Credit John Auchter / Michigan Radio
So it turns out that rebooting an economy after the shock and lingering effects of a global pandemic is not easy. In fact, it s pretty stilted and awkward.
All this has people understandably frustrated. Many have money to spend, but with limited options. Service industries (such as restaurants, resorts, and hotels) cannot attract enough low-wage workers to staff up. And many manufactured items (such as furniture, appliances, and automobiles) are simply not available because of disrupted supply chains.
Thank goodness online gambling in Michigan became legal back in January at least there is somebody out there eager and willing to take our money! Apparently, many Michigan officials are just delighted with the way it has taken off. And also, calls to problem gambling helplines have spiked tremendously. I wonder if the increased tax revenue will offset the write-offs necessary for all of the personal bankruptcies?
Credit John Auchter for Michigan Radio
I usually try to stay away from sweeping generalizations all workers good, all politicians bad that sort of thing. But there has been so much partisan hackery lately (especially in Lansing) that I felt a need to comment, and sweeping generalization seemed to be the best angle to take.
Michigan is sitting on a bunch of money right now, federal funds from the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan. Much of how it will be spent is up to our state government in Lansing, which is by design and mostly a good thing. But unfortunately a significant portion has been held up by the Legislature playing a game of chicken with Governor Whitmer, using it as leverage to extract political gain.
Credit John Auchter / Michigan Radio
If there was one good thing that came out of the Great Recession, it s that it finally made Michigan and the industrial Midwest come to terms with reality: The massive employment from living-wage manufacturing was not coming back. No state, no country, no town was going to be magically turned around by some new assembly plant. That was the old model. It was fun while it lasted, but that era is definitely over.
As a consequence, Michigan lost population. Actually in this past decade we started to gain population again, just not as fast as some other states in the South and West. But now we have the opportunity to build on some of our strengths.
Credit John Auchter / Michigan Radio
I hate to provide the man with any additional media attention, but Michigan s own Ted Nugent was in the news this week having recently proclaimed that COVID-19 was not real, and shortly thereafter announcing he contracted it (and, as advertised, it was not pleasant for him). No additional comment.
Also recently, it was disclosed that Governor Whitmer had traveled to Florida before being vaccinated. This also pinged my hypocrisy meter, but it turns out Whitmer was visiting her elderly father who is battling a chronic illness. Also, for somebody who has credibly been threatened by kidnapping plots, it s understandable why she kept this visit unannounced, even though she s a public figure.
Credit John Auchter / Michigan Radio
Bridge Michiganhas done an excellent job summarizing the voting plan Michigan Republicans are proposing. They compare this plan with the package recently put into law in Georgia. It s a good way to get some context because there has been a lot of exaggeration and misinterpretation.
These packages aren t entirely bad. But they contain plenty of bad that either directly or as a consequence will suppress votes. Regardless, I think the biggest reasons to question the motivations of the Michigan GOP is that (1) the 2018 and 2020 elections did not go their way and (2) it has been verified over and over (and over) that those elections were extremely well run and without fraud. So a significant package of ambitious legislation for something that wasn t an actual problem raises some red flags.