Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has a plan to restore America.
"We operate as though we are not in a global economy," says Granholm. "In theory, free markets and laissez faire make perfect sense, but in practice, our competitors are eating us for lunch."
One of Granholm's critical points is that states simply don't have the resources to compete against other countries. What they end up doing is simply stealing jobs from each other -- a zero-sum game for the nation as a whole in which everyone races to the bottom trying to create favorable investment climates.
Here is her coup de maitre...
"I listed the bill numbers of all the tax cuts I signed as governor in the book for a reason. Ninety-nine of them! Big ones, small ones, targeted -- whatever! If you think that small government and tax cuts are the way you are going to grow the economy, Michigan's unemployment rate should be the lowest in the country, because I cut more than any state in the nation by far! We also cut more government employees than any state in the country. Our corporate tax burden dropped the greatest of any state in the country."
"Rick Perry, interestingly enough, took all of his stimulus money and invested it and grew the public sector in Texas. Texas' public sector actually grew the most during the past decade and Michigan's got cut the most during the past decade. And Texas has the best job creation and Michigan had the worst. What does that tell you?"
It is refreshing to read about the real life consequences resulting from the rhetoric and theories thrown around by many of our naive and ideologically misguided politicians. What works and what doesn't. Granholm gets it and delivers the goods in this article. A recommended read with sharp observations and irrefutable talking points.
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