The Michigan Governor Debate (click here)
February 4, 2014
By Jonathan Oosting
...As you'll see below, (click here) both Snyder and Schauer can make the math work to suit their arguments. But apparently not all schools can make current funding levels work for their students. As of September, state Superintendent Mike Flanagan said that 56 districts and public charters were operating with budget deficits....
The question is not what is being done to protect and promote higher education in Michigan, besides the usual complaint of student loan debt. The question is what is Snyder doing to keep the Michigan brain trust at home by building a bridge from university education to Michigan jobs. Snyder has outsourced more and more of Michigan's brain trust to the rest of the country and abroad than any other governor in history.
Enrollment and recruitment of students to the university system is not the problem. Michigan has excellent higher education, the problem is the students' education doesn't translate into Michigan jobs.
Michigan was in crisis because of the old auto paradigm and the outsourcing of jobs to places like Mexico. The corporate income tax was not the problem, it was the loss of jobs due to outsourcing. As less and less Americans could afford American made cars as well as cars that weren't really desirable to the American landscape, the auto industry crashed. Snyder came in as Washington was bailing out the auto industry, this is not rocket science and he had absolutely nothing to do with the upward movement of the auto industry.
Construction down, (click here) retail jobs down, information systems jobs down, leisure and hospitality down, arts, entertainment and recreation down (budget cuts), government jobs down.
January 12, 2013
By Kristen M. Daum
February 4, 2014
By Jonathan Oosting
...As you'll see below, (click here) both Snyder and Schauer can make the math work to suit their arguments. But apparently not all schools can make current funding levels work for their students. As of September, state Superintendent Mike Flanagan said that 56 districts and public charters were operating with budget deficits....
The question is not what is being done to protect and promote higher education in Michigan, besides the usual complaint of student loan debt. The question is what is Snyder doing to keep the Michigan brain trust at home by building a bridge from university education to Michigan jobs. Snyder has outsourced more and more of Michigan's brain trust to the rest of the country and abroad than any other governor in history.
Enrollment and recruitment of students to the university system is not the problem. Michigan has excellent higher education, the problem is the students' education doesn't translate into Michigan jobs.
Michigan was in crisis because of the old auto paradigm and the outsourcing of jobs to places like Mexico. The corporate income tax was not the problem, it was the loss of jobs due to outsourcing. As less and less Americans could afford American made cars as well as cars that weren't really desirable to the American landscape, the auto industry crashed. Snyder came in as Washington was bailing out the auto industry, this is not rocket science and he had absolutely nothing to do with the upward movement of the auto industry.
January 12, 2013
By Kristen M. Daum
Job creation (click here) and economic growth have been the primary mission of Gov. Rick Snyder’s tenure so far, but there’s room for interpretation as to whether Michigan is seeing the results he’s promised.
Since 2011, the Republican and his legislative counterparts have ushered through several major reforms — mostly by cutting billions of dollars in business taxes — with the promise of adding jobs. Michigan jobs are increasing, but exactly how many have been added during the past two years depends on the source and type of data consulted.
Regardless, economists and experts agree there’s no way to prove Snyder’s tax reforms are the specific catalyst behind the growth....
The Grand Bargain was a sell out of pensioners. Not only did they take cuts, but, they were never reassured as Detroit's income increases the pensioners would be returned their pension funds.
The Midwest (click here) was second in the nation in building employment only behind the Northeast.
Every Republican Governor in the Midwest claims they have the greatest job growth in the region and the country. Bulloney.
November 18, 2013
The Grand Bargain was a sell out of pensioners. Not only did they take cuts, but, they were never reassured as Detroit's income increases the pensioners would be returned their pension funds.
...Only one bill -- (click here) a proposal to prohibit the DIA from seeking renewal of a 10-year operating millage after the city-owned museum transitions to a charitable trust -- proved especially controversial. Democrats said the legislation was "outside the scope" of the grand bargain and argued it would disenfranchise voters in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties who chose to approve the millage in 2012.
"The core of this bill is taking away the rights of voters to decide whether they want to pay a millage or not," said state Rep. Sarah Roberts (D-St. Clair Shores), calling it a "slap in the face" to DIA benefactors who raised funds for the grand bargain. Only six Democrats voted for the bill, which passed in a 66-44 vote....
Michigan has a bigger hole in the water for new jobs to be developed. The federal trend alone was enough to bring about an economic revitalization.
Every Republican Governor in the Midwest claims they have the greatest job growth in the region and the country. Bulloney.
Mr. Schauer has been listening to the people and the petitioners in the state. He has championed their causes. Snyder doesn't agree with the people and have not come to their side.
DETROIT, MI – Mark Schauer, (click here) a Democratic candidate for governor, proposed raising Michigan's minimum wage to $9.25 an hour over three years in a press conference at Avalon International Breads on Monday.
Speaking alongside a Michigan State University professor who supported his claims, Schauer said he believes a minimum wage hike wouldn't have a significant negative impact on employment numbers, but would lift families out of poverty and boost economic growth.
"I believe that it would take grassroots activity to get it through the legislature," Schauer said. "This is about people. It's a measure that will help drive economic growth."
