What About Michigan?

At midnight tonight, the State of Michigan will likely shut-down – at least partially, and likely temporarily. I wonder though what should we do with my home state of Michigan? Also, even if they scrape together enough pennies to keep operating into fiscal year 2010, the next budget shortfalls will prove more painful and have less options (i.e. no more federal stimulus money) for plugging the holes.

I lost count a long time ago of how many billions/trillions of dollars the federal government has poured into banks, Wall Street, and the domestic auto industry. Maybe Michigan needs a bailout? Maybe other states need bailouts? Maybe we should sell stock in the State of Michigan instead of the auto industry? Maybe we should just sell the State of Michigan to the highest bidder – maybe to Ohio, Indiana, or Canada?

There is a lot of politicking going on in Lansing right now as they try to reach a budget agreement, which is likely not to happen before midnight. What is likely is that a lot more people in the State of Michigan are going to be losing their jobs and struggling to take care of their families. These are not people that caused this economic mess, but they are the ones who will most feel the pain of the decisions that will be made – painfully, must be made – in Lansing.

Who’s to blame for Michigan’s mess? Democrats? Republicans? Plenty of responsibility on both sides of that aisle. The big three automakers? Big labor unions? Again, plenty of responsibility on both sides of that manufacturing table as well. Others would say that Alan Greenspan and Wallstreet greed are the main cause of Michigan’s current agony.

Blame in this instance, at this moment is irrelevant. What is important is identifying some way to piece the State of Michigan back together into a state that is strong and growing, with or without the auto industry.

No, I don’t know what the answer is. I do know that there are a lot of unsettled people around this great state tonight who are worried about whether they will keep their job or if they will be able to find a job. There are cities and small towns that may go bankrupt after the budget comes down from Lansing. There are health departments operating with one nurse, one sanitarian and an administrative assistant and they are only open limited hours. If you visit the State of Michigan website and can manage to find the link to state government jobs, you will see that there are only 46 openings across the entire state. Most of the jobs are medical (for prisons and state hospitals), or general laborer, part-time seasonal jobs. Michigan is a big state, so that list of job openings was very sobering to look at.

Our family is truly blessed that I was able to find a job here in Michigan (not funded by the state obviously). It is painful to see what the small towns and agencies in the area we live in are facing in the coming days, and I am so grateful that my job is secure and is sufficient for taking care of our needs.

To read more about what is going on in Michigan this evening, visit the Mackinac Center, the Michigan Messenger, and the Lansing State Journal.

So, while the Empire State Building is wishing a colorful “Happy Anniversary” to Communist China and idiot legislators in Washington are busy saying outlandish things just to get their sound-bite on every cable news show, I just wanted to let the country know that the State of Michigan may be facing financial troubles so large that in the long term there may be no recovery.

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