Monday, March 28, 2011

Michigan Cuts Unemployment Benefits

Does anyone out there still consider Michigan a bastion of union liberalism?

Michael Cooper of The New York Times reports:
Michigan, whose unemployment rate has topped 10 percent longer than that of any other state, is about to set another record: its new Republican governor, Rick Snyder, signed a law Monday that will lead the state to pay fewer weeks of unemployment benefits next year than any other state.


6 comments:

  1. I wish it still was. I'm very saddened by everything that has been happening in the Midwest. Unionization is an essential ingredient for the establishment and maintenance of a middle class in a capitalistic society. Without them, working people will no longer have a say in their working environments, and greed will be the predominant mantra. Not cool, not cool at all.

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  2. I'm sure that the workers at Toyota, Honda and other non-union shops in America wonder how they have a say in their working environments. As Michael Barone noted the other day, Taylor-driven unionism overreached and destroyed its host.

    To answer your question, Gordon, Michigan may not be any more, but Detroit, Flint, Pontiac, etc. still are. And it shows...

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  3. Were you here for Joseph Stiglitz the economist who spoke at the UM - Flint Critical Issues Forum Monday? His remarks would have resonated with your project, I suspect.
    And how dare you slip in and out of town without letting an old lady buy you a drink!

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  4. I was only in Flint for three days, Macy. Stopped by your office two Fridays ago at about 2pm but you were out. Sorry I missed you. I'm planning to head back in July. How are my two cat friends doing?

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  5. Macy, Macy, Macy. Tsk, tsk. We've talked about this before. It's not "old lady." It's "older babe."

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  6. Joey and Cinder like living in their shrinking city as long as they get a half a can of tuna morning and evening -- they say Meow...that means, Hail and Salud, Gordie! I gathered that might have been you that Friday afternoon. My assistant said a handsome young man who "looked smart" dropped by.

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.