downinmich's Blog

Yes, another frustrating day in Michigan is upon me. What is confusing the heck out of me is where are all of the outraged people whos taxes were raised late last year?

Every single incumbent of the Michigan House, that voted to raise our taxes by 11.5%, (the biggest increase in history), was voted back in at the latest primaries!! So obviously, whom ever they are running against, doesn't matter because these tax raiders will be invited back to their jobs. So for those that complain....just stop it already! They continue to raise our taxes because they know that the citizens of this state, will vote them back in just because they are democrats.

I'm sorry but I just don't, "get it"!! Everyone was so angry! People are still hurting. And according to the latest statistics, Michigan has beat it's old record of 66.9, of out-bound movers. So I guess that most people that were angry have just moved out of this state!!

Do any of you even realize what those incumbents are currently working on? Well, I do.

1. Even after hiking our taxes by $1.4 billion, they are threatening to re-monopolize the electrical industry. This by fact will increase our electric bills considerably!!

2. Passing a bill that will allow DTE Energy and Consumers to start billing customers for un-built buildings before they start the actual building. Current law only allows them to start billing us after the building has completed!

3. Macomb County residents are looking at a 25% tax increase from the Democrat controlled Commission. They have been operating on deficits since 2004. And after seeing the election results, they felt pretty confident that people will be ok with a tax increase, so they didn't even wait until after elections to talk about it. Even though they are not running for office this year, they can plainly see that people, "get over it", real quick!

What does Commissioner Phil DiMaria, D-Eastpointe say about the proposed tax increase to Macomb County residents, "If people understand the dire situation the county is in and what it would cost us in layoffs and devastation to our programs...they may support such an initiative"

Are you kidding me? Most people are living with a dire situation and you know what??? We have to CUT OUR SPENDING!!! It seems that nobody in elected office really even gets it!

How about cutting back on the lucrative benefits that those commissioners enjoy! The best benefits around!! The times aren't raining money anymore, and you can't keep coming to me for your $$$!

Come-On Michigan, Wake-Up!! Show these elected officials that you are not just going to sit around and take it! If not I can guarantee you that we will just continue to lose people to other states. When that happens, their tax dollars go with them, and since elected officials never want to do their jobs when it comes to cuts, that leaves less people, TO PAY MORE! It makes no sense, but I guess they know that it doesn't have to........They pretty much have guaranteed jobs, thanks to the Michigan tax-payers!

I believe the time is upon us to see if Granholm actually has any kind of leadership qualities!

If the time isn't now.......then I honestly do not know when it is, to get Detroit out of this whole scandal. When is enough, enough?

What great attention our region is attracting again today!

Step up and lead, Granholm, it's the least you can do for this sorry state!!

A Mayor that is in jail can not lead a city! Nor can he while he is going through this process.

"....The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history." --- Nancy Pelosi (D)

Hhhmmm....

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/200
80710/Legislative.Bonuses/

When are the American people going to, "wake-up", and get rid of these no good politicians? I honestly just don't get it!

And it doesn't matter what party they belong to! A crook is a crook, and they need to be shown the door! We shall see how many more they dig up when the full investigation is completed. I am sure they will find them on both sides of the aisle!!

Our tax dollars paying for this kind of nonsense is unbelievable, especially when most Americans are struggling just to survive!

Where in the world is the outrage from the Detroit residents? I am just beside myself wondering what in the heck it is going to take to get the residents moving?

The Mayor of Detroit will skate on these charges just as he predicted. Not because he is innocent, but because they will have the text messages suppresed! Is this what he meant when he said, "I expect to be fully exonerated of all charges"? If he isn't afraid of the details of the text messages then why the heck are they trying so hard to have them dismissed?

Citizens of Detroit you need to quit sitting by doing nothing. Don't you realize that this is exactly what he knew would happen? He knows that there is no way that the citizens would even bother going through the trouble to try and remove him! I honestly believe that Detroits' citizens deserve so much better than what they are getting. Most people from the city will stand by this mayor just because they think he is being "picked on". But the facts remain. Hard as they may try, the text messages exist. Attempting to get them thrown out as evidence just proves that!

What a shame. I honestly hate the thought that the residents of that city are again, being taken advantage of. They have hearts, and he knows how to prey on that fact!

Here we are looking like fools in Michigan....once again!

Cuts in the budget?! It's laughable to an extent. Then it gets downright maddening! Why are people in this state so easily fooled? Or do you just have your heads in the dirt? Granholm and the legislature have been, "working feverishly", to make cuts in the budget..........only to find out it was all a scam. You call it what you like, I'm calling it what it is. A SCAM!

