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Parting Shots

By Wm. R. Lowry
Editor & Publisher, MiBiz
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note-able quote
“I think this is the second time in a few months that I have read your selection of condescending “note-able quotes” bemoaning the idea of government helping people during tough economic times.

"Please do share your solution for helping Michigan’s families to make ends meet during this part of the economic cycle since you apparently believe that the unemployment insurance program (or Social Security? or supplemental food programs?) should be abolished...

"Please enlighten us. Or maybe stick to talking about Michigan business instead of repeatedly using your column as a right-wing bully pulpit against social support programs.”
— Paul Bruneau
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no bull pulpit
We interrupt this edition of Parting Shots to bring you a special bulletin from the all-new Bill’s Right-Wing Bully Pulpit.

But first, let me express my extreme pride that this humble publication, breathed into being back in 1988 on my trusty Commodore 64, has at last been elevated to the status of bully pulpit.

That said, I’m the first to admit that at least three times in 23 years of penning this column I have been politely informed by a business or government acquaintance that not everybody agrees with every word I write. To which I have always quickly replied, “I would be surprised if everyone did.”

So from my newly acquired power pulpit let me address this writer’s concerns:

1. Government is not some inanimate object generating and expending its own wealth as it sees fit. The government is us, the money is ours — as is the right to demand it be spent wisely and productively.
2. None of the social safety net programs operated by government were at inception meant as a substitute for personal responsibility nor an implicit government responsibility to provide recipients a middle class existence at a neighbor’s expense. Undue dependency on government is not good for individuals, families nor society.
3. Even Ebenezer Scrooge voluntarily shared some of his good fortune to help those in dire straits, and I believe all Americans — including those with bully pulpits — are happy to do the same. This explains precisely the enormous financial and volunteer support donated to churches, foundations, charities and not-for-profits.
4. Prosperity is not gained by penalizing the most productive citizens through excessive taxation, regulation and mandates. Free enterprise built this country. It works largely due to its inbuilt incentives, and those that would destroy — incrementally or otherwise — this greatest of American inventions must be called out and the course corrected.
5. Social programs, however noble in purpose, that overly drain productive citizens and their enterprises are not sustainable.

pay me twice
And now back to our regularly scheduled Parting Shots. It is employers, not governments, that pay unemployment benefits. Michigan UI was at last check some $1.5 billion in debt to the Feds. This, of course, becomes a major Michigan business issue when the Fed comes a’callin’ and the surcharges begin for every single employer in the state.

note-able quote
“The decline of American manufacturing happened not because of some inevitable shift to a post-manufacturing economy as some argue, but because the United States has picked the wrong policies and not paid attention to preserving and growing manufacturing.”
— Gilbert B. Kaplan, President, Committee to Support U.S. Trade Laws

reset button
Current U.S. economic and trade policies undercut American manufacturing say several coalitions of manufacturing and trade policy experts.

The Committee to Support U.S. Trade Laws, together with the Economic Strategy Institute, the New America Foundation’s U.S. Economy/Smart Globalization Initiative and other groups is calling on Washington to step up its support of manufacturing in America.
The National Association of Manufacturers has also put forth a legislative agenda.

The country’s long-term economic fortune is highly dependent on manufacturing and thus requires Congressional attention and action. Push that reset button.

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