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Experts expect Michigan's economic woes to continue

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December 23, 2009 5:43 PM

MICHIGAN (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – Experts say Michigan's budget crisis will continue into 2010.

The non-partisan Senate Fiscal Agency says the state will be facing another $1.8 billion shortfall when the next fiscal year rolls around in October of 2010.

The report says lawmakers are going to have to make "very significant" spending cuts, or they're going to have to find a way to increase revenue.

The agency also expects the unemployment rate to hover around 16.1 percent through 2010.

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35 comments

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Name withheld

3:59 PM on December 23, 2009

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gowestern

4:32 PM on December 23, 2009

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After reading Tootsie’s post, I would move out of Michigan too if I was a business owner.

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mekone

4:41 PM on December 23, 2009

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gowestern, your right the anti-business attitude here is really bad. if you don't want to work for a wealthy person try working for a poor person,let me know how well that pays.

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cmonman

4:54 PM on December 23, 2009

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Hang in there folks. Granholm's reign is almost over and we can begin to mend and rebuild.

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jaded1

5:42 PM on December 23, 2009

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Uh, Duh?

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spartanman

5:08 AM on December 24, 2009

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tootsie, you don't get it either. Sometime during you deep slumber over the last 30 years, we shifted to a global economy. That's good and bad, because while on one side of the coin you get to buy cheaper stuff because of the increased competition, on the other side, people here sometimes lose their jobs because of increased competition. There are these people in Washington DC called you "Representatives" and "Senators" (most of them had a "D" or "R" after their title) that WE put into office with our votes that thought it would be a really good idea to make it even easier for companies to move production of these manufacturing jobs to other countries. They called these ingenious plans "Free" Trade agreements and defended them as something that would only take away the jobs nobody wanted. Well, Pedro down in Mexico and Lao Ping over in China are willing to do the SAME job as Jim here in the good ol' USA for a LOT less muhla, and in a global economy the company has to compete with other companies using the same lower-cost labor inputs. Some little guy tried to warn us about 20 years ago about the giant sucking sound and people laughed at him and kept voting for their favorite "D" or "R". Meanwhile people go to Wally World and the Dollar Store and buy the much-cheaper foreign-produced goods and after a while not many people are buying the more expensive stuff that Jim making anymore. The law of supply and demand has kicked in and Jim's company has to make a choice of either closing it's doors, or lowering it's labor and production costs in order to be able to compete. The irritated company owner, that has became a Republican because of the usual Democrat high tax policies increasing costs to businesses in the state, decides to pull production out of the state, or even out of the country. So the next time you go off on one of your rants, remember you favorite "D" s are just as much responsible for our current demise as those evil "R"s. And if we don't do SOMETHING to keep a manufacturing base here in the state AND in the country, that "imaginary" giant sucking sound will wipe us out.

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levlwon

7:02 AM on December 24, 2009

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spartie: Couldn't have said it better my self.

toots: I will add that there is a law that America adopted that was already in effect in most other countries. That is that depending on the procuct, (autos, elecronics, etc...) if you want to sell it in that (or this) country, PART of it has to be made in this country. That's a big reason that there are so many foriegn auto makers here. With that in mind, the states have to compete with each other to get that plant and those jobs. Our state has done a very poor job in that department and no one wants to do business here.

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posterb

7:06 AM on December 24, 2009

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Remember the "Buy American and Americans Work" slogan? Or the "Made in the USA" labels?

This country needs some encouragement. There is so little sense of pride, anymore. If folks (particularly those whose radio and TV shows influence public opinion) did a little less complaining and a little more cheerleading, there could be a serious mood shift towards positivity that would encourage growth. When all people hear is that the country is going to hell in a handbasket, well... that's where it will end up. Power of suggestion, and misery loves company.

Shop local! Buy American! We CAN turn things around, but not if we're all sitting around bemoaning the good old days and slamming whatever political party happens to be in power at the time.

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tweek27

7:55 AM on December 24, 2009

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Buying from China constantly and outsourcing our jobs for cheap products couldn't last forever...

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veejaymill

8:04 AM on December 24, 2009

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So if you thought it was bad this year, wait til next year...ho ho ho.

Nothing like waking up on Christmas eve and being fed a big old dish of no hope and economic disaster for all. Instead of hanging Christmas ornaments we'll be hanging ourselves.

Yea, Merry FN Christmas to you too Lansing...bah humbug!!!

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Experts expect Michigan's economic woes to continue

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