Article Summary:
At one point in the process to create a 2009 School Aid Budget, the Michigan House voted 61-48 to spend $32.2 million more than the latest estimate of available funding. Five Republicans voted in favor, along with 56 Democrats.
Please post your comments on this issue...
Friday, July 25, 2008
Never Enough
Article Summary:
While the Michigan Senate was deliberating over the cost of the 2009 budget for the Department of Community Health, Senate Democrats requested seven amendments that totaled more than $90.5 million worth of additional spending. Each was narrowly defeated, with five amendments receiving one Republican vote each. Two Republican senators voted in favor of least $36 million from this proposed extra spending.
Please post your comments on this issue...
While the Michigan Senate was deliberating over the cost of the 2009 budget for the Department of Community Health, Senate Democrats requested seven amendments that totaled more than $90.5 million worth of additional spending. Each was narrowly defeated, with five amendments receiving one Republican vote each. Two Republican senators voted in favor of least $36 million from this proposed extra spending.
Please post your comments on this issue...
Children of the Corn
Article Summary:
Despite growing international condemnation of the government promotion of corn ethanol, on April 17 the Michigan Senate overwhelmingly ratified legislation to increase state-based incentives for converting crops — primarily corn — into automotive fuel. The vote took place at a time when the price of corn in the United States was hovering near its historical high, driving up the cost of groceries across the nation and around the world.
Please post your comments on this issue...
Despite growing international condemnation of the government promotion of corn ethanol, on April 17 the Michigan Senate overwhelmingly ratified legislation to increase state-based incentives for converting crops — primarily corn — into automotive fuel. The vote took place at a time when the price of corn in the United States was hovering near its historical high, driving up the cost of groceries across the nation and around the world.
Please post your comments on this issue...
Greenhouse Gas Accord Will Further Damage Michigan's Economy
Article Summary:
Michigan’s future energy policy is far too important to leave to the behind-closed-doors manipulation of government officials. A cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gases could be devastating to Michigan’s economy and have no discernible impact on global climate change. The Michigan Legislature needs to intervene to ensure that transparency and the interests of Michigan residents are paramount in the further workings of the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord states.
Please post your comments on this issue...
Michigan’s future energy policy is far too important to leave to the behind-closed-doors manipulation of government officials. A cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gases could be devastating to Michigan’s economy and have no discernible impact on global climate change. The Michigan Legislature needs to intervene to ensure that transparency and the interests of Michigan residents are paramount in the further workings of the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord states.
Please post your comments on this issue...
People Must Demand Honesty and Integrity in Their Leaders
Article Summary:
It will not suffice for any one bad figure to depart the scene if we don’t raise the standards of character we demand of all our leaders and those who aspire to lead. Character matters. It’s time we settle for nothing less.
Please post your comments on this issue...
It will not suffice for any one bad figure to depart the scene if we don’t raise the standards of character we demand of all our leaders and those who aspire to lead. Character matters. It’s time we settle for nothing less.
Please post your comments on this issue...
Oscar-Winning Taxes
Article Summary:
An estimated $600 million of the $1.4 billion tax increase imposed on Michigan last fall will come from a 22 percent surcharge lawmakers added to the Michigan Business Tax, the state’s primary income levy on companies doing business within the state. The end result, according the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, has been to create a Michigan Business Tax that is much more complicated, costly and destructive to economic growth than even the notorious Single Business Tax that it replaced.
Please post your comments on this issue...
An estimated $600 million of the $1.4 billion tax increase imposed on Michigan last fall will come from a 22 percent surcharge lawmakers added to the Michigan Business Tax, the state’s primary income levy on companies doing business within the state. The end result, according the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, has been to create a Michigan Business Tax that is much more complicated, costly and destructive to economic growth than even the notorious Single Business Tax that it replaced.
Please post your comments on this issue...
Student Housing Bubble
Article Summary:
Undergraduate students at the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus will see their housing costs jump 4.9 percent this school year because of a hike in residence hall room rates. According to the campus newspaper, housing at the university is already more expensive than nine of the Big Ten institutions, with just Northwestern University charging more. Meanwhile, residential housing values near the campus and around the state continue to fall.
Please post your comments on this issue...
Undergraduate students at the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus will see their housing costs jump 4.9 percent this school year because of a hike in residence hall room rates. According to the campus newspaper, housing at the university is already more expensive than nine of the Big Ten institutions, with just Northwestern University charging more. Meanwhile, residential housing values near the campus and around the state continue to fall.
Please post your comments on this issue...
Here's the Drill
Article Summary:
Forbidding directional drilling for oil and gas underneath the Great Lakes was bad energy policy when it was approved by lawmakers in 2002, and it's bad energy policy now. The Michigan Environmental Science Board has concluded that “[T]here is little to no risk of contamination to the Great Lakes bottom or waters through releases directly above the bottom hole portion of directionally drilled wells." Michigan needs both the energy resources underneath the lakes and the economic benefits that would come with bringing them out.
Please post your comments on this issue...
Forbidding directional drilling for oil and gas underneath the Great Lakes was bad energy policy when it was approved by lawmakers in 2002, and it's bad energy policy now. The Michigan Environmental Science Board has concluded that “[T]here is little to no risk of contamination to the Great Lakes bottom or waters through releases directly above the bottom hole portion of directionally drilled wells." Michigan needs both the energy resources underneath the lakes and the economic benefits that would come with bringing them out.
Please post your comments on this issue...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)