Michigan's economy is in the toilet. People like Dick DeVos blame Gov. Granholm for our state's current economic woes and say we need leadership to get us out of this.DeVos and Bush=GOP clones.
Let's look at DeVos's leadership. In the last decade, he shipped 1400 jobs out of Michigan, as well as millions of investment dollars into Communist China, while at the time, Michigan was under a Republican governor. If every other manufacturer followed DeVos's lead, there'd be nothing left of our great state.
If DeVos had faith in Michigan, not only would 1400 jobs still be here, but investing the money in Michigan and not China would have created more jobs. 1400 more people could have bought cars, bought homes, or could have afforded newspaper subscriptions. Because those jobs are now gone, 1400 orders for new cars were never made. Because new car orders fell, autoworkers had to be laid off. Many parts manufacturers throughout the state that supply for both the cars and the machines that help build them had to lay people off.
Many other businesses who did follow DeVos's lead also shipped jobs to China. Now, the country is beginning to see the results. Automakers shutting plants. Housing markets starting to slow. Trade deficits are up. The new service jobs created do not pay enough to drive the economy, nor do they create enough goods to close the trade gap.
DeVos likes to blame Jennifer Granholm for a lack of leadership, but part of being a leader includes taking responsibility for your actions. A leader is willing to make sacrifices, unfortunately, under DeVos, once again it will be the working people of Michigan who will be asked to make that sacrifice.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
An Unpublished Letter About DeVos
From Lew @ Unbrainwashed comes this letter about gubernatorial Republican candidate, Dick DeVos, that the Grand Rapids Press refused to print (creative differences!):
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9 comments:
i am sure they found time to print some other letter on the fair or something like that. at least that is how it goes around my neck of the woods
Of course they didn't print it! The whole China/jobs thing has been proven baseless and false. Granholm's campaign will continue running them because accusations like that find purchase in the minds of nondiscerning thinkers.
I like this part.
"Many other businesses ... shipped jobs to China. Now, the country is beginning to see the results."
Yea. Like GM and Ford's business in China is one of the bright spots on their P&L. If it weren't for their overseas operations generating income to offest North American losses the companies would be in worse shape than they are today.
There's a really good reason they didn't print the letter. It's poorly reasoned, poorly researched, adds nothing new, and parrots empty campaign rhetoric.
What novel perspective or fact does the letter contain?
DeVos has stated that if elected, he probably won't live in the governor's mansion. Isay if he's too good for the governor's manison, he's not good enough for Michigan.
gagme,
DeVos has admitted sending jobs to China, as well as investing $200 million there. The fact that our economy is suffering inMichigan is because the US as a country has switched from a manufacturing economy to a service economy and truthfully, jobs in the service sector do not pay enough to afford a new car. Less new car orders leads to lay-offs, which we have been seeing the last few years, not only in the auto business, but in other manufacturing positions as well. the housing bubble has burst, and more recently, Electrolux shut down it's factory in Greenville, laying off a couple thousand people. Why? If no one's buying new houses (because the new jobs created in the service economy don't pay enough for the workers to be able to afford them)then there is no market for them to sell their refrigerators. Only a retard couldn't see that the only people who benefit from outsourcing(which is something that DeVos supports and has lobbied for), whether it's to China or Mexico or India, are the CEOs whose salaries have risen like so much Republican hot air.
"DeVos has admitted sending jobs to China, as well as investing $200 million there."
True. But that's not the inference of the commercial, is it? The inference is that jobs were transferred to China, which they were not. The inference is he invested $200 million in China /instead/ of Michigan, which is not true.
Rest assured, this won't stop anyone from parroting the mantra. If you're going to vote for Granholm find a /real/ reason to vote for her and encourage others to do the same. Do not use a misrepresented and ficticious reason to vote against DeVos.
