[Bydand]

Originally Posted by unocentavo

[color=black]Michigan has been an industrial state from the beginning with a small amount of farming that has been on the decline for years.

Are you here all week, or would I have to travel to catch your next comedy routine? Small amount of farming... LOL that is some funny stuff right there. Have you ever gotten out of the city and taken a drive around the rest of the State? Small amount of farming that has been on the decline. Take a look at some real world numbers on the amount of agricultural products the State of Michigan produces.

#15 for total market value of crops, plus #1 producers of several crops Nationwide: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/md...e_292926_7.pdf

Scroll this one down to the farming section: Michigan Fact Sheet: USDA

This one is a bit dated, but you can get the newer numbers from the first link I provided: http://www.agclassroom.org/kids/stats/michigan.pdf

There were a few other industries but many have since closed up and moved like the Maytag plants. Industry in the state looks like the steel plants of Penn. in the eighties.

You might want to check those facts again. Yes the Auto industry is hurting, but others are growing. Johnson Controls (JCI) is expanding it's Holland facility to employ 550 more workers in the next year or two. Steelcraft, Herman Miller, and Haworth are still going strong and on the very top in the Nation for their products, all of them right here in Michigan. Grand Rapids is expanding the medical sector every single day. When you have an area like GR that is attracting medical facilities from around the Country to set up shop, they must be doing something right. Gentex is hiring about 300 people back after a rough 2008 in Zeeland. Don't forget about the food production plants either. Ever buy an "Old Orchard" fruit concentrate mix? You just bought a Michigan companies product, how about "Indian Summer" apple juice, or Sara Lee snacks, or Hudonsonville Ice Cream, along with House of Flavors Ice Cream. May not sound like much, but most of these are very high in National sales, and based in Michigan.

These are just examples I can think of off the top of my head, there are plenty more examples of business and industry that is not going away soon, or has died up and left already. Indicators are that some sectors will actually see job growth in 2010, may not be enough to totally offset job loss, but a step in the right direction. Growth may be meager in 2010, but experts say West Michigan can anticipate employment gains | West Michigan Business - - MLive.com


As for this Michigander explaining Michigan... kind of hard to do. The State runs the gamut from rural, to urban. Farming to industrial. Old Fashioned to cutting edge. About the only constant is water. Everywhere you turn there is water. Small streams to Lakes tens of thousands of square miles in surface area (3 of them over 20,000 Square Miles each), containing 5400+ CUBIC MILES of water. Lakes less than 10 acres with no houses, lakes a couple thousand acres surrounded by houses, every size lake you can think of, and some that are hard to imagine their size until you see them.

[YAZ]

Don't forget sugar beets and road salt....

[darstar]

Originally Posted by Sparrow_temp

Social Security is guaranteed to go bankrupt -- you can't expand it unless you just want to hasten that outcome. It was a Ponzi scheme from the beginning that depended on continued population growth to sustain it. And to make matters worse -- we put the money into the general government fund which means there is no money set aside because we run deficits every year. That's why most younger people have not depended upon Social Security being there unless they were totally clueless.

Advocating for the redistribution of wealth is Socialist/Communist propaganda. There may be a need to tax the wealthiest to a higher degree but not to simply redistribute that wealth. We need policies which will expand the middle class rather than simply create a super rich and the poor.

We're in so much debt now that the only way out is to default on it or to devalue the currency to a point that it's serviceable. This is bad news for all Americans regardless of what direction is chosen. And the dollar devaluation is already well underway -- that's why Gold is going up and our buying power abroad is going down.

Social Security has changed over the years quite a bit...however , it still does not do what it should. I paid in all those years , now I should get back atlest enough for basic survival.... Its a sad state of affairs.,this Country is in, and it just gets worse. I am sure glad I am older, ...I would hate to be 30 with the sorry outlook ahead.
The Government people we elect always does what they want...to get elected .Rob from where ever they can, for pet , pork , and corrupt spending. There is never any oversite ( as was promiced )...The last 8 years were the worse...now the mess is even larger.... Take the gas tax , ...huge source of revenue.....should go for ro
ad building and improvement....no , it goes to general revenue.