[bls5555]

I will state that I am NOT from Michigan.

I am extremely interested in moving to Michigan. I love the climate and used to go up there as a kid to Traverse City.

My question is what the h--l is going on up there? I heard on the radio that once again Michigan will be voting for the democrats. Why is this? Didn't a democratic mayor of Detroit just get thrown in jail? Hasn't the economy been shut down due to excessive taxes?

Im really interested in hearing what is going on up there. Thanks for the input.

[Dexterguy]

You can't call the former mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick a Democrat, you can't call him anything but a theif and crook. He should be ashamed of himself to even call himself a democrat. The thing that I don't understand is that why do people always complain and complain about Michigan taxes. Compared to other states Michigan taxes are not the lowest but are no where near the highest. I myself believe that the democrats are for the middle class, every republican is always super rich and could really care less about the issues.

[Tada55]

From what I understand, Michigan taxes are right in the middle for personal taxes, but business taxes are one of highest (ie top 5) in the nation.

[Coldjensens]

Actullay it appears that Michigan is one of the lowest. I am not sure I am reading all of the data correctly Someone with more time available (and interest) can probably figure it out. The Tax Foundation - State Business Tax Climate Index Rankings, 2003-2008

[TaxBait]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Actullay it appears that Michigan is one of the lowest. I am not sure I am reading all of the data correctly Someone with more time available (and interest) can probably figure it out. The Tax Foundation - State Business Tax Climate Index Rankings, 2003-2008

You are not reading it correctly. You want a low index. That chart puts us near the bottom business tax wise. The only thing positive in that link is personal income tax. But that depends greatly on your situation. MI rates are not progressive and we don't tax pensions or Social Security. So if you're retired or high income, MI looks good income tax wise. The working poor and middle class would do better elsewhere.

To the original OP
All you need to do is look at Wayne county to understand why MI goes Dem in presidential elections. Without them MI is a solidly Republican State.
SOS - Previous Election Information

[magellan]

Originally Posted by bls5555

I will state that I am NOT from Michigan.

I am extremely interested in moving to Michigan. I love the climate and used to go up there as a kid to Traverse City.

My question is what the h--l is going on up there? I heard on the radio that once again Michigan will be voting for the democrats. Why is this? Didn't a democratic mayor of Detroit just get thrown in jail? Hasn't the economy been shut down due to excessive taxes?

Im really interested in hearing what is going on up there. Thanks for the input.

Yeah, the Democrats don't have a monopoly on law breaking.

And the economy has not been shut down due to "excessive taxes". The root cause of hundreds of thousands of job losses can be traced right to layoffs at the Detroit 3 automakers and their supply base. Not because of the taxes they pay in Michigan, but because of shrinking market share, quality issues, legacy costs (pensions, health care, etc.), rising material costs, and high wages. The problem is multiplied because each automotive assembly job represents 3 - 4 spinoff jobs.

If you are a big company and want to expand or move to Michigan, there are heaps of tax credits available that are competitive with virtually any state in the country.

[US-Traveller]

I know I cannot believe that with the bad experience that Michigan has had with the Democratic Party (Scandal, Increasingly Bad Economy, Rising Taxes, Less Services) that this state would again go blue. I currently live in the Tri-Cities area and Dems have just made things worse. If we want to get this state moving in the right direction we need to go Red this election. John McCain and Sarah Palin will bring the reform and the economic boost we need. Michigan never benefited from the good economy because of partisanship.

[northstar22]

Democrat, Republican, they're all the same (at least on economic issues). They all voted for the corporate welfare bill and love to spend money like there's no tomorrow.

[Bhaalspawn]

Originally Posted by bls5555

I will state that I am NOT from Michigan.

I am extremely interested in moving to Michigan. I love the climate and used to go up there as a kid to Traverse City.

My question is what the h--l is going on up there? I heard on the radio that once again Michigan will be voting for the democrats. Why is this? Didn't a democratic mayor of Detroit just get thrown in jail? Hasn't the economy been shut down due to excessive taxes?

Im really interested in hearing what is going on up there. Thanks for the input.

Basically, the Republicans put up a religious wacko to be their candidate in the last gubernatorial election; otherwise they probably would have won. Also, for the record, before Granholm the governor was John Engler, a two-term Republican, so he's partially responsible for getting the state into this mess, too.

As for the presidential election, many Michiganders perceive the Republicans as being the party of the wealthy class and religious dictatorship whereas the Democrats are perceived as being less for the wealthy class and more for the middle class. Furthermore, the current president has proven himself to be the worst president in American history. Under his watch the nation's rate of transformation into an impoverished third world country devoid of a middle class greatly accelerated and he did NOTHING to slow it. Consequently we are now suffering from a global Malthusian crisis (at home we have runaway population growth) and Global Labor Arbitrage ( What is Global Labor Arbitrage? - Welcome Mat - Third World America forums - Foreign Outsourcing and Illegal Immigration -- Third World America forums - Message Board - Yuku ).

Given the importance of the economy, unless you were an anti-abortion religious zealot who wants to impose your religious mysticism on other people, there really isn't much of a reason to give the Republicans another chance. On top of that, McCain has even said that he knows almost nothing about economics. This excellent animated political cartoon illustrates the point:

Fundamentals | Mark Fiore's Animated Cartoon Site

I don't think that the Democrats will do much better on the economy and they're not willing to address our nation's real problem--Global Labor Arbitrage and the Malthusian crisis (fewer energy resources, increasing world demand, exploding population at home and abroad). However, I think they might be willing to do more or at least listen to reason more than the moronic anti-middle class Republicans.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by US-Traveller

I know I cannot believe that with the bad experience that Michigan has had with the Democratic Party (Scandal, Increasingly Bad Economy, Rising Taxes, Less Services) that this state would again go blue. I currently live in the Tri-Cities area and Dems have just made things worse. If we want to get this state moving in the right direction we need to go Red this election. John McCain and Sarah Palin will bring the reform and the economic boost we need. Michigan never benefited from the good economy because of partisanship.

I hate to tell you, but McCain and Palin don't give two wits about Michigan. They've even dropped Michigan from their campaign. If anything, McCain will open wider unfair trade deals with other regions of the world, further undermining Michigan's manufacturing might. Forget China, the new frontiers that corporations are eying are Central America, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc..