Michigan Government As A Role Model?

Via the Planet Gore blog that Obama called Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm one of “the best governors in the country.”

If Obama really sees Michigan as a role model, then America is in for real trouble, given that Michigan has the by far highest unemployment rate in America, at 15.2% compared to the national average of 9.5% and 12.4% in Rhode Island and 11.6% in California.

To be fair, that can’t entirely be blamed on Granholm. The state of Michigan is ground zero in the breakdown in U.S. car manufacturing and Michigan would likely have had above average unemployment under any governor.

But Granholm have made matters worse through here left-liberal policies, with for example a minimum wage significantly above the average (though the federal increase enacted two days ago have reduced that difference) and most importantly her environmentalist zeal that have not only included not fighting the federal fuel mileage standards that have hurt Detroit car makers, but also wasting hugh sums of money on “renewable energy” projects.

Now Granholm and her fellow Michigan Democrats plan to go even further by further increases in regulation, including an increase in the minimum wage to $10 per hour, increasing state unemployment benefits (using what money?)a one year moratorium on foreclosures, mandating businesses to provide health care for workers and force energy producers to reduce their rates by 20%.

The latter proposal is especially stupid since they at the same time tries to make energy producers to rely on more expensive (”renewable”) energy sources. Unless the state of Michigan dramatically increases subsidies (again, using what money?) this will result in power shortages and blackouts, something which will further damage Michigan’s business climate.

As these crazy policies are indirectly praised by Obama, America should be very worried.

Click here to read the entire article…

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Related posts:

1. Politicians Act Surprised by Lack of "Business Criteria" for Decisions at New Government Motors
2. Solid Analysis of Michigan’s ‘Economic Development’ Bureaucracy
3. The Action of Someone Who Follows Friedman Rather than Rothbard
4. Paul Krugman’s Misleading Tax Comparison
5. Ron Paul’s Visit to Grand Rapids, West Michigan

Tags: America, Blackouts, Business Climate, California, Car Makers, Detroit, Detroit Car, energy, Energy Producers, Environmentalist, Force Energy, Fuel Mileage, governor jennifer granholm, Jennifer Granholm, Liberal Policies, Michigan, Michigan Democrats, Michigan Government, michigan governor jennifer granholm, Obama, Power Shortages, Renewable Energy Sources, Rhode Island, Role Model, State Of Michigan, state unemployment benefits, U.S., Unemployment, Unemployment Rate In America

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 26th, 2009 at 11:19 pm and is filed under Austrian Economics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.