Down or Out?

by Gongwer News Service
January 15, 2010

Anyone involved in politics who has not read Advise and Consent should trundle down to the local library (and hurry before someone closes those) and pick up a copy. Now 50 years old, it is interesting to read of a different political world, with fewer lobbyists, fewer staff surrounding lawmakers, a press corps that actually relied on printing presses, of politicians who relied on oratory and argument more than talking points and sound bites.

Another reminder of a bygone era in the book is that two of the critical characters, the Senate majority leader and the vice president (later the president) are Michigan politicians. While the characters are full of frailties, they are clearly symbolic of what was a growing, rich and powerful state.

And when the book was published, Michigan was a growing state, gaining congressional representation; drawing in so many residents from other states it was the subject of several weepy country music hits about missing the hills of wherever while building cars; so rich that (and we’re not being perjorative here but stating a fact) uneducated, unskilled factory workers could afford vacation homes and boats as well as their suburban bungalows and several cars.

One could be nostalgic for those days listening to the Revenue Estimating Conference held this week, as economists outlined how the state had lost nearly 20 percent of its jobs in 10 years. Anyone who lived in the state at a time of an all-powerful auto industry had to wonder how the state’s companies were struggling now to hold on to more than a quarter of the car market (as opposed to the total vehicle market).

And those remembering the days of easy money had to be shocked to hear that the state’s per capita income had gone from 20th highest in the nation to 37th.

The grim message seemed to be Michigan is now a poor state. Where once state residents could either joke about Mississippi or angrily warn we could not be like Mississippi, we may worry that Mississippians will joke about us.

And the revelation of our increasingly impoverished state came with the additional revelation that the state will face another deficit of at least $1.6 billion to resolve in the 2010-11 budget. In budgetary terms, the state is long past trimming fat, gone beyond hacking at muscle, to now contemplating amputations.

The battle over the budget will revolve as it has for several years on the broken-record debate of raising taxes and cutting spending. Now, however, the debate will take place in the context of whether the state will need to close universities, or release thousands of prisoners, or simply do away with longstanding state functions.

The sad litany of depressing statistics will serve as the downbeat for renewed political argument over who is to blame for the condition. They also will be the overture to the final budget Governor Jennifer Granholm will present to legislators. That document will help set the stage for the upcoming fight on how to resolve, at least for one more year, the state’s fiscal mess and try to set a hopeful tone for the future.

The revelation also has to go up against the public attitude that Michigan is not really poor, that it has much that could restore its fortunes, including its top-flight universities, its diversity of industry, its resources, and, yes, its work attitude. It has the benefits still that it created for itself during its wealthy years, and those should help it recover.

Is Michigan really a poor state? It certainly is a weak shadow of its former might, but it hardly seems a poor place either.

One thing the upcoming debate and struggle for resolution will have to both expose and perhaps resolve is what is the condition of Michigan’s fighting spirit? For if the state is poor in that, then it really is destitute, and the memories drawn from old books will seem a bitter joke.

For nearly 50 years in Michigan, Gongwer News Service has provided independent, comprehensive, accurate and timely coverage of issues in and around Michigan’s government and political systems. For subscription information, including a free trial, visit Gongwer online.