Michigan governor proposes massive cuts to fund business tax cut
OBAMA’S CORPORATE STRATEGY OF HANDING OVER WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE ECONOMY TO THE CORPORATE CLASS, AND THEN HANDING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THE BILLS FOR THE STAGGERING BAILOUT FROM WALL ST.’S RAPE, IS NOW SPREADING ALL OVER THE COUNTRY!
AS OBAMA SERVICES WALL ST., WALL ST.’S FRONT FOR CORPORATE FASCISM, THE U. S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, HE’S ALSO PUSHING FOR WIDER OPEN BORDERS TO ASSURE THE HORDES OF ILLEGALS DAILY CROSSING OUR BORDERS OUR JOBS!
OBAMA, THE HISPANDERING BANKSTER-BOUGHT PRESIDENT!
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Michigan governor proposes massive cuts to fund business tax cut
By Andrea Peters
22 February 2011
Michigan’s new Republican governor Rick Snyder announced a budget February 17 that attacks the elderly, schoolchildren, public employees, municipal services, and low- to middle-income earners. The $1.7 billion that the governor proposes to raise through a combination of budget cuts and tax increases for retirees and workers will be used to finance a $1.8 billion tax break for businesses.
Snyder’s plan constitutes an open and direct transfer of wealth from the working class to the wealthy. The claim by the governor that his budget represents a vision of “shared sacrifice” is absurd on its face. The rich and the corporate elite are not being asked to sacrifice a penny.
In order to raise $900 million, Snyder proposes putting an end to Michigan’s practice of not taxing retirement income, a move that Eric Schneidewind of the American Association for Retired People described as equivalent to declaring “war on older Michiganders.” Tens of thousands of retirees who live off public and private pensions earned over decades of work will see their incomes decline, under conditions in which many of those who once worked in the auto industry have seen their health insurance slashed.
At the same time, Snyder’s budget will eliminate other tax exemptions for the elderly, as well as families with children, and make many middle-income working people ineligible for Michigan’s homestead property tax credit.
While Snyder made no mention of the issue in last Thursday’s address, he is also proposing to ax the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which gives a several hundred dollar tax break to 800,000 of Michigan’s poorest residents. Speaking on the issue, Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley blithely told lawmakers recently, “We don’t believe there is any additional incentive for adding it to the Michigan tax code.”
Speaking to the Detroit Free Press on Friday, the governor indicated that the money withheld from the poor by axing the EITC would be used to fund Medicare. He warned all those lobbying against the elimination of the tax credit that if they pressed the issue, the state would end up reducing payments to Medicare doctors, thereby further crippling the already overstretched program.
In addition, the governor’s proposed budget calls for slashing aid to state municipalities by $400 million. Local governments across Michigan are describing the reduction as a catastrophic measure that will dramatically affect emergency services, public transportation, infrastructure, parks and recreation, as well as health and safety. Detroit, for example, will lose $178 million, and Flint, also once a leading industrial town, $8.1 million, or 40 percent of the city’s entire operating budget.
Using a competitive model pioneered by the Obama administration in its Race to the Top education policy, Snyder has said that up to $200 million in funding for municipalities could be restored in those areas where representatives agree to enforce wage and benefit reductions, job cuts, and other attacks on public employees.
At the statewide level, Snyder is proposing that Lansing do its part to drive down the living standards of government workers by demanding they pay higher premiums for their health care and slashing other benefits. This will save the state $180 million.
The Detroit News reports that Michigan Budget Director John Nixon “said unions will have a strong incentive to come to the table because the state will have to look at other options if the savings on health care premiums and other costs are not found.” While the newspaper added that Nixon claimed he was not alluding to layoffs, it is clear the threat of this will be used to try to browbeat public employees into accepting concessions.
In the sphere of education, Snyder proposes reducing funding for public universities by 15 percent, or $225 million. In an effort to sow division between K-12 and university educators, the governor has suggested that the state’s K-12 education fund, which currently has a $672 million surplus, be handed over to Michigan’s community colleges and universities to offset their loses. The effect will be a $249 per-pupil reduction in K-12 spending. At the same time, the governor’s budget proposes that public school teachers be made to pay 20 percent of their health care premiums, significantly reducing educators’ wages.