Yep, spending for this year up in Lansing has actually been increased by $750 million. The only "cuts" were in Granholms $1.3 billion in INCREASED spending plans, which now brings it to the $750 million over last years budget. And don't give me the crap about, well they need more money due to inflation, and whatever other crap you are brainwashed with because its all lies. As usual business goes on like nothing new up in Lansing. The proposed 5% wage cut that legislatures were gonna take......NOPE. Changed their minds. But they managed to hike up their personal office spending by 3%.

People in this state almost deserve what is happening. Nobody seems to give a hoot. Let them spend our money foolishly again, cause trust me......they will be back again for more! That is almost certain. I guess only "real" people need to adjust their spending according to their income.

Lord help us all if and when a democrat takes the White House! They have shown repeatedly that they do not like cutting spending, but "MUST", raise taxes. When does it end? In Michigan I honestly don't think it will. Let's not forget what Macomb Countys' budget mess is shaping up for? $12 million in the red, and department heads refused last year to cut spending, so it only means...............reach into our pockets......AGAIN!

What is our great land coming to? I always believed that the media was suppose to be unbiased and report on facts. Well, most of us know that this is just not the case. All you need to do is talk a few sentences with someone and you can tell where they get their info, (or lack of).

Specifically, I am speaking of the media dis that happened on Monday, Oct. 22. Because of the liberal media being so anti-Bush, they chose not to air an important event. For this I am embarassed and outraged!!  Give it up for FOX, for their coverage!!!!

President Bush presented Lt. Michael Murphys' family with a Medal of Honor, in recognition and tribute for his heroism and sacrifices. He was killed June 28, 2005, by the taliban while phoning for reinforcements.

But our SO liberal media had no problem showing the tape of al Qaeda, desecrating the body of Maj. Troy Gilbert. This to me is so insane and almost unbelievable at the same time! What ever happened to Americans being Americans? Instead the media has been reduced to political agendas which means alot of people are being FED what they choose to feed them. Sad thing is, most people don't even get it!!

I, as an American, say thank you to our troops! Thank-you for fighting a battle so that my family can live the way that we do. You don't get enough thank-you's lately because everyone is too busy debating the war instead of focusing on the issues. I can't thank-you enough, but do know that alot of people here do support you and wish and pray for your safe return!!!!!

Just so I get this off my chest right off the bat......I am a HUGE animal lover, so this is not about animals. I have 5 dogs, a cat and a 150 gallon aquarium.

This is about fiscal responsibility, at a time when Michigan really seems to be lacking any!!!!!

As of this past Monday, we, (the taxpayers), have started to build a $318,000 fence for turtles. Yep, that's right, turtles! The good ole environmentalists, and our state government have decided that this is a, "need" at a time when people are being forced to pay more in taxes to help balance Jennifer's MESS! If our state was going through a good financial period then this plan would definately be acceptable. But, to make Michigan taxpayers pay for this kind of nonsense at a time like now, is just totally outrageous!

U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, was at least paying attention, and he sent Granholm a letter stating his views on their lack of prioritization! He stated, "Citizens have effectively been told that Lansing is indifferent to their sacrifice". (I couldn't have said it any better myself).

I guess turtles only live in the 3 mile stretch that they are fencing in! Man, we Michiganders are really starting to look like a bunch of idiots!

Okay, actually lies. Fibs is too nice of a word!

The more I research about this woman, the more angrier I get! I can't even stand to see her face on t.v. or in the paper any more!  Her latest claim of: I have slashed, (another funny word she uses often), 9,000 jobs from the payroll since being in office! Fact: The month before Granholm took office, there were 52,608 state employees. As of January 2007, there were 53,024, if my math is correct......that would be an increase of more than 600!!

How much more can people keep standing behind this phony? She also stated that State employees gave up some money this budget too! Wrong again!! They got a pay hike this year that equals, $150 MILLION! Gotta love her other famous expression.....I've cut to the bone!  But let's not talk about her husbands cushy little job across the street from her, with his 2-3 highly paid assistants who make $150,000 a year!

Okay, let's hear it. I'm sure there are a couple of people that will come up with some stupid reasons for these facts. ......Oh yeah, it's Engler's fault!!

We aren't even into a full month of Jen's tax grab, and we have managed to raise our "top" unemployment rate from, 7.4% to 7.5%.

Yes, it is small. But it is an increase! Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana has surpassed Michigan by a long shot in job creation! Now how is that for Hurricane Jennifer. She did more damage than a state that is still recovering from a hurricane!

Did I mention that our unemployment is also the highest in the nation! We even top Louisiana! Give it up to the Gov!!!

Should we even be surprised? Where is the urgency when it comes to the "cuts" in the budget? If our legislatures allow this to happen I hope Michiganders will be outraged! Boy, when it came to the tax increases ole Jenny was practically having a heart attack demanding a budget deal! Now that the are to be working on the supposive "cuts", they can't seem to get that job done neither. And I will bet that if they do manage to get it done, there will not be any real cutting going on. ANyone who pays attention to the news already knows that it is not even real cuts that were proposed anyways. Only cuts were to be in Jenny's proposed extra spending!!!

