Michigan Still Getting Rhett Butler Treatment From Presidential Candidates
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Let's be really clear: without jobs Michigan will recede into what it was after the lumber boom -- a marginal agricultural subsistence economy.
Remember what Rhett Butler said to Scarlett as he stood at the foot of the staircase?
Of course you do: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!
That's exactly the sentiments expressed to the State of Michigan, and the entire industrial Midwest, by the Presidential candidates.
They don't give a damn. Or if they do, it's not readily apparent from their public pronouncements.
John McCain may become as famous for his "those jobs are not coming back" as he is for "I don't know much about the economy."
Or how about, "we need to be in Iraq (and Afghanistan) for 100 years."
Mrs. Clinton was here yesterday talking about her scheme to rescue her campaign for the Democratic nomination through a re-vote that somebody in Michigan would have to pay for.
Mr. Obama did go to Wisconsin to talk to autoworkers about their jobs, but he hasn't exactly laid out any plan that would really help Michigan.
Let's be really clear: without jobs Michigan will recede into what it was after the lumber boom -- a marginal agricultural subsistence economy.
Thankfully, the industrial revolution sprang upon the world and Michigan was ready to jump on the bandwagon.
A big part of the state budget problem is caused by our own policymakers here in Michigan.
We spend more on putting people in prison than we do on education, or health care, or job development, etc., etc.
For too long a time we had the misguided idea that prisons were beneficial, that they were economic development because they provided jobs. Yeah, they provided jobs: for some people to watch other people. The catch was that once you got into that mode you had to watch them for the rest of their lives -- at $30,000 to $40,000 a year.
And ruined lives of people fit only for prison equal a ruined society.
Apparently state policy is that it's easier to put kids in prison for minor offenses than to make sure they have a job.
Here are some true stories of yesterday and today. First the past. When I was growing up on Bay City's west side I used to hook trains with a couple of young men. What were we, 10, 11, 12 years old?
One dark night we hopped aboard a freight near Henry Street and rode up around Pinconning; the train made a circle for a couple hours and returned to Bay City.
Paul and I lost track of Joe that night; he had fallen behind and grabbed a car farther back on the train.
When we got back to Bay City Joe was nowhere to be seen.
The next day when Paul and I picked up our papers to deliver, there was the answer about what had happened to Joe.
He had caught his hand in the door of the boxcar and was dragged all the way to Pinconning and back. A driver stopped at the Hart Street signal had seen Joe, hopped out of his car, ran alongside the train and rescued him.
Joe lost several fingers from that night's high-jinks. But he had his forefinger, and he used it as a teenager to grip a pistol and holdup a store.
Of course Joe went to prison.
He was in the Big House a few years, got out and was lucky to get a job at a large industrial plant in the area.
He married, raised a family, bought a house, even had a place up north and a snowmobile.
Life was pretty good for Joe through the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s, living right here in the Saginaw Valley.
Joe retired a few years ago from that plant and lives a comfortable life.
Today, let's take a look at what probably would have happened to Joe, like the Ghost of Christmas past did for Mr. Scrooge in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."
Joe would have gotten out of prison but would have been unable to get a job, at least one that paid enough to buy a car, a house and raise a family.
Joe would have wandered around these days, gotten into more trouble and been slapped back into prison for parole violation.
The State of Michigan would have paid $30,000 to $40,000 a year to keep Joe incarcerated.
He might have gotten out just long enough to start a family, without benefit of clergy.
The girl of Joe's dreams, mother of his children, would be on Aid to Dependent Children and other welfare programs.
The state would pay for her apartment and would have to send social workers to check up on her and the children. The kids would have problems in school and perhaps one would require special programs at greater cost to the state.
So that's just a little tableau about what the lack of jobs does to our society.
What happened to Paul?
His father was killed in an industrial accident.
Instead of suing, the family made a deal with the company that probably had some blame in the father's death.
The settlement was that Paul would have a job at that plant for his entire career.
And that's what happened. Paul, a teenager at the time, went to work, got married, bought a house and raised a family.
Unfortunately he was killed in an auto accident so he didn't live the good life as Joe did. But his life insurance took care of his wife and kids quite well so they never were on welfare.
But both Joe and Paul were productive members of society without costing the state a nickle.
They worked at factories that sold things to other countries, bringing money back to this country.
We know another boy, growing up now. Let's call him Fred. He also went to prison for youthful indiscretions, nothing like the armed robbery that Joe was involved in, however.
Fred got out of the Big House and tried to find a job. He did get hired in an agricultural type minimum wage job. He was doing fine for a few weeks and liked the work.
One day last summer the company hired a worker, someone who came from another country and spoke no English. Fred was back out on the street, replaced by what he thinks was an illegal immigrant.
Fred is 22 years old. Has three kids without benefit of clergy. He wants to work, will do anything and is a hard worker.
What is Fred's future? And those of his buddies, all of whom have girls and kids, aren't married and have no jobs. Does anybody have a plan for Fred and these guys except more prison. And welfare for their girls and kids?
What we need to hear from our public officials is ideas how to get those jobs back. We need to focus on finding solutions rather than the old prison, unemployment, welfare cycle for young people.
How to quit spending the highest amount in the state budget on prisons.
How to return our state from a welfare haven and gulag to one that hums with industries providing jobs on which people can thrive.
We need to stop shipping jobs overseas or hiring illegal immigrants to take the jobs we do have.
We need to hear from a politician who doesn't give us the Rhett Butler treatment.
Then we can vote intelligently.
(NOTE: The above are true stories, but the names have been changed to protect the individuals and their families.) ###
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