Comment 5929

By mutex (registered) - website | Posted March 20, 2007 at 21:59:51

An interesting article. I lived there for about 30 years till 2001. It seems apparent that the main problem with Michigan is that they bet the farm on the auto industry, but that is completely wrong.

The real reason Michigan is falling appart are the business unfriendly labor laws and employment taxes. Michigan is in a downward spiral. The governor has taken a position of raising taxes to off-set declining revenues. Scores of small businesses are moving out of state. The only ones left are those wooed by the MEDC with tax incentives.

If this were not the case, we would see a self-leveling of unemployment. As unemployment rises, labor gets cheaper and that attracts business.

Michigan had a lot of great companies - Comerica bank, Kmart, Dow, Masco, Rouge & Great Lakes Steel, and on and on. All of them have gone bust, moved out of town or are in the process of moving (Dow is rumored to be selling themselves). That's in addition to the auto industry. Most of the auto industry crash in Detriot happened 5 to 10 years with major plant closings. There hasn't been much to close, save the corporate offices of Ford, GM and Chrysler.

Things will not change for Michigan until a more favorable business climate is established, and that means the Governor and the Detriot Mayor need to go.

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds