Is Michigan the Poster Child for Hard Times?

This states image has really taken a beating, and it doesn%26#039;t look to improve anytime soon. Michigan%26#039;s economic factors:

1. Unemployment rate (August) 7.4% with the national average at 4.6%

2. Michigan ranks in the top 10 states for home foreclosures

3.Michigan%26#039;s real disposable income is expected to fall 0.5% in 2007, while national real disposable income is expected to grow 2.7%

Recall campaigns are being considered for Gov. Granholm and some of the lawmakers who voted to increase income tax from 3.9% to 4.35% Businesses have been hit with a service tax. We%26#039;ve lost jobs, businesses and without better educated workers Michigan will have a hard time competing with other states, like Massachusetts, California, and North carolina-or even countries with growing numbers of college students, such as India and China.

Could this happen to the rest of this great country if we are not careful in who we elect as our next president?

Is Michigan the Poster Child for Hard Times?postage rate

While the rest of the country is flourishing, Michigan is floundering under the negligent eye of Granholm. Michigan needs to become a Right to Work state, the unions (50k+ full benefits for unskilled labor, wtf?) have killed the Big Three, and thus the economy. I don%26#039;t buy Granholm%26#039;s excuse that Engler is to blame, she%26#039;s in her second consecutive term as governor, she%26#039;s had more than enough time to fix whatever she perceives as a problem. Its just like during the election. I watched her debates, she never accepted any blame, she blamed the republicans for the high budget, and then she blamed the republicans for not increasing the police%26#039;s budget in the Detroit. I really hope she gets recalled, and soon.

Is Michigan the Poster Child for Hard Times? loan

yap, that wonderful bush economy at work.|||no, michigan%26#039;s economy has been in the dumpster ever since 9/11 (granholm was elected in 03). conservatives conveniently overlook this fact everytime they use michigan in their propaganda|||The unions have destroyed Michigan!~!|||Well, let%26#039;s look at the issues:

The failing car industry that has not risen to consumer demands and the fact that the most expensive part of an American made car is the health insurance spent to its workers.

The passage of both the Prop 2s making it unwelcoming environment to people who are not of a priviledged class to stay in Michigan.

The White Flight has hindered economic growth and prevented mass transit systems and so on. Livonia is the whitest city in the nation. I firmly believe that is why Detroit, in particular, has not gentrified as most major US cities have in the past few years.

Graholm inherited the issues so it%26#039;s not entirely here fault. I do also respect that she took a pay cut as governor in acknowledgment of budget issues.|||No, Michigan is the poster child for STUPID. This is not a new condition. They went through this crap in the 70%26#039;s only worse. The learned nothing and continue to keep voting in socialist liberals that keep taking more and more from them. The loaded hourly wage for an auto worker today is $87 a HOUR. (loaded means salary and befits) No wonder the auto Industry can%26#039;t compete. If you look in some antique stores you may be able to find and redistribute the old bumper stickers %26quot;the last person to leave Michigan, Please turn out the lights%26quot;.

I got out back in the 70%26#039;s and never regretted it.|||Michigan%26#039;s economy was in the dumpster back in the 80%26#039;s when I left. I dont%26#039; think it ever fully recovered from Asian auto imports.

LOL Babe - I remember that sticker.|||Most of the stats you list can be traced to the decline in the auto industry. Michigan is where the northeast was years ago when the steel industry tanked. What goes up must come down. After many years of high wages and great jobs things have changed for the worse.

What workers need to do is learn a new skill to become employed in another line of work.|||Take my hand I%26#039;ll walk you to the poorhouse.

(ZardoZ -- for the record it was the saintly Clinton that signed off on NAFTA)|||Yes, don%26#039;t believe all the campaign promises.

Michigan was once a proud state and now everyone I know is worried about their jobs.

NAFTA blew them to Mexico and where ever.

How can our country be SO stupid. Giving our jobs to foreigners?|||After New Orleans but any Democrat city and or state will do.|||I think Michigan is the Poster Child for Liberal politics, especially in the taxation department.

While I was there, they lowered the property tax and raised the sales tax so as to make renters pay a proper share of the total taxation. But, then they started raising the property tax again, because it was so low!|||Michigan is the pattern for the nation. After the passage of NAFTA and other %26quot;free trade%26quot; agreements, jobs began flooding out of the US. Of course this what Bush and his buddies wanted. Other states are following Michigan%26#039;s lead based on the amount of manufacturing in the state. Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania have been hurt badly and it will only get worse. Whenever an advanced industrialized nation has to compete with a third world nation the outcome is always known. It isn%26#039;t that the auto workers were asking for too much (though they were), it%26#039;s that they couldn%26#039;t and wouldn%26#039;t work for a dollar an hour like Mexican and Chinese workers.

The economy doesn%26#039;t look very rosy if you live in the Midwest.

O%26#039; Riley - I voted for Perot - I didn%26#039;t appreciate old Bill selling the country down the river with NAFTA.

After graduating from high school in 1965, Hillary Rodham enrolled in Wellesley College where she majored in political science. She became active in politics and served as president of the Wellesley Young Republicans organization during her freshman year.