Lansing's inaction makes roads more risky
Another fall-out from Lansing's failure to adopt common-sense, money-saving reforms is that our highways will be more dangerous this winter.
The state has told local road departments that they'll get less money for salting and clearing roads, and that keeping freeways passable will be the top priority. That means major secondary roads will get a lot less attention. That could be disastrous if the heavier snowfalls of the last two winters are repeated.
But it is a deliberate choice by Gov. Jennifer Granholm and lawmakers. They could have chosen instead to trim public employee pay and benefits to match the cuts being made in the private sector. They could have chosen to force efficiencies on local school districts and municipalities. They could have chosen to reform sentencing guidelines to control Corrections spending. They could have chosen to do any number of things.
Instead, they chose to place you and your loved ones in danger. Remember that if you find yourself in a snow bank -- or worse -- this winter.
Cash hoard reflects fears of Obama plans
One of the reasons job creation is lagging despite signs of an economic recovery is that the nation's big businesses are hoarding their cash rather than investing it to expand.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the nation's largest companies are sitting on nearly $1 trillion in cash, or roughly 10 percent of their assets, the largest stash of idle money in 40 years.
This is a symptom of the uncertain tax and regulatory environment created by the Obama administration and a Congress that is increasingly hostile to business.
Companies aren't going to invest money in job-creating ventures until they can gauge the impact of policies ranging from health care reform to climate change.
Similar cash stashing occurred during the Depression and for similar reasons. It prolonged that economic disaster and will prolong this one.
A lot of money is sitting in reserve that could stimulate an economic recovery far more efficiently than Washington's spending spree. But to encourage it off the sidelines, Obama has to scale down proposals that have businesses wary of the future.
FBI raid complaints are unfair
Muslim leaders are angry with the FBI for releasing transcripts that reveal the suspects in Thursday's raid of a Dearborn mosque advocated for the overthrow of the United States government and wanted to establish Islamic law in America.
The local leaders say the tapes are irrelevant to an investigation of a smuggling ring. Sorry, that doesn't fly. Motivation is always relevant. Hatred of the United States is what brought these people together and apparently what fueled their alleged criminal activities.
It's understandable that the Muslim groups are worried about being tainted by the suspects, who were mostly converts to the religion. But the FBI can't be expected to pretend their extreme religious beliefs had nothing to do with the charges.
Salary controls boost competitors
The Obama administration's wage controls on the executives of firms that took federal bailout money is already paying dividends -- for their competitors.
In a richly ironic twist, the New York Times reports that Maurice Greenberg, the ousted founder of the insurance giant AIG, is back in business putting together a new insurance conglomerate, C.V. Starr and company.
How is he staffing the new firm? With AIG executives eager to escape the pay limits imposed by Obama salary czar Kenneth Feinberg.
Now the White House is worried that AIG won't be able to hang on to enough brain power to return it to profitability so it can repay the $180 billion it received from taxpayers.
The market is the most efficient regulator of pay. Don't expect Barack Obama and Feinberg to acknowledge that, though. They're busy trying to extend their compensation controls well beyond the bailout firms, which should give foreign corporations plenty of American talent to choose from.
LaHood says auto mission accomplished
All that was missing at the Masonic Temple in Detroit on Tuesday was the flight suit and carrier deck when Transportation Secretary Raymond LaHood informed the Detroit Economic Club that the dark days of the domestic automobile industry are over.
LaHood channeled President George W. Bush's "mission accomplished" declaration on the Iraq war in telling the audience that, thanks to the heroic efforts of the Obama administration, the Detroit automakers had stemmed their slide and are well on their way to recovery.
It was all hope and optimism. Still, LaHood couldn't stop himself from repeating the Obama administration's mandatory caveat that the comeback would be complete when Detroit "starts making cars (read: small cars) people want to drive."
He must not have stopped by Dearborn, where Ford, the only automaker not in Obama's grasp, is gaining market share by selling a diversified model lineup that includes big trucks and large sedans.
Promise of scholarships was never eternal
Lost in the debate over whether Michigan should continue the $4,000 Michigan Promise scholarships is where the money comes from.
The scholarships are supposed to be funded by the state's share of the 1998 tobacco settlement, to total $8.5 billion over 25 years. The settlement funds were never intended to be part of the general fund tug-of-war.
But now the tobacco dollars have been absorbed into the general fund, creating another future headache for the state -- they'll have to be replaced somehow when the settlement payments end. The scholarship promise was never eternal. Had the state wanted to make a permanent investment in education, it would have placed the settlement dollars into an endowment that would have served to perpetually assist students.
Instead, they have enabled universities to gobble up the tobacco money by using the scholarships as an excuse to raise tuition.
The tobacco settlement will be squandered without making a difference in Michigan.
Granholm should testify in Blackwell case
There's a possibility that Gov. Jennifer Granholm will be asked to testify in the corruption trial of former Highland Park Emergency Financial Manager Art Blackwell. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy could request Granholm's testimony, and if she doesn't, Blackwell's defense attorney, Ben Gonek, says he will.
Someone ought to.
Granholm should be asked to explain how Blackwell was allowed to go from a salary of $1 a year to $11,000 a month. Granholm says she thought after a year of working for near nothing, Blackwell deserved a decent salary.
Once she is on the stand, maybe someone will explain why Granholm appointed Blackwell, who enriched himself during a career of public service and whose ethical lapses are well documented, to manage the finances of a bankrupt city.
If the answer is anything but pure cronyism -- Granholm and Blackwell worked together under the late Wayne County Executive Ed McNamara -- it would be fascinating to hear what it is.
Trade unions go for the bird in hand
Two Democratic constituencies are bumping bellies over whether Michigan should kill sure-thing jobs in the old energy industry on the promise that doing so may create green energy jobs.
The Building and Construction Trades Council, a group of unions, has joined with business groups and utility companies to urge the Granholm administration to lift its blockade of two major power plant projects proposed by Consumers Energy and Wolverine Power.
Construction of the coal-fired power plants would create thousands of jobs. But environmentalists have prevailed on Gov. Jennifer Granholm to halt the projects on the premise that Michigan doesn't need the increased electricity production.
The governor's rejection of the plants is part of her strategy to revive Michigan with green jobs. But she can't point to actual jobs anytime soon.
The power plants, meanwhile, will deliver jobs right away. The construction unions are smart enough to see that real jobs today are a better bet than possible jobs tomorrow.
Health care plan tramples civil liberties
I'm surprised civil libertarians aren't leading the charge against the health care reform plans being formulated in Congress.
At the heart of the proposals is a mandate that every person buy a health insurance policy or face a stiff fine. As the Wall Street Journal noted, if passed, it will mark the first time that individuals will be compelled to make a purchase in exchange for the right to live in this country.
Compulsory health insurance policies ought to be anathema to the American Civil Liberties Union. But the ACLU has been silent on what surely seems an issue that at least deserves debate for its impact on individual freedoms. There's no comparable mandate. If you don't work, you don't have to pay taxes. If you don't drive, you don't have to buy automobile insurance.
But the fact that you're breathing will trigger the health insurance mandate. That element is more chilling than rationing and death panels.
Americans shouldn't forfeit their freedom to choose, in the name of health care or anything else.
Your share of the welfare tab: $560 a month
The conservative Heritage Foundation has broken down what President Barack Obama's welfare spending binge is costing at the household level, and it's a shocking number.
The study pegs the price tag for Obama's welfare programs at $10 trillion over the next decade, and that doesn't include the cost of his health care plan, which if passed will consume a similar amount. Heritage says the average household will have to pay $560 per month this year and $635 per month next year to cover welfare spending, if the tab is actually paid for and not kicked up the road.
The monthly obligation would be enough to cover the mortgage for many families and certainly would more than handle the average car note.
Welfare now consumes one in seven federal and state tax dollars. And it's not being spent very well.
Heritage notes that if all welfare program spending were converted into direct cash payments to the poor, it would be four times the amount needed to raise the income of all poor families above the official poverty line.