And now it seems they can't even get this done! There will probably be more money "shifting" going on again, versus "cuts". And here they thought that we would get over the tax cuts....how can we when we are shown AGAIN that they are incompetent! How are we to take their taxes seriously when they are showing us again that they do not know how to get along enough to come up with a real solution! Which proves that their tax increases just don't make any sense neither!

When will we get fed up enough to throw these "BUMS" out on their rears!

I figured I was on a roll so I had to get this off my chest!

This just adds to my complaint that dems like big government! Oh, I'm sorry I meant, "LOVE", and "HUGE"!

Hillary's greatest proposal yet, have you heard about it? It's laughable, but then again it isn't!

This was taken from Larry Elders column:

Every baby born recieves $5,000! The cost? SHe doesn't know. Will U.S.-born children of illegal aliens be eligible? No word on that yet. Who pays? Don't know. 

___________________________________________

Of course the money fairies up in the sky will pay for it! To me this just proves that democrats love to cater to the "poor". These are the people that obviously would totally love this idea. Sad thing is, if it weren't for keeping the poor, poor the democrats more than likely would be out of jobs.

Another sad fact of ole Hillary: During the 109th Congress, she proposed $170.8 billion in expenditure hikes. She's the senates seventh-biggest spender!! Just proves my point that they have way too much time on their hands. More time spent at "work" means coming up with more ways to grab our money!

Finally, her latest spend-o-rama, (taken from column in News), is her "government medicine scheme". This mandate rich program would cost taxpayers $110 billion ANNUALLY! When is enough enough? We get taxed federally, state, county, and city!

I don't think they will be happy until we are handing over our entire paychecks!

One last word to the happy tax payers: I'm tired of you and our government impling that Michigan residents are denying the state tax revenues that it rightly should have. Our tax burden is 11.2%. ANd just because the income tax went back down in the 90's other taxes rose, including property taxes, sin taxes, the sales tax and a variety of additional fees for services. Our tax burden reflects growth in Lansing's spending compared with the private worker's ability to finance government growth.

And there have been No true reform or cutting going on in Lansing neither. One of her own House members has already admitted that the only "cuts" are the cuts of increased spending. So once again Michiganians are being lied to about the budget. Most are probably thinking that there are going to be actual cuts. Yeah, right.

Yes, I am tired of hearing......republicans just don't want any taxes! Are you kidding me? This is not what government was created to do. Even though democrats seem to have much time to come with even more, (schemes), to tax everything that moves.

The point alot of people are missing is that this is not a revenue problem that created this budget problem. The fact is, OUR money was mismanaged big-time! Three state departments alone over-spent their budgets this year. Let us not forget that this is against the law but nothing happened to any of them! And one of the departments was the Correctionals Dept. So don't accuse me of being against taxes. I don't need BIGGER government. And this is exactly what democrats do, expand expand.

Another issue being skipped over is Granholm's NO-BID contract on the State Police Building that was "given" to her freind! She lied on camera and stated that the U of M has been asking for their property back so this had to be done. The U of M president says no such thing was told to the Governor. So now instead of us tax-payers paying $1.00 per year to lease land from U of M, we get to spend $116 million to "LEASE" a building from granholm's buddy. How can anybody dispute these findings? Even more importantly how on earth could anybody possibly be in support of such lies and deception? Oh, and by the way, the State Police don't even want the new building. They stated that they would be happy with $2 million in renovations. The officers and others in charge call the whole deal a, "boondoggle"!

So spare me with the anti-tax stuff. We know we must pay taxes. What we don't need is Huge government that is getting bigger all of the time. It wasn't "difficult", as many like to claim, to raise taxes. The difficult things would have been,

First to get rid of the living wage law. This little scam costs Michigan taxpayers an extra $250 million per year. This law dictates that wages and benefits on all tax payer supported projects must be determined by union-scale wages, even though only 22% of Michigan's construction work crews choose to belong to a union. And this "prevailing wage" does not mean a fair market wage neither, it's one that is artificially inflated by 40 to 60 percent. When Ohio suspended its prevailing wage law on school construction in 1997, they showed an impressive $487.9 million in savings with no reduction in quality.  And when Michigan did it for 30 months from Dec. 1994 to June 1997, 11,000 more construction jobs were created.

Second, quit listening to special interests. If our lawmakers were truly looking out for its citizens then no lobbyists should have been near that capital during discussions. All you need to do is look at the list of service taxes to figure out who didn't have the cash to send their "people" to Lansing to fight!

Raising taxes difficult? Hey if you really like kidding yourself, then go back into your closet and keep repeating that to yourself, you may actually start believing it!