Part of Muskegon Critic's diary today was probably aimed at me. That's OK.
But there are some serious points to be made here. Please follow below the fold:
UPDATE:
Muskegon Critic responded in the comments, and I want to make something more clear. I think the part of his diary about other states was incorrect, but that shouldn't be taken to mean that he didn't have several good points. What I urge, is the people are kind to each other when they are hurting. We should all know that.
I want to be clear.
I will not take back anything I wrote yesterday, partly because I never blamed the autoworkers for anything in my comment, but did lay a lot of blame on GM. Secondly, the premise of what is quoted below is just plain wrong. It's fine to be angry about the situation in Detroit and the rest of Michigan, but those of us looking at the probems there and writing about them may know just as much as you do about them.
Yeah! That's it! We'll diversify! Like how Nebraska and Iowa should diversify from agriculture. And how California should diversify from imports. And how Alaska should diversify from fishing and oil.
I live in Iowa. What is happening in Michigan today is much like what happened in Iowa in the 1980s. The economy was worse than in the 1930's. Nearly 2/3rds of the ag property in Iowa changed hands as independent farmers lost their farms and their homes. Schools closed. Crime increased. Liberals (which I still am) complained about the farm program that paid people not to plant. Well, it prevented starvation. Iowa is still a net loser in population, and we'll lose another congressional district in a couple of years.
Today, less than 3% of Iowans are farmers. Des Moines is now an insurance powerhouse (although I'm not sure this is all good). Iowa was forced to change, and no one liked it. My house that I bought in 1981 for $40,000 lost 75% of its value in 1982. That house today is worth about $30,000. Luckily for me, I sold it for a big loss, and bought a home that is now worth slightly more than when I bought it in 1991.
What caused this to happen? The exact thing that is causing Michigan's problems today. The meat packers and their union workers couldn't agree on contracts, and the plants closed down. The meat packing industry abused workers, and the unions were on the raw edge, too.
Where I live, that was 1100 jobs lost at about $25 per hour plus benefits. The town went from 32,000 people to 24,000. When the plants reopened, they paid $9.00 per hour. They started importing people from south of the border, because people of my generation wouldn't slaughter cattle and hogs for that wage.
I also love Michigan. My grandparents are buried in Mason County. My brother has a home near Traverse City. I spent every summer of my youth in Michigan. My great grandparents, grandparents, parents, my wife and I, and my aunts and uncles all spent our honeymoons in Michigan. I have lifelong friends there.
Just because we write something critical of the auto companies, it doesn't follow that we think Michgan people are stupid.
I believe Obama proved yesterday that he in fact has the balls a lot of folks around here accuse him of not having. Usually that means he didn't do exactly what we want, or shoved aside things we think are more important.
Barack Obama told GM and Chrysler that their gig is up. Now it's gonna be up to them to figure out if they're innovative enough to survive.
We are all going to be asked to make sacrifices like this. We're gonna get less Social Security when we retire, and we'll pay more to get it. We're gonna be told to buy health insurance whether we think we can afford it or not. We're gonna be told to clean up our energy-soaking environment-damaging lives, even those of us who think we do a good job now. We're gonna be told that credit is generally unavailable unless we can prove that it should be granted. The terms will be a lot tougher. We're gonna have to rent a lot longer before we get to own a home.
In the 1970's California Governor Jerry Brown was right when he said that we need to lower our expectations, both of government, and of the possibilities that lay before us. He said, to make the world livable for all, some of our luxuries will have to be deferred. He was right. Obama is right.
Our lives are going to be far different than what we may have expected just five years ago. Get used to it.