The Continuing Michigan Partial Shut-Down Mess

The continuing saga of the partial shut-down mess in my home state proceeds unabated. Apparently the Michigan media is saying that there has been some progress in the talks regarding the shut-down nonsense, but that doesn't say much, as far as I'm concerned.

My governor Jennifer Granholm is not wasting any time trying to blackmail the Legislature into hiking the state's flat income tax rate from 3.9 percent to either 4.3 percent or 4.6 percent, whichever is decided first. She claims to be pushing the tax hike in the state to "close a $1.75 billion gap in the budget," yet she offers no proof that raising the tax rate is going to rectify the mess that the state's in -- a mess that Granholm and the Democrats largely created for the state.

Since she's not even remotely interested in slashing the spending, tax, and regulatory levels statewide, the chance of an impending financial implosion in this state is becoming greater with each passing moment.

Not only does Jenny want to raise the flat income tax, she's also trying to redouble on her efforts to push for an extension of the state's sales tax (which is 6 percent) to services currently not covered under the law, such as movie tickets, performing arts, accounting services, etc. (There's a litany of other services that are targeted to be taxed under the new extension, but that's not a surprise.)

The real answer to this insanity is to dramatically slash spending, taxes, and regulations, many laws that impede in the market process, and truly privatizing many government services and functions that can work better in a laissez-faire free market. A "right to work" law is seriously needed for Michigan, considering many other states do have such laws on the books and their economies are doing far better than states that don't carry them. If the Legislature and the Governor were to sign and pass such a law, there would be a significant turn around economically and financially.

Until such legitimate reforms are implemented, the state will not survive the financial and economic implosion that is yet to come. Even if the Legislature, Granholm, and the special interests get their way, the "fixes" -- that is, the Democrats' beloved "balanced budget" -- will pave the way for the Legislature to boost spending, which can, in turn, lead to higher taxes again. The cycle would just keep continuing. The state will not survive it at the rate it continues to go.

Michigan to Partially Shut Down

Governor Jennifer Granholm, the statist Democrat who thinks that boosting Michigan's flat income tax from 3.9 percent to either 4.3 percent or 4.6 percent is the be-all, end-all to rectifying the state's fiscal budget crisis, has been bribing and blackmailing the GOP and the entire Legislature to either go along with the tax increase or face the dire consequence of their decision. The consequence happens to be a partial shut-down of the entire State of Michigan.

Of course Granholm, in her televised State of the Address speech she gave from her gubernatorial office in Lansing, is demanding that the Republicans go along with a "balanced budget bill," which is a piece of legislation that would call for a 18 percent increase of the flat tax or face a partial shutdown of the state. She sternly said that she would not accept a budget bill that would provide "massive cuts to education, health care, and public safety." (Emphasis only.)

It really all boils down to this: the people as well as Granholm and the entire Legislature made their political beds; now they're going to have lie in them. It's their fault that they brought the state to this point; now they have to deal with it and accept the consequences of their actions.

This state is paying a high economic, social, and political price -- all because of the inexcusable, unjustifable decisions made by the electorate and the pathetic decisions by Granholm and the Legislature.

While I do have some sympathy for the voters on one hand, I don't feel sorry for their stupidity on the other one. They brought this mess on themselves; now, they must live with their decision.

Serve Oversalted Burger to Cop, Go to Jail

[Cross-posted at Libertas.]

Now does that seem like an abuse of police power to you? Or doesn't it?

A young lady working at a McDonald's accidentally spilled too much salt on some of the meat. She and a co-worker and her supervisor attempted to wipe the excess salt off before serving the meat in hamburgers. In hindsight, perhaps they should have thrown the meat away but could they have known in advance that they couldn't get enough of the excess salt off? Well, the police officer in question returned to the fast food restaurant complaining that the burger made him sick. He questioned the young lady and then arrested her for 'serving food without regard for the consumer's well-being." Samples of the "tainted" meat were even sent off to the crime lab.

The young lady, Kendra Bull, gets to the heart of the matter: "If it was too salty, why did (Adams) not take one bite and throw it away?" For crying out loud, it's just salt!