Today I read in the newspaper about the new Honda plant soon to be built in Indiana.  Contrasted with that was a bold headline talking about buyouts overwhelming Ford.  While one letter to the editor suggested taxing those who don't buy UAW-made cars, the reality of life is that the Big 3 are experiencing what others before them have and have not lived to tell about.

In my former life, I was an accountant for Top 200 companies, some of which were union steelworker companies.  The steelworker companies are no longer in business.  The non-union companies remain.  For all of the union reps' rants about greedy corporations and attempts at disingenuous class warfare, I've worked for companies which have made as little as 6% net profit after paying 80-90 cents on the dollar for labor and taxes.  Are there bad actors in corporate America?  Certainly.  Corporations are nothing more than other individuals who, rather than getting a regular paycheck, take on increased risk and investment in the hope of increased reward.

I grew up many moons ago in northeastern Pennsylvania.  Back then and even up until the 1980's, the apparel business was a very large union which kept us in shirts, blouses, swimsuits, and wind breakers.  The apparel industry had been in the area for generations.  At first, daughters followed mothers into the shops.  Over time, money from these jobs sent kids to college and on to the learned professions.  When the companies could no longer afford the increasing demands of the unions, one by one, they went out of business.  Today, few remain in the area.  Ingersoll Rand, another regional manufacturer, met a similar fate.  Their facility in Phillipsburg, NJ, at one time employed 13,500 individuals.  At last count that number now hovers, pitifully around 1200.  Mack Trucks world headquarters in Allentown is no longer there.  Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem, PA had 30,000 workers at one time, and now they, too, are gone. 

In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that everyone in my family, every friend of my family had a union job.  As a matter of fact, both my aunt and uncle were shop stewards in various companies they eventually put out of business.

After leaving the world of accounting, I forged successful businesses in real estate and investments in New York and Pennsylvania, being recognized for being in the top 1% of realtors in the state.  After semi-retiring at 55, I bought a home on the Finger Lakes to get out of the rat race and do some fishing.  Despite my intent to enjoy a quiet retirement, I ended up picking up a few hours at a new local Home Depot to see my daughter through law school.  Talking with the young people in the break room at the store, I listened to their stories of being laid off from Corning Glass.  They had associates degrees from the local community college and had been making approx $20/hr at Corning.  Now they were making $12.50 at Home Depot plus benefits.  It might come as a surprise to some that they actually were glad to have found work at the store and were happy knowing that there they had a better path to advancement due to the high rate of growth. 

Corning Glass was unionized and very generous to their employees.  Many of the long-time factory workers were millionaires on paper through the stocks and stock options they had received over the years.  I heard from many employees that when Corning stock plummeted and they no longer were millionaires, they sold their Florida homes and had to winter over in New York.  This goes to show that unions cannot protect employees from everything--and especially not from a powerful and volatile marketplace.

Back in the 80's, I knew housewives with no college education who were making $50-60K per year selling real estate.  They did not have to be geniuses, but had to be able to work hard on behalf of their clients and call on their God-given abilities.  To get my New York sales license I took a 15-20 minute test.  Not nuclear science.  Point is, you don't have to be overly educated to make money in this country.  Governments just have to give entrepreneurs the right reasons to come to and invest in their state.  What I love most about entrepreneurs is that they are not reliant on any person or company, they do not expect to be handed a livelihood, they just need government to get out of their way and let them achieve.  I know individuals who have 4 year educations who are making good salaries at McDonald's.  You might laugh, but they still have their jobs and they are contributing to our tax base.  They have developed high level management skills in real world settings and are confident enough to be judged on their achievement. 

In Pennsylvania, the response to the changing economy was well thought out and acted upon swiftly with miles of industrial parks and business parks laid out around major thoroughfares.  They brought in clean industry to fill these places before the final crash came.  Through acceptance, vision, proper government investment of taxpayers' money, and a public weariness of the over-reliance on manufacturing, Pennsylvanians avoided the hardships Michigan is facing today.  However, it required people to challenge the mindset that their grandfather's job would one day be their own.  Personally, my father and both grandfathers were engineers on the railroad.  Even my father, with only a 3rd grade education, saw the demise of the railroad coming.  

Fortunately, Pennsylvania saw the inevitable decline of the unions coming back in the 70's.  Unfortunately, Michigan evidently did not, or chose not to.  The facts were there.  And that's what we're talking about tomorrow.

As Michigan's economy spirals further out of control and Michigan families worry they may have to do more with less, Governor Jennifer Granholm feels it appropriate to ask the taxpayers of Michigan to pay more in increased taxes and those cute little fees she comes up with when folks tire of the term "taxes".  At the same time, her husband--a non-office holder and private citizen--is enjoying several highly compensated ($80,000-100,000/yr), publicly-funded staffers.  (Think Tyco's Dennis Kowlowski's $2M toga birthday party for his wife.)  We shouldn't be surprised.  State workers have long told about being required to attend work-place training given by Daniel Granholm Mulhern and/or his company for which we, the citizens, have also been paying.

Amazingly, the audacity doesn't stop there. 

Now the Governor is planning to slash Michigan's state trooper level while simultaneously releasing convicted criminals from prison and providing them with assistance as they re-enter already vulnerable communities and an already crowded job market.  