Both Granholm and DeVos send their campaign advertising work out-of-state instead of giving the work to the talented people of Michigan. That is not a misrepresentation. There are talented and un(der)-employed advertisors and marketing specialists right here in the Detroit area but instead both campaigns have hired East-coast firms. Democrats would expect that from DeVos but I bet union members wouldn't expect that from Granholm. I don't begrudge her duplicity, but I do begrudge her supporters' willful blindness of it.
"Only a retard couldn't see that the only people who benefit from outsourcing(which is something that DeVos supports and has lobbied for), whether it's to China or Mexico or India, are the CEOs whose salaries have risen like so much Republican hot air."
I hate it when an accusation backfires, don't you?
Small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) which can't otherwise afford those services or remain competitive without them are able to grow their businesses domestically because of outsourcing. Did you know SMBs employ more Americans and are growing more rapidly than large enterprises like the fortune 500?
Outsourcing is a tool business can use to grow. And Michigan needs businesses to grow and provide goods and services at competitive prices. Or do only Republican's shop at Wal-mart, Kmart, Costco, and Sam's Club?
The rest has little to do with Michigan citizens' choice this November, and even less to do with the anonymously submitted letter and why it shouldn't have been published.
Thomas, Solomon Friedman Advertising, headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, will be surprised to hear they're not producing the ads for the Granholm campaign!
The letter to the editor section of papers is one of my favorites because the letters reflect the viewpoints and personalities of average citizens like myself. Viewpoint is the key word, and most papers stress that the writer keep it brief and to the point. They don't want lengthy dissertions with footnotes.
In this case, the point is that DeVos is running around boasting that he can create jobs in Michigan. In Amway's case, DeVos created jobs in China and reduced employment in Michigan. DeVos claims otherwise, and Truscott has been promising since February that they would have documentation to back up those claims, but we're still waiting.
Regarding Windquest, in this case DeVos did create jobs in Michigan. I believe the company grew from somewhere around 70 to 100 employees over a 13 year period. If that's DeVos' idea of creating jobs in Michigan, we're sunk.
Add in DeVos' belief that ID should be taught in science classes in Michigan schools and the man becomes even less attractive.
Why would DeVos live in the gov's mansion. He's be trading down, living in that shack.
"Thomas, Solomon Friedman Advertising, headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, will be surprised to hear they're not producing the ads for the Granholm campaign!"
You're right. They just aren't hers or DeVos' ad agency. Neither is any Michigan agency according to people in the business keeping me up-to-date on such things.
Apparently great commercial ideas have to come from the DC area.
"Add in DeVos' belief that ID should be taught in science classes in Michigan schools and the man becomes even less attractive."
It depends on how much reading you've done on the subject. I believe creation and evolution are perfectly compatible. There's increasing support for it in literature as scientists are surpsied to discover Jewish rabbis over 1000 years ago described the big bang and evolution of life on Earth to a level of detail science is just now catching up with.
Most shocking is the discovery the life on Earth started (in geographic time frames) nearly instantaneously after the planet cooled. We didn't even need to wait for probability to create living matter out of non-living matter.
It's quite possible he's read more than you, but I'm OK with that. Michigan's educational problems will be neither helped nor hurt substantively with his support for ID.
The Detroit News' Daniel Howes summed it up pretty well today in Michigan voters need serious solutions, not childish drivel. His request for more serious discussion is echoed in What's your favorite color? (or "coulour" for Canadians), We have to know our voters? and Vote for me, I'll suck less than the other guy.
The point is, I don't think people should stop thinking just because their vote has already been decided by their favorite color. At least try to defend your decisions with something better Granholm's "he shipped jobs to China" or DeVos' "Granholm killed our economy."
Thanks for the links, Thomas. I'm looking forward to the debates between Granholm and DeVos (first one is tonight) and I'm hopeful they will give voters a better picture of the candidates and their plans for Michigan. Unfortunately, the sound-bite campaigning we've been seeing so far plays well with a large portion of the public - locally and nationally. Debates are not everyone's forte.
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