I was disappointed early into Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration, which started in January 2011. He said he wanted to “reinvent” the state.
His first act was archetypical. He initiated tax reform of the state’s corporate taxes, which essentially cut taxes for businesses.
He cut taxes; all Republicans cut taxes. It was effective, yet risible.
The state’s unemployment rate peaked at 14.2 percent in August 2009, and from there it started on a downward trend to 8.3 percent in April, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It moved back upwards to 9.4 percent in August, but reports from September and October show the start of a downward
movement.
The public should demand much more these next two years than tax tinkering from a man who has a Master of Business Administration and a juris doctor.
There has been an improvement in 2012. Despite the increase in the
unemployment rate from 8.3 percent in April to 9.4 percent in August, there was reason for optimism. Snyder’s trade missions to Italy, Germany, Japan, China and South Korea were acts of commercial diplomacy to move businesses to the state.
As The Detroit News reported at the time, “about 80,000 Michiganians are employed by German and Italian-owned companies that operate in the state” and “China is Michigan’s third-biggest export market after Canada and Mexico.”
And the proposal to build a new international bridge between
Detroit and Windsor, Canada was another positive development. The American Society of Civil Engineers, which surveys the infrastructure of the country, the states and municipalities, listed America with a D grade.
Michigan also received a D, with the top concerns listed as our roads, wastewater systems and bridges. An estimated “30 percent of Michigan’s bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete,” reported the ASCE.
The new international bridge will partly address this problem and will create construction jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports “construction and extraction occupations” pay a median hourly wage of $21.28 in Michigan. Additionally, commerce will be directed towards Detroit – another project of Snyder’s.
The City of Detroit may be in poor condition, but it is most certainly an asset to the state both economically and culturally – especially the latter. Snyder was correct to help facilitate a remedy to the city’s problems, even if it seemed authoritarian.
On Nov. 28, in an address to the state legislature at Kellogg Biological Station, Snyder finally talked about what I’ve waited for: natural gas exploration.
“We’ve been doing fracking for over a decade with some of the toughest regulations in the country and it’s worked well,” Snyder said in a report by The Detroit News.
The process of fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the method by which energy companies obliterate rock formations that contain natural gas. They blast the rocks with high powered sprays of water and various chemicals – which is where the concern lies.
The governor, who has served on the board of the Nature Conservancy in Michigan, has shown that he understands the seriousness of environmental concerns. A two-year study of the process will be undertaken by the Graham Sustainability Institute at the University of Michigan.
Trade missions, infrastructure developments and coherent energy policies present a much clearer way forward for the state, and they should be commended.
