fitting capstone to its dysfunction and denial, a few questions beg to be asked of Lansing -- even if the governor and the Legislature aren't likely to answer them.
Virtually no sentient being who's paying attention to the circus in the state capitol believes we'll get out of this $1.75 billion hole without a tax increase. But why should taxpayers give you more dough if you've repeatedly proven to be poor stewards of the money and incapable of agreeing how to spend it?
Second, home prices are in free fall across the state, especially in southeast Michigan. In Oakland County, they're down 13.72 percent since 2004. In Macomb, 12.01 percent. And in Wayne County, a whopping 35.63 percent -- meaning that, soon enough, assessments will slip, too.
Because assessments and the taxes they deliver generally trail the market by two years or so, what will you do when property tax revenues pegged to lower assessments come in even lighter than they are now? Ask for more taxes?
This is just one of Michigan's time bombs. If things are bad now, wait until real estate tremors subside, buyout money for auto workers evaporates and the trend in public employee benefits -- namely, gilded pension and retiree health care payouts on a declining revenue base -- keep rising.
Were any of you, Republican or Democrat, planning to clue folks into this harsh reality? Or were you just content to let it be someone else's problem as you sashayed off to a new gig?
Third, what happened to all the reform that Gov. Jennifer Granholm bragged about in the ancient days of her last State-o'-the-State? Or to pledges by the GOP to take on the teachers unions, an apparently untouchable beneficiary of state largesse?
What happened to pooling the health care of teachers with health care of public employees, a potential savings of $200 million annually? Out. Pension reform? Out. Consolidation of municipal services? Mostly out, unless driven at the local level.
Exactly what specific reforms would the governor, her Democrats and the GOP embrace, in clear terms, in exchange for the tax increase both parties now agree is inevitable?
A rework of employee benefits couldn't deliver enough savings to avert a shutdown, nor is there enough time. But legislation beginning the process would show the Dems are doing more than mouthing the word "reform" and calling it a day.
Daniel Howes: A state in the state of denial
With Michigan careening toward an official governmental shutdown, a fitting capstone to its dysfunction and denial, a few questions beg to be asked of Lansing -- even if the governor and the Legislature aren't likely to answer them.
Virtually no sentient being who's paying attention to the circus in the state capitol believes we'll get out of this $1.75 billion hole without a tax increase. But why should taxpayers give you more dough if you've repeatedly proven to be poor stewards of the money and incapable of agreeing how to spend it?
Second, home prices are in free fall across the state, especially in southeast Michigan. In Oakland County, they're down 13.72 percent since 2004. In Macomb, 12.01 percent. And in Wayne County, a whopping 35.63 percent -- meaning that, soon enough, assessments will slip, too.
Because assessments and the taxes they deliver generally trail the market by two years or so, what will you do when property tax revenues pegged to lower assessments come in even lighter than they are now? Ask for more taxes?
This is just one of Michigan's time bombs. If things are bad now, wait until real estate tremors subside, buyout money for auto workers evaporates and the trend in public employee benefits -- namely, gilded pension and retiree health care payouts on a declining revenue base -- keep rising.
Were any of you, Republican or Democrat, planning to clue folks into this harsh reality? Or were you just content to let it be someone else's problem as you sashayed off to a new gig?
Third, what happened to all the reform that Gov. Jennifer Granholm bragged about in the ancient days of her last State-o'-the-State? Or to pledges by the GOP to take on the teachers unions, an apparently untouchable beneficiary of state largesse?
What happened to pooling the health care of teachers with health care of public employees, a potential savings of $200 million annually? Out. Pension reform? Out. Consolidation of municipal services? Mostly out, unless driven at the local level.
Exactly what specific reforms would the governor, her Democrats and the GOP embrace, in clear terms, in exchange for the tax increase both parties now agree is inevitable?
A rework of employee benefits couldn't deliver enough savings to avert a shutdown, nor is there enough time. But legislation beginning the process would show the Dems are doing more than mouthing the word "reform" and calling it a day.
