Michigan already has the nation's highest unemployment rate -- 7.4 percent in August -- and just went through a two-day strike involving the United Auto Workers and General Motors Corp. Disrupting services from state parks to road construction risked further upsetting an already unsettled public.

But Boyd said the months-long debate over Michigan's new budget is about defining the state's future...

And about that she is absolutely right.  This massive Democrat tax hike does indeed define Michigan's future and it ain't pretty.  Not only does it steal $1,350,000,000.00 from the pockets of working moms and dads across the state but it takes $1,350,000,000.00 out of the private sector... out of the economy.  

We're the only state to lose jobs over the last four years, the only state to lose jobs last year, the only state to lose jobs thus far this year with the highest unemployment rate since the nation finally shook off it's Jimmy Carter fatigue, almost twice the national average.  And the Democrats in Lansing are breaking out in applause after successfully pushing the state into it's first ever government shutdown before riding the votes of the Democrat legislative majority to a job killing tax hike the likes of which we haven't seen in twenty-four years.

The DetNews reports:

House Republican Leader Craig DeRoche of Novi called the tax hikes "a victory of the bureaucracy and special interests and a loss for families struggling to makes ends meet. This is one of the largest spending sprees in Michigan history."

And here's the dirty little secret.  Next year... they're coming back for more.  Sure, there were a few cursory reforms approved late last night.  The GOP managed to work a good sized MESSA reform out of the entire affair but if you're looking for substantive structural spending cuts and reforms, well, write me when you find them.  And if you come across the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant anywhere along the way make sure you let me know about those too.  

The Democrat solution to Michigan's fiscal crisis was a massive Democrat tax hike.  A one-time fix for a chronic budget imbalance.  And when you take $1.35 billion out of the local economy to feed the bureaucracy monster guess what... you're not going to be kick-starting the job market.

The FREEP offers this from the Senate:

In the end, (Senate Majority Leader Mike) Bishop said, Granholm and Democrats who control the House were able to flex their political will for the tax increases.

And men and women struggling to make ends meet from one corner of the state to the next are waking up this morning to the cold, dark reality that Lansing worries more about feeding their own bloated bureaucracy than it does about the ability of Michigan moms and dads to feed their families.  

But we shouldn't be surprised.  Governor Granholm told us in her State of the State address that she wanted to raise taxes by $2 billion.  Suppose we should count our blessings that the Democrats only managed to ram through $1.35 billion.