The Battle of Lansing And Everything After

Dennis Sanders,  publisher of the center-right blog,  Big Tent Review, writes about the recent debate surrounding his home state of  Michigan’s new right-to-work legislation:

It’s been interesting to see what’s going on in my home state of Michigan.  As a kid, you learned how important the unions were in the state.  Most kids learned of the 1936-7 Sitdown Strike in Flint, Michganwhich happens to be my hometown.  It was that event where the United Autoworkers made a name for themselves and where the Detroit automakers had to get used to labor as a partner.  For the next 70 years, the American auto industry and the UAW were partners in building the modern Michigan.

My parents came to Michigan and became autoworkers.  My mother worked at AC and Dad worked at Buick.  Of course they were union members as was every hourly worker in every plant in the United States.  As a kid, I never did understand why every hourly worker were union members whether they liked it or not.  My Mom would say in effect that they benefit from all the hard work the union did, so of course they had to be members and they had to have money taken out of their paychecks for union dues.

The passage of right-to-work legislation in Michigan this week is not going to make a big difference in my home state.  Unions aren’t going away.  Michigan will still have to deal with job losses and all the problems that come with that loss.  Maybe new businesses will choose to plant themselves in the Wolverine State, but they might come for reasons other than right to work.

Source: Big Tent Revue. Read full article. (link)

Moving Michigan Into A Top Notch Global Market

In 2009, 70% of global growth came from developing and emerging market countries; Africa ranked third after China and India in terms of growth rates. Various companies from developing and emerging markets are increasingly the source of corporate leadership and business innovations. Developing and emerging markets are incubators for the companies growing from within.

Therefore, Michigan and in particular its urban environments must begin to invest in the benefits of whatever speed of broadband is under consideration.For example, telecommunications giant AT&T is investing $19 billion in wireless and broadband services. Investment translates into jobs as well as benefits to companies and consumers. Investment also benefits the entire telecoms sector because the trickle down to partners and suppliers is substantial. Investment empowers the new applications environment and benefits public policy, e.g. by enabling the creation of new platforms for innovation in areas such as healthcare, education and the environment.

However, in order to create a competitive, world-class knowledge economy we will need to develop a plan that includes substantial investment. We must remind our state lawmakers that the government’s job is to remove the barriers preventing investment in R&D and education by the private sector. At the same time, Michigan must cut through the tangle of red tape that makes it impossible to get anything done.

Why Urban Cities Like Detroit Must Accept Right-to-Work

When I left Detroit, Michigan I knew I was headed towards a state where job growth was constantly expanding. I took a 36 hour bus ride to Houston, Texas where I felt like I would move to the next phase of my life.

I did not make a mistake leaving Detroit. I had grown sick and tired of the debate and foolishness of the unions that were always obstructing progress in the Great Lake State. And when I look at Detroit, I see a city that has died already. I’m just waiting for Swanson to seal the deal in terms of the city.

However, Detroit may be resurrected because the State of Michigan is on the verge of becoming the 24th state in the country to become Right-To-Work. While unions and so-called civil rights leaders are protesting against the bill these are the same exact people who fail to realize that the time for unions are in the past. I will give the unions credit, they helped build the “middle-class” during an industrial age of economics in the United States. However, in the 21st century, we live in the technology age. Unions, in my opinion, have become political thugs in terms of obstructing necessary laws and policies that will help and enhance the current trend of business today. Business is global and move at the speed of a click of a button thanks to the Internet. So we have to do things differently.