...Have you ever felt you have an idiot running the state?

[nwafan20]

I know, I know, you guys have to deal with the Hildabeast, but I have a story to tell as well.

Since about 5 years ago, Michigan has had a bimbo running the state, her name is Jennifer Granholm. Not only has she ran the Michigan economy into the ground (while the national economy is on the rise), she has also done NOTHING for the state besides hurt it.

She has driven Ford out of 2 plants and made them downsize a few, and GM did the same thing. All while giving Honda (whose profits go over to Japan) a 20 year tax break to come into Michigan, creating about 300 jobs. She has ran countless industries out, while giving huge tax breaks to small companies to come in and employ as little as 50 workers (while loosing companies employing thousands). She gave a 15 year tax break to Google for bringing AdWorks to Ann Arbor, they are employing 200 workers.

Today, she made another stupid move, Pfizer, who has facilities in 2 cities here (Ann Arbor, and Kalamazoo), who was Ann Arbors largest tax paying employer (2,500 workers), closed both, citing "Michigan's economic difficulty and lack of leadership" as the main reason (Source: my friend who's dad works at Pfizer) She was oblivious to everything, just like the past 6 years!

My good friend, who's dad is a chemist at Pfizer, his dad is now out of a job and will likely have to move along with my other friends who's parents worked at Ford/GM and other companies. Pfizer was also one of the clients of my dads work, so he will be effected as well.

The worst part is, the highly democrat state of Michigan just recently re-elected her! After all the jobs she lost, I just don't see how they could have did this! They pretty much just listen to what the UAW/other unions tell them to do.

Thanks for allowing me to ramble. It was good to get it off my chest! :)

[moose135]

Today, she made another stupid move, Pfizer, who has facilities in 2 cities here (Ann Arbor, and Kalamazoo), who was Ann Arbors largest tax paying employer (2,500 workers), closed both, citing "Michigan's economic difficulty and lack of leadership" as the main reason (Source: my friend who's dad works at Pfizer) She was oblivious to everything, just like the past 6 years!

My good friend, who's dad is a chemist at Pfizer, his dad is now out of a job and will likely have to move along with my other friends who's parents worked at Ford/GM and other companies. Pfizer was also one of the clients of my dads work, so he will be effected as well.

A source I would believe more than "my friend who's dad works at Pfizer"



The world's largest drugmaker said it will continue to maintain manufacturing and animal-health research operations in the Kalamazoo area, preserving about 3,800 jobs.

David Canter, senior vice president of Pfizer Global Research and Development, said perhaps 1,000 of the Michigan workers affected by Monday's announcement will be offered jobs elsewhere in the company.

The latest cuts come on the heels of Pfizer's announcement two months ago that it was laying off about 20 percent of its U.S. sales representatives, around 2,200 people. Those cuts are included in the moves announced Monday.

Pfizer announced in March 2005 that it was closing a Holland manufacturing plant with 328 employees. About 60 people continue to work at the facility as it is being decommissioned, said Rick Chambers, a Pfizer spokesman in Michigan.

In July 2005, the company announced a three-year global-restructuring plan aimed at cutting costs and increasing efficiency. At the time, Pfizer had about 8,500 employees in Michigan, including around 5,000 in the Kalamazoo area and 2,500 in Ann Arbor.

Many of the job cuts came through normal attrition, retirement, hiring freezes and unfilled vacancies. Other positions were moved within the state and into and out of Michigan.

Kalamazoo was the longtime home of drugmaker Upjohn Co. before it merged in 2000 with Pharmacia Corp. After Pfizer acquired Pharmacia in 2003, about 1,100 jobs were cut or moved out of the Kalamazoo area.

Also, from http://manufacturing.net/article/CA6409128.html


Pfizer Inc. said Monday it will cut 10,000 jobs, as the world's largest drugmaker seeks to slash its annual costs by up to $2 billion by 2008 amid fierce competition from generic drugs.

The company said it will close three research sites in Michigan and two manufacturing plants in New York and Nebraska. It may also sell another manufacturing site in Germany and close research sites in Japan and France.

It is the second time in two years that Pfizer has announced a major cost reduction plan in order to combat the loss of about $14 billion in revenues this year due to expiring patents on key drugs. The company is at risk of losing 41 percent of its sales to generic competition between 2010 and 2012, according to one analyst.

Sorry, I don't think Germany has a "bimbo" governor who caused those plants to be closed, do you? And as to the auto industry, their problems run much deeper than any governor can be blamed for. From http://archive.michiganimc.org/newswire ... /index.php (http://archive.michiganimc.org/newswire/display/12364/index.php)



Most of Ford’s dramatic decline in sales were due to a drop in demand for gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks as gas prices rose. Both Ford and GM had largely abandoned the fierce competition with Japanese, German and Korean auto monopolies for the passenger car market in the 1990s. Out of arrogance and short-sighted greed, both of these giants chased after the high-profit SUV and truck market. Now, outmaneuvered by their corporate rivals from Europe and Asia, they are trying to make the workers pay the price.

But it's not all bad news for Michigan and Ford:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... 4/BUSINESS (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070110/BUSINESS01/701100348/1014/BUSINESS)


Money-losing Ford Motor Co., in the midst of slashing 44,000 jobs and closing 16 plants, delivered a dose of relief Tuesday for the struggling state of Michigan and more than 11,000 members of its anxious workforce.

Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas, said the company has begun investing $866 million in modern, flexible manufacturing equipment for six plants in five southeastern Michigan cities.