Schauer is expected to run against Gov. Rick Snyder in November 2014. Snyder's spokesperson Sara Wurfel told the Associated Press that the governor hasn't taken a position on raising minimum wage, but said such a move could lead to lost jobs....
Mr. Schauer has never had to work behind closed doors, he goes to the people.
The social issues regarding equality rights is over when Schauer takes office. It is over at the federal level and it needs to end in every state in the country.
DeBoer v. Snyder is a lawsuit filed by a lesbian couple on January 23, 2012 infederal district court, challenging Michigan's ban on adoption by same-sex couples so they can jointly adopt their children.
Mr. Schauer has never had to work behind closed doors, he goes to the people.
The social issues regarding equality rights is over when Schauer takes office. It is over at the federal level and it needs to end in every state in the country.
DeBoer v. Snyder is a lawsuit filed by a lesbian couple on January 23, 2012 infederal district court, challenging Michigan's ban on adoption by same-sex couples so they can jointly adopt their children.
Caspar v. Snyder (click here)
On April 14, 2014, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed a lawsuit in state court on behalf of eight same-sex couples who received marriage licenses on the first day of the freedom to marry in Michigan. More than 300 couples received marriage licenses on March 22, after a federal judge struck down the state's ban on marriage for same-sex couples. The ruling was stayed later that afternoon, and although the federal government said that it would respect the Michigan marriage licenses for all purposes, Governor Rick Snyder said that the state would, for now, deny respect to the licenses as the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals considers arguments in the original federal lawsuit.
Morgan v. Snyder
On June 11, 2014, private lawyers filed a federal lawsuit in Grand Rapids, Michigan seeking respect for their marriage, legally performed in a different state. The suit is being filed by the Grand Rapids law firm Rhoades McKee.
Blankenship v. Snyder
On June 5, 2014, private lawyers filed a federal lawsuit in Genessee County, Michigan seeking respect for their marriage, legally performed in a different state. The suit is being filed by attorney Jessica Hammon.
June 25, 2014
By Brian Smith
These are the people Michigan has to deal with so why do it the first place? Fracking companies are grabbing land and later deciding what to do with it.
By Brian Smith
LANSING -- If Michigan were a country, (click here) it would put people in prison more often than Russia does.
That's one of the takeaways from a new analysis of incarceration rates by the Prison Policy Initiative that breaks the U.S. rate out by all 50 states. The U.S. leads the world in the percentage of citizens behind bars as a whole, but some states are far above that mark.
The U.S. imprisons people at a rate of 716 people per 100,000 of population, but 22 states actually exceed that rate, with Louisiana's rate being the highest at 1,341 people per 100,000.
Michigan's rate is below the national rate, at 628 inmates per 100,000, but that's still high enough to exceed every other country in the world....
The first fracking leak in Michigan occurred after Snyder became Governor. Governor Snyder has gotten by with his 'geek' demeanor as someone unable to engage the public well. As a result the Michigan brain trust is outsourced on a regular basis to Wall Street firms outside the state. His geek status might be an interesting persona to try to 'deal with the public,' but his policies speak loudly to his disinterest of citizens' interests.
February 10. 2011
I find it interesting that tourism is on the decline in Michigan while Snyder wants more and more fracking. The two in a Great Lakes doesn't mix. Any fracking chemicals that leak from wells has the direct threat of contaminating the Great Lakes. These are deep wells. The depth of Lake Michigan alone is nearly 1000 feet. How is anyone going to stop the leaks from destroying the lakes environment again? The first fracking leak in Michigan occurred after Snyder became Governor. Governor Snyder has gotten by with his 'geek' demeanor as someone unable to engage the public well. As a result the Michigan brain trust is outsourced on a regular basis to Wall Street firms outside the state. His geek status might be an interesting persona to try to 'deal with the public,' but his policies speak loudly to his disinterest of citizens' interests.
February 10. 2011
JOYFIELD TOWNSHIP, MICH.
Operations at a more than 1,000-foot-deep natural gas well (click here) being drilled in Michigan's northwestern Lower Peninsula with a technique called hydraulic fracturing were shut down after a leak was detected earlier this week, the state reported Thursday.
The leak at the well in Benzie County's Joyfield Township was detected late Monday or early Tuesday, and the leak was contained Tuesday, the state Department of Natural Resources and Environment said. The department said there was no imminent danger from the leak and an initial review found any environmental impacts limited to the immediate area of the well.
"The company had just installed a new well," said DNRE spokesman Brad Wurfel. "They turned it on and found liquid bubbling."...
These are the people Michigan has to deal with so why do it the first place? Fracking companies are grabbing land and later deciding what to do with it.
October 2, 2012
...Faux deals? (click here)Extricating itself from land leases has sometimes proved as important to Chesapeake as obtaining them.
...Faux deals? (click here)Extricating itself from land leases has sometimes proved as important to Chesapeake as obtaining them.
In lawsuits in Texas, Pennsylvania and North Dakota, land owners allege Chesapeake has treated signed leases as mere placeholders for deals that it may later choose not to honor.
Two state court judges in Michigan ruled early this year that Chesapeake had the right to reject leases at any time before title to the minerals was finalized....
