I was listening to the governor this morning and I detect a disconnect and a love of government by her. I agree that there must be a working relationship between business and government, but I see the Michigan economic money distribution plan a little differently than she does. First of all, the Michigan government has these funds (I’m not sure if they’re federal or state funds) that people have to go beg for to start their business with. There are stipulations that state the jobs must stay in Michigan. They have to apply for these funds and then their plan is submitted to a board for approval or rejection. I disagree with the notion that we have to go before a state board for funds when they could use those funds to fund the so-called loss of revenue from eliminating the single business tax and give everyone a chance to pocket more money and use it to start their own businesses. I hate the notion that only the state can approve a plan that they think is appropriate for Michigan using our money. This board can probably help people with their business idea, help them network and also help them with tax information, but isn’t that what a person should do on their own without you and I paying for it? The whole tone of her interview this morning was “Government needs to do this” and “Government needs to do that” and I didn’t hear much mentioned on the side of the private individual. She has a tough job, but the total refusal of a government individual to rescind a tax a little earlier than it was going to anyways really gets under my skin. I hate the government mentality that “We know better than you”. They do such a great job with everything else they run. Hahahahahaha. I'm not saying that Devos is as white as the wind driven snow, but he has a better idea of some quick changes that can be made to help private business. Oh he'll probably end up giving some honey deals to his buddies, hopefully his buddies are here in Michigan and the people that will benefit will be Michigan citizens.

Good post Blaine. Having tried to go through the State for a low interest loan, you wouldn't believe the 'red tape' that you have to go through. Anytime you get the Govt involved, you're going through people that have a job and bennies and no worries. Then to listen to these pencil pushing taxpayer paid derelicts tell me how to run a business, get's my blood pressure up.
How in the heck does Jennifer know what it is like to start a business, meet all the State Regs, pay the employees (especially now with the Min Wage hike), and still try to make a profit. Without a profit, the business is losing money, then it goes out of business. Pretty basic here Jenifer.
Every frickin morning I hear Tim Skubick ramming down our throats how good the Governor is and how eliminating the SBT is 'bad.' Tim and Jenny say, "what $$ are we going to get into the States coffers to replace the loss of the SBT!" Maybe Tim and Jennifer, you need to spend a few million dollars less on the STUPID grants and programs you now have!!!
Go to the Michigan DNR website and the Michigan Gov website and look at some of the grants they hand out. See for yourself. $500,000 for a 5 mile hiking trail in Grand Rapids, or a quarter of a million dollars for a park in Detroit.
While this was a Federal program, just today, the Feds gave close to a million dollars to the Nature Conservancy to buy land in our Copper Country. Yep, that's just what we needed in the Western UP...more govt managed land, and more land taken off the tax roll!
Blaine...thanks for your post!