Jackson State Prison to close in July

A cost cutting measure has one of the 5 prisons in Jackson scheduled to close by July 1 of this year. Approximately 1,500 prisoners would be released (if they have served their minimum sentence) and put on parole. 425 jobs will be affected with the majority offered jobs at other prisons, but layoffs are not being ruled out either. Michigan's prison population is one of the highest in the Midwest at 51,000 inmates. My question is this - does Michigan have much stricter laws than other states or a higher concentration of criminals?

Another question I have is how can the state undo what the courts have done? Judges and juries have had to make decisions that put these people in prison and now the state is negating that and paroling them.

Something is very wrong/strange with Michigan's prison system. Our state's population is steadily declining yet our prison population keeps rising.

Yet another aspect of our state that needs fixing.

Read the full article in the Detroit Free Press.

Granholm's state address optimistic without the details

Maybe we should nickname our illustrious governor "Jenny Blue Skies." It seems to her that if Michigan residents can be as optimistic as she is about our state's future that everything will fall into place and make Michigan's economy rebound. Yeah, and if ifs and buts were candies and nuts we'd all have a Merry Christmas.

She threw out a lot of dollar figures when talking about ambitious new programs. She didn't say how a struggling (projected budget deficit in 2008 of $3 billion, yeah that's billion) Michigan economy was going to provide the revenue necessary to run these fun sounding programs.

What I liked about her speech:

• A commitment to quit plugging holes in the budget by cutting school funding.
• Requiring cities and townships to consolidate purchasing/services with other local municipalities to receive increased revenue sharing payments from the state

Wow. I thought there would be more points that I liked, but after reading through the text that was all I could honestly come up with. There was a lot of talk and optimism, but not much at all in the way of facts to back up her accusations and financial solutions.

Her proposed state budget makes its debut tomorrow. It will be interesting to see her "tax boosts" and what will be cut in order to balance the budget.

I guess I just expected more in the way of hard numbers. Optimism is great, but optimism without facts to back up your reason for being optimistic is like skipping dinner and eating a sugary sweet dessert instead. Sure it tasted good, but it usually leaves you feeling sick and empty when you're finished.

See for yourself. You can read the text of her speech at the Lansing State Journal.

Rotten news for Michigan on a Monday morning

Boy, I don't know which is worse. The fact that Michigan gas prices are up to a $2.21 average when just a few weeks ago we were under $2, our state budget crisis, or the fact that in a Detroit Free Press/Local 4 poll 46% of those polled would vote for Hillary Clinton. What a crummy start to the week.

We need another Clinton in the White House like we needed another Bush in the White House. When will America learn that one family member in the White House is enough?

On a lighter note, our state is in some serious fiscal shape (catch that wonderful sarcasm?). We are up the proverbial creek without the use of a paddle. Have no fear, though, my fellow Michiganians.

Our illustrious governor will be letting us all in on her great plan during her 5th State of the State address on Tuesday night. Remember last year's address? That was when she made fodder for Dick DeVos' television campaign with the infamous line - "and in Five years, you're going to be blown away!"

I hope she wasn't off by a decade or two in her prediction of when Michigan's economy will rebound.

Woohoo! For those of you wondering what wonderful sound bites she will have this year - stay tuned. I will have my thoughts on the address posted sometime on Wednesday.

Ouch! State budget panel recommends raising Michigan's taxes

The Detroit News is reporting that a 12 person budget panel that includes former Michigan governors' James Blanchard and William Milliken came to the conclusion that in order to erase our current and future budget deficit our state needs to raise taxes. No specifics were given on what taxes and who (individuals or businesses, or both) would foot the bill. Here we go. Funny (not really - actually this ticks me off) how Granholm had to of known of this (budget crisis) last fall, but failed to mention anything to the public until after the fall elections. Not that I am 100% sure that this information would have caused Dick "I don't act like I really want to be Governor" DeVos to be elected.

Now before you accuse me of being some "black helicopter spotting conspiracy theorist" just think about it for a minute or two.

Logically, there is no way that this current budget crisis just came to light. They've been crunching these numbers for at least the past six months (most likely much longer).

And the government wonders why we don't trust politicians?

If they (politicians) would start being the duly elected representatives of the people that they are and quit being politicians maybe that trust could be built up and maybe, just maybe, our great state would not find itself in its current economic condition.

Grrr! :(

Michigan Chamber of Commerce endorses gas tax hike

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the "usually anti-tax Michigan Chamber of Commerce endorsed increases in the state’s gasoline and diesel taxes today to hasten road and bridge repair and construction. It even advocate the authorization of motor vehicle registration fees by counties to pay for additional work and mass transit." I have already made my thoughts clear on what I think of raising taxes and fees.

I still firmly believe that rather than take a look at trimming the fat from the budget (it's 140 pages long - there has to be places to make cuts in there) Governor Granholm and the State Legislature look for ways to increase funds in order to balance the budget. Whether it's an increase on alcohol and cigarette taxes or an increase in what we pay sales tax on it's just the same story, different day.

What ever happened to government being "of the people, by the people, and for the people?" Abraham Lincoln made those remarks in his Gettysburg Address.

It seems the Granholm administration believes that government is to be paid for by the people - after all it IS for the people, right?

Group wants to raise Michigan's gas tax by $.09

Here we go again. Our roads need fixing and our budget needs balancing. Hmm, what to do? Oh yeah, lets have a tax increase!

But, it's for the good of the people.

Really.

The Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association wants to keep us driving and help out Michigan's economy (how generous of them). Therefore, they have proposed that we pay another $.09 in taxes at the pump.

Oh, and they also would like to see an increase in vehicle registration fees. It is reported that the MITA could raise them by as much as 50%. The Free Press reports - "the average vehicle registration in Michigan is $110; MITA’s proposal would raise that to $160."

From what info I could find, it appears we already pay $.352 (I think that includes federal taxes, but I can't say for sure) in taxes on each gallon of gasoline plus the state sales tax of 6%.

Lets have some accountability here with the state's spending before we get more money taken out of our wallets. Why is it that the government raises taxes before really making any extensive cuts?

Sure, they'll raise our taxes on fuel "temporarily" and when it comes time to decide on renewing the tax or not it will be renewed because the funds raised by the tax will have been "temporarily" diverted to fund some other piece of our bloated state government. See for yourself in a 140 page PDF (warning - this could take a while to view with a dialup connection) of the Fiscal Year 2007 state budget.

From a business standpoint it is actually a triple whammy.

First, our customers will have less money in their pockets. Second, when we order products to make our gift baskets we will pay more in freight charges. Third, our shipping costs will go up with more fuel surcharges (yes, UPS already hits us with fuel surcharges - what can brown do to you, eh?).

The last two items above would most likely lead us to raise prices (oops, we're up to a fourth whammy) on our gift baskets and/or shipping prices as well. This becomes another strike to the customer who already has less funds available due to the gas tax increase.

I don't like this idea on multiple levels.

Here is a crazy idea - lets cut spending and quit funding our state's governmental excesses on the backs of businesses and taxpayers.

Read the full article at the The Detroit Free Press website.