[Huckleberry3911948]

i found a new shop that i think will fix my car.

[SPFL]

I do not believe that Michigan is doing all that well. There seems to be a lot of people out of work and many here who say they are doing well seem to have a lot of time to play on this forum.

Michigan needs help and it will not come from the government anytime soon.
If you have a job hang on and hope. if you do not move to where things are better. and there are places that are better. Many places. Things are not perfect though, these better places are slowing, though not as fast as michigan is slowing.
I work construction and Michigan home building is not doing well at all. I talk daily with the sales men at many lumber company's and can tell you they are not making any commissions. out of several salesmen only one has anything other than pollbarns going on.
Despite what anyone says Michigan is loosing Jobs,and people. This is a fact. Things are going to get bumpy before they get smooth.

[Coldjensens]

Sorry wrong thread SPFL.

This is a thread entitled "Positive Posts"'

"Positive" means good things. Affirmation. This is a discussion for people who want to discuss the good things about Michigan. what you wrote about are bad things or "negative" statements. There are plenty of threads for people who want to discuss bad things about Michigan. Look at the titles.

That thought aside, I do not think that anyone has said that Michigan is doing well, only that things are not as bad as some of the reactionary posters want to lead people to believe. The statistics are available. Michigan has the highest unemployment rate of any state, but it is only a tiny bit higher than many other states and still more than 90% of the employable people are employed. Michigan is losing people, but only a very small net loss each year compared to the total population. Michigan has a high foreclosure rate and real estate values are or were falling like mad. that is happening elsewhere now too. in parts of California's inland empire, one of the fastest growing areas of the Us until recently, real estate prices have dropped by 30%. that almost rivals Michigan and they are just getting started. Experts say that southern CA real estate prices will fall as much as 60% before they stabilize. Michigan real estate prices have fallen about 40%. Less in some areas. However, there is some indication that we have finally hit the bottom. Maybe we have, maybe not.

You may perceive that it is really terrible and there are no jobs. the facts are that 90% of our workers have jobs. Everyone that I know has a job. I do not know a single unemployed person who is not retired (including construction workers). There are a lot of unemployed persons (almost 10%), but 9 out of ten workers have jobs so it is not surprising that I do not know any who are out of work.

Construction is not doing well anywhere. Too many people were buying houses as investments, and then selling them to other investors with no one moving in. This country has far too many unoccupied houses and prices have soared too high. Homes are no longer a good investment anywhere. People are scared, they cannot get loans and "grass is greener" types all over the place are trying to sell their homes in hopes of finding a better place to go.

One thing that I can tell you having moved recently from Southern CA, construction workers here charge too much to compete in some other states. there a laborer charged $15/hour and a licensed contractor charged $25 - 40/hour. Here a worker charges $45/hour and a contractor charges $65 - $80 an hour. at these prices with the market so low, no one can afford to build anything but mass produced homes. Otherwise you end up spending twice the value of the house to build it.


Now I have drifted off of the topic of this thread. So I will stop.

[magellan]

edit: Never mind, I'll leave Driller3 alone.

Oh sorry, something positive. Here's one:

An Indiana company is expanding into Michigan in partnership with GVSU to build Biodigester plants (turn animal, food and solid waste into energy). They're expected to go gang-busters with this new joint venture:

Rapid Growth - Indiana company launches new division to market local energy innovation

Nice!

Here's another one. Gentex, an automotive supplier based in West Michigan, had a phenomenal year in sales and profits despite lower volumes on domestic brands:

Gentex Reports Record Revenues and Net Income for the Fourth Quarter and Calendar Year 2007 (broken link)

Their products are patented mirror and rear-view camera technologies.

[Driller1]

Driller3 gave me enough in writing last night that the DEQ will be keeping them busy. Logs entered did not match figures given. Many old logs did not reflect specific gravity in grout. I e-mailed to the DEQ before the posts were removed.

[Driller1]

To quote the Wicked Witch of the West, from the Wizard of OZ, "want to play with fire Scarecrow"?

[baystater]

People blamed for water woes in West - Yahoo! News (broken link)

Just another reason why Michigan is going to be one of a few states that's going to be a highly desirable place to live in the near future.

[GonnaBeAYooper]

Got a UP snow yesterday, well almost, around 9 inches. It's beautiful and powdery....and yes it just about shut the state of Illinois down. Hehehe. I'm grateful that the drab grays are now all covered with Mother Nature's winter blanket.

Happy Ground Hog Day!

[TigerDan]

Originally Posted by SPFL

I talk daily with the sales men at many lumber company's and can tell you they are not making any commissions. out of several salesmen only one has anything other than pollbarns going on.

My brother is a lumber sales man and has made more sales in 2007 than he did in 2006. He thinks 2008 will actually be a better year for him than 2007.

Don't believe everything that you read or hear. Yes, unemployment is bad, but 7.5% unemployment still means that 92.5% of people that want jobs have them.
If you really want to help Michigan, tell fools that buy Hondas and Toyotas based on what they see on TV and in movies to WAKE UP and support America. Anyone living in California would be a good place to start, followed by New York, Massachusets and Washington. When they claim that Hondas and Toyotas are made here now, remind them that so are the Big 3 and the Big 3 have more American parts. Plus the profits from the Big 3 go to America, not Japan. Studies show that sales from the Big 3 support 3.5 times as many jobs as ANY foreign competitor - so don't buy into the whole "other cars are now American too" bit.

Additionally, I don't know where people are coming up with the 40% drop in home values number. Maybe for one or two select communities (like those within the city limits of Detroit), but on average home prices here are only down 3% to 5% on average. This is very comparable to the national average of negative 3.2%. The reason home prices here have not declined as much is the fact that they never got over inflated to begin with. The worst two states in the nation are Florida (down 22%) and California (down 15%).
Since this post is about positives, I'll show you this one: Michigan is the BEST state in the nation when comparing housing costs to average wages (including those that are unemployed). Check this out:
Most affordable housing markets - Aug. 22, 2006

Also, Forbes magazine (which rates metro Detroit as the third BEST metro area in this category) states:
"Affordable markets are in a better position for a strong recovery, because more buyers can come in once prices fall," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "In markets that rely more on credit, any recovery will be more muted if lending standards remain tight or tighten."

So, in other words, people in places like California are hocked up to their eyeballs in debt over homes that cost $600K on average and have lost upwards of $100K since they bought it. Who cares if 2% more people have jobs, they are slaves to interest rates. Meanwhile, the average Michigander can buy a house for only two times their average annual income, compared to 40 times in CA. So, while times are bad for the 7.5% of Michiganders out of work, the rest of us are actually in great shape. Just remember, the grass is always greener on the other side.

[M TYPE X]

Originally Posted by GonnaBeAYooper

For those of you that don't like the "four letter word", SNOW. Come on over to Illinois where it's still winter, no snow on the ground, cloudy, dismal and cold. What can you do in the winter if there's no snow???

The UP is the most beautiful place on earth and I am looking forward to retiring up there.

Head south? Why? You spend your summers inside because the heat is unbearable. South? No way, too many snakes.

It's still a nice day, woke up above ground again! WOOO HOOO!

Hope you all have positive feelings today.

Now snow in Illinois? You spoke like two days too soon.

My positive Michigan post of the week: no matter how depressing or ugly Lansing is, it's still better than Springfield. Why do I revisit Springfield? The world will never know. (I still haven't found Homer J Simpson, but I think I saw the extended family at the Barnes & Noble tonight.)