10/29/2006

Editorial

Granholm makes strides in face of soured economy

Maybe she's just being polite.

But it is an absolute mystery why GOV. JENNIFER GRANHOLM has not responded to the non-stop jobs, jobs, jobs mantra from challenger Dick DeVos with a simple truth: She is not the president of General Motors, Ford Motor Co. or Chrysler Corp.

The blame for Michigan's economic free-fall over the past five years lies squarely on the Big Three and other manufacturing firms and the realities of the new global economy.

If Michigan is suffering through a "one-state recession" it is because the state lost 218,000 manufacturing jobs from 2000 to 2005.

Those layoffs have reverberated around the state. Dozens of small auto-related firms, including many in northern Michigan, have shut their doors. Thousands who made a living selling goods and services to now-idled auto workers are themselves looking for work.

Automakers aren't the only ones who have exported jobs. Electrolux dumped nearly 3,000 employees in Greenville and moved the jobs to Mexico.

Trying to blame Granholm for the shift in the global economy is simplistic to the point of dishonesty. Compounding that tunnel vision is the refusal to acknowledge the massive deficit Granholm inherited from former Gov. John Engler, who gave away a hefty state surplus via tax cuts for business. Who fixed Engler's hole in the dam? Granholm.

What Michigan voters should worry about now is how to pump new life into our auto-wrecked economy. What DeVos has offered so far is downright scary.

DeVos and the GOP-led Legislature favored speeding up the repeal of the Single Business Tax but he has refused to say how he would replace the $1.9 billion in lost revenue. Sometime after Nov. 7, he'll come up with a plan.

Since then, DeVos has also called for an end to personal property taxes on businesses — and $1.5 billion in revenue. It's the same routine — I don't have a plan, but once the votes are in, I'll find a way.

Sorry, no deal.

For her part, Granholm has stuck to what has worked so far, within the context of the auto industry implosion anyway.

She is pushing high-tech corridors with tax breaks and incentives, she favors more spending on higher education, more tourism advertising and she's trying to lure non-smokestack firms like Google.

Granholm also has a wide edge on environmental issues.

If DeVos has a road map for turning the economy, he hasn't spelled it out beyond gutting state revenues. That's enough to say "no."

Granholm deserves another term.