The investment will help Ford produce more fuel-efficient transmissions in Livonia and Sterling Heights; bolster Ford's small-car output in Wayne, where the new 2008 Ford Focus will be built, and fortify the company's stronghold on pickups in Woodhaven and Dearborn, where the all-new F-150 that is to go on sale in 2009 is to be stamped and assembled.

I'm sorry all these people are losing their jobs, and I'm sorry if your friend's father loses his or has to move to keep it, but using this as one more tired rant against a politician you don't like won't make that true.

[nwafan20]

That is what the manager of his office told him, that it was "due to Michigan's economic difficulty and lack of leadership". can't quite provide a source from a quoted article on that.

I don't mind some Democrats, but this one is over her head.

Ever since she has took office, she has lost over 100,000 jobs. That is a horrible record. She claims great achievement bringing in 200 jobs. I'm just sick of her, everyone I know is just sick of her.

[SWABoeing737]

but using this as one more tired rant against a politician you don't like won't make that true.

nwafan20: You always need to come up with an excuse to demean a Democrat. I realize this is an off topic thread and that I'm new here but you've done this before and it get's real old real fast.

[nwafan20]

Oh, I will use an "excuse" to demonize any politician I feel is not doing a good job. Bush has screwed up several times, I'm not to thrilled with the handling of the Iraq war, or the border. Bob Dole was a joke, and the current Republican candidates for president, most of them are jokes as well.

But you must realize, this hits very close to home. 4 of my closest friends are either about to move, or are planning to in the next year. My dads job isn't too secure, and my states economy is in the dumps, meaning less opportunity for me and my future in the state. It is very close to home for me.

[USAF Pilot 07]

pffft... American cars.... shouldn't even be allowed on the road!

[Matt Molnar]

I'm speaking in very general terms here without knowing the precise details of Michigan's problems, but I know GM, Chrysler and Ford have been closing plants fairly regularly for at least 20 years, due to advances in automation, less demand due to foreign competition, and the new ability to build cars much more cheaply in Canada and Mexico. I would say Michigan's problems started much longer than five years ago, and while the current governor might be a total moron, she can't get all the blame. One big problem is that Michigan seems to have continued to rely on the auto industry for jobs and tax revenue despite warning signs that it would eventually be unsustainable.

Something similar is on the verge of potentially happening in New York: a significant loss of jobs in the financial services industry. The city and state governments rely on Wall St for jobs and tax revenues the same way Michigan has relied on the auto industry, if not more so. Competition from other, less heavily regulated equities markets, such as the London Stock Exchange, threatens to topple New York from its position as the world's finance capital. A study released yesterday by Mayor Bloomberg and Senator Schumer cited a potential loss of 60,000 finance jobs in the next 10 years...and that doesn't include the damage to companies that cater to those mostly well paid finance workers...restaurants, hotels, real estate, etc...which would mean several thousand more jobs lost and billions of tax dollars lost. To try to prevent this, the city and state are begging the Federal government to reform securities laws, especially the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and finance firms, which already receive significant tax breaks whenever they threaten to move out of the city, will likely get almost anything they want. Hopefully it works.

[Mateo]

Bob Dole was a joke? He served his country and his party very ably, and even though I don't agree with most of his positions, I have a great deal of respect for his devotion to public service.

You'll get a lot further if you don't resort to ad hominem attacks (ad feminem in this case?). Calling Governor Granholm a 'bimbo' is gratuitous and unnecessary.

To tie this back to aviation, I wonder what will happen now to the 2 ERJs that Pfizer owns that run a GON-MMU-YIP-AZO shuttle every day.

[nwafan20]

In my opinion, yes, Bob Dole was a joke for the presidential run. I mean, better than Bill Clinton, but he shouldn't have won the primary in my opinion.

I'm not attacking her feminism, she is just an incompetent governor.

I know the auto industry is in trouble, but Ford is relocating workers to other states, not to Canada or Mexico. There is no excuse to drive Ford out and give a 20 year tax break (where Michigan receives no tax revenue from them) to Honda (Michigan receives none of the profit)

If you lived in Michigan, you would see the trouble, not just automotive jobs are in trouble, EVERY job is in trouble!

[G-BOAD]

The worst part is, the highly democrat state of Michigan just recently re-elected her! After all the jobs she lost, I just don't see how they could have did this! They pretty much just listen to what the UAW/other unions tell them to do.



That's how we felt when bush was re-elected. Thousands of solders died, and hundreds of thousands of Innocent Iraq civilians. and, still he is re-elected.

[SWABoeing737]

The worst part is, the highly democrat state of Michigan just recently re-elected her! After all the jobs she lost, I just don't see how they could have did this! They pretty much just listen to what the UAW/other unions tell them to do.



That's how we felt when bush was re-elected. Thousands of solders died, and hundreds of thousands of Innocent Iraq civilians. and, still he is re-elected.

Well that's because everyone thought he had a plan. And he did...sort of. NOW he wants to send more troops to stabalize a country that we shouldn't even be in.

[Tom_Turner]

That's how we felt when bush was re-elected. Thousands of solders died, and hundreds of thousands of Innocent Iraq civilians. and, still he is re-elected.


I guess if the voting were done in Iraq things might've been different. Or perhaps the UK. Although certainly Blair is still there.

Over a million killed in the Iran/Iraq war alone, with Soviet and French and German weapons supplied to Iraq. Syria, the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel taking their shots as well. A bit of a mess even prior to George W. , Kuwait etc...