Touted as an Ivy-League-educated 'genius',
the results simply aren't there... sound familiar?
A guest-post by Hannah McKale:
In her 2006 State of the State address, Jennifer Granholm declared, “You are going to be blown away!” in regards to the hopeful future Michigan had. She claimed her attempts to attract jobs using foreign investments would both diversify the job climate as well as allow the economy of Michigan to move away from the auto-making industry. She must really regret making those statements, despite being oddly keen on the events of years to come.
Now it is 2011. Governor Jennifer Granholm is soon to be moving into the darker pages of Michigan's history as she prepares to leave office, but unfortunately many of her decisions made while in office will have effects on this beleaguered state well into the future.
Arriving at the end of her term, we can now compare her predecessor’s unemployment average versus the unemployment rate today. Despite what you have thought of former Governor Engler's approach at politics, his 4.8% unemployment rating is less than half of the current 13.1%. It's difficult to believe Granholm's continuous claims that she saved the automobile industry, when nearly half of the auto industry is unemployed, and a third of Michigan's industrial workers are unemployed as well.
To respond to this unemployment problem which Michigan has been battling with for nearly the past decade, Granholm has proposed and initiated several cuts in government spending, but in all of the areas which will only serve to hurt Michigan's already failing economy. Cutting nearly a fifty million dollars from the transportation budget has left many Michigan roads in perilous condition. Roads in Michigan are infamous for their enormous potholes thanks to brutal winters, and funding for plowing the roads has been cut from Michigan's budget as well.
It seems as if Jennifer Granholm has spent the second half of her time as governor fighting battles other than the economic troubles this state is experiencing. Fights such as bringing the internet to the entirety of Michigan. Approximately five percent of the state is unable to receive broadband internet because the providers have declared it would not be profitable to extend their services into these regions. Note, most of these regions are incredibly rural, with few inhabitants. The internet is a grand tool, but should over one hundred million dollars of funding be poured into a project such as this when there are dozens of much more important issues at hand? Is the availability of high-speed internet more important than the job security of over a tenth of the state? The plan to lay down over 2,000 miles of fiber optic cable will be completed by Merit Network, and several other private firms sometime in 2011.
Many pundits made a show of Jennifer Granholm when she first took office, and even just two years ago, Chris Matthews went so far as to call her a genius. While she must have been an intelligent speaker in order to successfully make her way into office, it is a far flung statement to even insinuate Granholm's term as governor has been anything approaching the levels of 'genius'. Anyone with a degree from one of the top online schools for public administration could do an equal job in office, and Granholm is an Ivy Leaguer.
It is certainly not genius to tax and spend just as the majority of the United States government has done, but Jennifer Granholm has not shown any problem with appealing for government aid, while still ignoring the true problems this state is facing. A teetering unemployment level, coupled with little hope of any local economic recovery to come has left many with a bitter taste in their mouths when the name Jennifer Granholm comes to mind. The fall out of this particular administration may be felt for several years to come.
