BOOM! On Thursday night, Governor Rick Snyder will spend an hour or so during his State of the State address spinning a tale about the many wonderful things he’s done for our state. We’re sure to hear many references to Michigan being a “Comeback State” which those of us who are actually paying attention know to be a myth. Progress […]

Creative strongarming? Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has said for some time that he expects the Detroit Institute of Arts to come up with a half billion dollars of what can only be called ransom to help settle Detroit’s bankruptcy crisis. The expectation had the result of pitting the pensions of retired Detroit workers against priceless pieces of art held […]

It’s getting very deep in here… Earlier this month, I wrote about how Michigan Republicans were going to soon begin a campaign of deceit in which they attempt to convince Michigan voters that they are tax-cutting warriors determined to return budget surplus funds to the taxpayers to whom they belong. This week, House Speaker Jase Bolger began a propaganda campaign […]

Ka-CHING! Back in November, the Snyder administration gave selected members of its staff in the Department of Treasury astonishingly large raises. It was needed, they said, to attract the best and the brightest to the positions (despite the fact that these people were already in these positions.) One guy, the state’s chief investment officer Jon Braeutigam, got a 90% pay […]

Cheering for the failure of something that helps Americans is un-American If you stop by the website of my Congressman, Tim Walberg, these days the first thing you see is a request to “Tell Us Your Story”: If you look at a little closer, the story he wants you to tell is about your experience with the Affordable Care Act. […]

The only thing we have to fear is … heartless Republicans The U.S. Senate has passed legislation that would extend unemployment benefits for 1.3 million Americans who saw it run out due to Congressional inaction in December of 2013. The bill extends the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program which provides additional weeks of benefits after state-based unemployment benefits come to an […]

Rick Snyder the MINO: Moderate in Name Only Today, the Michigan Chapter of the Sierra Club released a scorecard rating Governor Rick Snyder on his record regarding energy, environment, good government and related issues. Spoiler alert: He failed. Miserably. He received a rating of 25%. The Scorecard includes 32 key decisions made by Gov. Snyder on environmental issues including 25 […]

Comeback state? Ferreals? The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its November unemployment numbers and, for the first time since May, Michigan’s number went down. To 8.8%. Almost 2 points above the national average of 7.0%. Here’s how our numbers have tracked the national average since late 2010 (November data not included): You can play with this graph yourself HERE. The […]

They hate it when you call them on their hypocrisy Yesterday I posted a tweet that went pretty viral on Twitter and on Facebook. Anne worked her magic and, by the afternoon, it had become this meme which went even more viral: Last evening, journalist E.J. Dionne retweeeted it (and again this morning). This caused all manner of self-described libertarians […]

They think you’re stupid and gullible. Don’t prove them right. In February of 2012, I penned a piece titled “The tax timebomb that explodes in Michigan in 2012 is MUCH worse than you thought”. In it, I showed how Michigan Republicans raised taxes on over half of the people in our state. Worse than that, the brunt of the tax […]

Bigot is as bigot does Anti-marriage equality bigots in Utah have asked the Supreme Court to halt same-sex marriages in their state after a federal judge found their statewide ban unconstitutional. Since the decision, same sex couples have been getting married in droves. The petitioners today described each of these marriages this way: Each one, the state said in its […]