Folks, I've come to believe Michigan is experiencing battered spouse syndrome.  No matter how much insult to injury this incompetent Governor seems to thrust upon Michigan's struggling families, with her November re-election, it appears they are glutton for more. 

In my own life, as a retired person, I find it irksome and irresponsible that the Governor would now like to raise the fishing license fees for senior citizens 3-4 times the present rate.  So much for taking my grandson fishing.  Her advisory committee recently said that raising the state tax will only mean an additional $60-70 burden per person.  That might not sound like a lot to the ex-Governors on that committee, or to the college President, but when senior citizens receive a social security increase of only 3-4 per cent per year while their other expenses continue to climb, the poor will be getting poorer and that newly acquired revenue will soon be eaten up by an increase in the number of individuals relying upon government assistance.

Finally, as yet further proof of her audacity, Governor Granholm and her colleagues on the lunatic fringe, want to "help" Michigan's young families by taxing, of all things, coin operated laundry services, diaper services, debt counseling, and employment agencies. 

Maybe in the fairy tale land of Berkeley, or in the elite and hallowed halls of Harvard (where 25% of students can't even recall when Lincoln served as President) that makes sense, but in the real world--not so much. 

Like actual battered spouses, Michiganders need to face the reality of life--things aren't changing no matter what promises you are hearing.  It's time to say enough is enough--I want to live in sanity.  Establish your boundaries, call your elected representatives, regain control of your own future and vote out of office those who abuse your generous spirit and seek to control your financial well being.

Tomorrow we will be talking about the apparel industry, steel workers, and of course, Michigan's autos.  You won't want to miss this look into the future as we consider lessons from the past.

 

This time it’s for me and my retirement. 

I’m being called away from my lazy days fishing and back into action defending my country from left-wing lunacy and yellow-bellied politics of appeasement, governance by press release, and policy by focus group.  I long for the days of principled decision-making from the gut of good men and women like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. 

 

After being patriotic all my life (and what a life it’s been!) I hate to see what's going on around us in terms of taxes and wasteful spending, the deference we give all these wacky movements out of the mainstream, the dumbing down of our children (nearing the method used by communist countries of supplanting the teaching of basics with values indoctrination), the moral blight of pornography/drugs/crime, and how public servants lure votes from people by promising them something (insert feel-good government program here) for nothing and then charging folks for it when it can actually be acquired by individuals cheaper.  I’m not sure if I’m more upset with the individuals in government for wiggling the bait, or for those simple enough to gobble it up.  Ever hear the saying “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”?  I have—and now you have, too.  Do America a favor—tell a friend.  Folks, we’ve really dropped the ball.  The guards obviously have been asleep at their posts. 

 

I’m also absolutely astonished that perhaps the most hostile places for religion today are in our own Christian churches.  Seems these days churches aren't talking about the Bible—the source of the concept of inherent freedom.  They’re now quoting from a new, more “enlightened,” globally acceptable text—The Gospel of Social Justice—made up by a consensus of liberal elites and non-Christians.  Whew!  Good thing religion isn’t a bedrock of our greatness or we’d all be in trouble as we find ourselves in this critical time in history—oh wait!  Oops!  Oh well, moving on.  Can’t afford to be distracted by a little thing like the source of our historic national strength.  De Tocqueville?  Never heard of him.

 

Then there’s the pesky little notion of facts.  Consider the press.  These are real people with their own take on things.  In the past, as a service to their thinking readers, they scoured their writings for traces of bias which belied their claims of neutrality.  Not today—we’ve got a ghastly chimera—part reporter, part commentator.  Even our scientists are struggling to stick to the facts.  Without them, we are just a-blowin’ in the wind—and no one seems to care.  For a time some believed the advent of the internet would help.  In fact the opposite has happened and we now struggle to identify facts camouflaged among urban myths and other distractions from serious thought. 

 

For proof one needs look no further than Michigan’s recent elections.  Despite her staggeringly abysmal record, the Queen of Connecting with the Public, Jennifer Granholm was rewarded with another go around.  Even facing an unprecedented economic crisis and woefully lacking any real world business experience, let alone the will to challenge the endless list of special interests to whom she is beholden who are contributing to the problems, she was able to convince the frustrated and fearful electorate that she was the more “authentic” tour guide on the road to what she suggests will be a recovery.  Their trust in her overrode their own common sense to their economic peril.  “How did she best a proven leader?” you might ask.  Easy—she waged an all out “fear and smear” campaign taking Dick DeVos’ savvy forward-looking corporate strategy to invest in a burgeoning Asian market and crafting it into an attack on Michigan’s proud, but teetering union labor.  Tragically, while Michigan’s ship continued to sink, fed up voters danced as they burned the lifeboats.

 

Honestly, some days I don't even recognize this country--until I think of our soldiers, our entrepreneurs, young families, and my own grandson.  I love America.  I will not forget the valuable lessons history has taught us, both of our victories and our failures.  It’s about time everyday people quit sitting idly by and instead begin to tell their stories—the stories of struggles, of courage, of greatness, of optimism, of America.  Like Paul Revere, we must sound the alarm.  For all the rhetoric floating around today, there’s a reality of life.  And talking about it has become my new full time job.