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    Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?

    Raise the curtain.

    Is That A Sucking Sound I Hear?


    By JGillman, Section News
    Posted on Fri Sep 17, 2010 at 10:56:21 AM EST
    Tags: Michigan, MEDC, Political favors, Corruption, Waste, Fraud (all tags)

    To Meet the legal obligation and receive $125,000,000.00 from Michigan Taxpayers, A123 needs to create only how many jobs?  In a Capitol Confidential piece today, Tom McMillin says:

    McMillin poured through the legal documents on the deal and said that the company only needs to create 300 jobs by Dec. 31, 2016 to get most of the state money and doesn't need to create a single job to get the $249 million in federal aid. A123 Systems would have to create 350 fulltime jobs by August 2012 to have a $4 million loan forgiven.

    "We keep hearing all these grandiose plans and claims of thousands of jobs, yet whenever I've tried to put those inflated numbers as requirements for getting our millions of taxpayer dollars, they always say, 'No,' " McMillin wrote in an e-mail.

    "The fact is, A123 only has to have 300 new jobs to get over $100 million in checks (subsidies) from Michigan taxpayers. That's over $300,000 per job of our money and over $700,000 per job of federal money (which is debt laid on our kids).  Real, independent studies show that these schemes, while getting some headlines, actually cost Michigan jobs, because existing businesses pay for those subsidies with higher taxes that would have gone to either preventing layoffs or hiring new employees."

    Unless my calculator app on this PC has another one of those floating point problems of yore, I see $416,666 that Michigan taxpayers are paying per each required job in addition to the two times that of federal money.

    How on earth can ANY government justify paying that kind of money for 300 $30K/yr jobs?

    Unless that government is TRYING to destroy itself on purpose.  Somehow the scythe of economic reality has only nicked our state in the last 11 years.  

    Yeah.. I said it.

    The MEDC, formed in 1999, is the antithesis to sound state financial management.  Its very existence offers only an occasional opportunity for a political fanfare event, that is followed by silence of effective action.  The major plans it commits to have never seemed to materialize the projected employment gain claims that accompanied the fanfare.  To nourish itself it cuts off an arm or a leg of our economy, purporting to grow a finger.

    Soon, there will be nothing left.

    I suppose if you were Granholm, you might want a worse condition on the horizon to make your own miserable failures seem pleasant in contrast.  The resilience of Michiganders should be commended, but the unwillingness to stand up against such incompetence begets an opinion, (at least from this writer) that many folks in this state must surely still believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or even Tinkerbell.

    We cannot pixie dust our way out of this.

    A non stop call for the dissolution of the MEDC is paramount.  The failure of accountability for results from such programs pales especially in the face of numbers as seen with the battery manufacturing operation that on its FACE is ridiculous.  The big pile of money to subsidize a company that doesn't seem able to mange a profit does not promise great results for Michigan.

    The continued use of the MEDC or other economic stimulus programs for the political benefit of a few elected officials must end, and the sooner the better.

    < Happy Constitution Day. | Michigan's 1st Congressional District Suffers Under Obama >


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    Display: Sort:
    Is That A Sucking Sound I Hear? (none / 0) (#1)
    by Bruce on Sat Sep 18, 2010 at 09:10:30 AM EST
    Jason, don't you find it... sad... that the Democratic Party fails to connect the spending of such extraordinary amounts of money per job with the tax burden on business... and ultimately individuals?

    Take all of the stimulus money and determine what that is as a portion of federal and state taxes ... then reduce taxes by that percentage and forget about doling out money for programs like A123.

    • Yes.. sad. by JGillman, 09/18/2010 09:25:00 AM EST (none / 0)
      • conflict of interest? by Tom McMillin, 09/20/2010 08:13:12 AM EST (none / 0)
        • Touché by Corinthian Scales, 09/20/2010 06:42:07 PM EST (none / 0)
          • nope by Tom McMillin, 09/20/2010 10:18:55 PM EST (none / 0)
        • Whaaa?? Meeee? by JGillman, 09/20/2010 07:03:14 PM EST (none / 0)
    Corporate welfare? (none / 0) (#3)
    by geek49203 on Sat Sep 18, 2010 at 11:25:05 PM EST
    Next time someone comes up with a rant about corporate welfare, let's mention this one.  

    Granted, not all successful movies are done by the major movie houses, but let's face it, most are.  

    Either we supported major international conglomerates with our tax money, or we supported ill-fated dreams of producers who had a dream and a script (maybe just the dream?).  

    I guess the best that would happen would be that one of the movies would "hit" and some little nowhere place in Michigan would become the next tourist trap, but that seems to be a longer shot than the producer with the dreams...

    What? And give up show business? (none / 0) (#4)
    by geek49203 on Sat Sep 18, 2010 at 11:28:46 PM EST
    A man walks into a bar and orders a drink.  

    Immediately the bartender notices that this man stinks.  In fact, he reeks, and the bartender asks the man why he stinks.

    "You see" the patron replied, "It's my job to take care of the elephants (okay, donkeys?) in the circus.  And sometimes they get constipated, and we have to flush them out with a hose.  And sometimes, like today, I just don't get out of the way before things happen."

    The bartender is horrified.  "Why don't you get a better job?" the bartender asks.  

    "What, and give up show business???" was patron's response....

    ****

    Give up this program, end the stink, and give up show business?  Mitch Albom can't believe that we would!!

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