Experts have calculated that when all the proposed cuts affecting public education are combined, in reality Michigan schools will see a $700 reduction in per-pupil spending.
Providing some indication of what’s in store for Michigan’s public schools statewide, state officials announced that they had approved plans by Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Robert Bobb to close half of the district’s schools, consolidate operations and increase high school class sizes to 60. Bobb has been authorized to immediately implement his financial restructuring plans.
The scale of the bloodletting being planned is such that Michigan Schools Superintendent Mike Flanagan, who backs Governor Snyder’s plans, was forced to encourage people in a Friday podcast “not to panic.” His remark was, no doubt, made with fears in mind that mass protests could erupt against the proposed budget in Michigan, similar to those ongoing in the nearby state of Wisconsin.
Other cuts on the table in Snyder’s budget include axing $42 million from prisons, slashing 300 field positions at the Department of Human Services, eliminating grants for reduced class sizes and bilingual education, closing Michigan State Police outposts, shuttering the Workers’ Compensation Appellate Commission and ending dairy farm inspections.
While laying waste to public services across the state, Snyder’s budget is a corporate boondoggle. If passed, it will replace the Michigan Business Tax with a flat six percent corporate income tax, a move that will give a slight boost to small businesses—a fact receiving wide coverage in the press—but overwhelmingly benefiting large companies. The state chamber of commerce and other business organizations have applauded the governor’s budget enthusiastically.
Observers have noted that despite the scale of the cuts being proposed, the state’s overall budget will decline only slightly, given the decrease in business taxes. The $1.8 billion to be forked over to corporate interests is roughly equivalent to the state’s budget deficit.
What is being proposed in Michigan by the Snyder administration is a variant of what is happening in state after state, under Democratic or Republican control alike, across the US. In carrying out draconian budget cuts, state representatives are following in the footsteps of the Obama administration, which has proposed a $1 trillion reduction in federal spending.
Working people in Michigan must begin to mobilize politically to fight against the assault taking place, joining the struggle of their fellow workers in neighboring states and internationally. They should not accept the false support of the trade unions and the Democratic Party, which openly accept the claim that ordinary people must “make sacrifices.” These forces have systematically worked to impose those sacrifices on the population for decades. A genuine struggle demands a movement of working people that is independent of any party of the political establishment, and above all, thoroughly rejects the idea that the interests of private profit should reign supreme.
The author also recommends:
The struggle of Wisconsin workers enters a new stage
[21 February 2011]
WSWS.ORG
MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com
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Go to http://www.MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com
WHY OBAMA WANTS WILLIAM DAILY…. OPEN BORDERS!
OBAMA HAS INFESTED HIS ADMINISTRATION WITH LA RAZA PARTY MEMBERS TO PUSH FOR AMNESTY, “CHEAP” MEX LABOR IN OUR JOBS TO KEEP HIS CORPORATE PAYMASTERS HAPPY AND GENEROUS, AND HAS TURNED OUR NATION’S SECURITY INTO Dept. Homeland Security = PATHWAY TO CITIZENSHIP!
ANYTHING TO KEEP THE HORDES OF ILLEGALS CLIMBING OUR BORDERS!
WILLIAM DAILY IS CLOSELY IDENTIFIED WITH BIG OBAMA DONOR, BANKSTER CRIMINALS J.P. MORGAN!
WHEN OBAMA GETS OUT OF BED, HE MARCHES FOR HIS BANKSTERS AND LA RAZA!
FROM CREOLE FOLKS
Obama Seeks Brother of "Chicago Mob Boss" for Top White House Post
The roaches and con-artist, fake journalist on cable news are all lying about William Daley being all this and all that, this man is an open borders, down with America, free trade globalist. MSNBC and Gretta "the Scientology" Van Susteren from Fox News are knowingly deceiving the public about D. Issa & his letter to "business owners"=which they made into such a BIG DAM DEAL, but no one says anything whenBarrack Hussein Obama, comes around with all of these shady bankers, hedge fund managers and Wall St. Tycoons, which he puts in his cabinet. All of Obama's meeting with Wall Street asking, "What can I do for you?" is never something covered by Keith Oberman or Rachel Maddow.
(Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama is considering naming William Daley, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive and former U.S. Commerce secretary, to a high-level administration post, possibly White House chief of staff, people familiar with the matter said.
Such a move, which is still under discussion, would bring a Washington veteran -- and someone with strong business ties -- into the administration as Obama sets out an agenda for the second half of his term while dealing with a Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
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OBAMA’S PAYMASTERS:
Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054).
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Barack Obama has collected nearly twice as much money as John McCain
BY DAVID SALTONSTALL
DAILY NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
July 1st 2008
Wall Street firms have chipped in more than $9 million to Barack Obama. Zurga/Bloomberg
Wall Street is investing heavily in Barack Obama.
Although the Democratic presidential hopeful has vowed to raise capital gains and corporate taxes, financial industry bigs have contributed almost twice as much to Obama as to GOP rival John McCain, a Daily News analysis of campaign records shows.
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Michelle Malkin
The U.S. Department of Illegal Alien Labor
President Obama's Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is supposed to represent American workers. What you need to know is that this longtime open–borders sympathizer has always had a rather radical definition of "American." At a Latino voter registration project conference in Los Angeles many years ago, Solis asserted to thunderous applause, "We are all Americans, whether you are legalized or not."
That's right. The woman in charge of enforcing our employment laws doesn't give a hoot about our immigration laws –– or about the fundamental distinction between those who followed the rules in pursuit of the American dream and those who didn't.
While in Congress, she opposed strengthening the border fence, supported expansion of illegal alien benefits (including driver's licenses and in–state tuition discounts), embraced sanctuary cities that refused to cooperate with federal homeland security officials to enforce immigration laws, and aggressively championed a mass amnesty. Solis was steeped in the pro–illegal alien worker organizing movement in Southern California and was buoyed by amnesty–supporting Big Labor groups led by the Service Employees International Union. She has now caused a Capitol Hill firestorm over her new taxpayer–funded advertising and outreach campaign to illegal aliens regarding fair wages:
"I'm here to tell you that your president, your secretary of labor and this department will not allow anyone to be denied his or her rightful pay –– especially when so many in our nation are working long, hard and often dangerous hours," Solis says in the video pitch. "We can help, and we will help. If you work in this country, you are protected by our laws. And you can count on the U.S. Department of Labor to see to it that those protections work for you."
To be sure, no one should be scammed out of "fair wages." Employers that hire and exploit illegal immigrant workers deserve full sanctions and punishment. But it's the timing, tone–deafness and underlying blanket amnesty agenda of Solis' illegal alien outreach that has so many American workers and their representatives on Capitol Hill rightly upset.
With double–digit unemployment and a growing nationwide revolt over Washington's border security failures, why has Solis chosen now to hire 250 new government field investigators to bolster her illegal alien workers' rights campaign? (Hint: Leftists unhappy with Obama's lack of progress on "comprehensive immigration reform" need appeasing. This is a quick bone to distract them.)
Unfortunately, the federal government is not alone in lavishing attention and resources on workers who shouldn't be here in the first place. As of 2008, California, Florida, Nevada, New York, Texas and Utah all expressly included illegal aliens in their state workers' compensation plans –– and more than a dozen other states implicitly cover them.
Solis' public service announcement comes on the heels of little–noticed but far more troubling comments encouraging illegal alien workers in the Gulf Coast. Earlier this month, in the aftermath of the BP oil spill, according to Spanish language publication El Diario La Prensa, Solis signaled that her department was going out of its way to shield illegal immigrant laborers involved in cleanup efforts. "My purpose is to assist the workers with respect to safety and protection," she said. "We're protecting all workers regardless of migration status because that's the federal law." She told reporters that her department was in talks with local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials who had visited coastal worksites to try to verify that workers were legal.
No word yet on whether she gave ICE her "we are all Americans, whether you are legalized or not" lecture. But it's a safe bet.
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MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com
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FAIRUS.org
The Administration's Phantom Immigration Enforcement Policy
According to DHS’s own reports, very little of our nation’s borders (Southwestern or otherwise) are secure, and gaining control is not even a goal of the department.
By Ira Mehlman
Published on 12/07/2009
Townhall.com
The setting was not quite the flight deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln with a “Mission Accomplished” banner as the backdrop, but it was the next best thing. Speaking at the Center for American Progress (CAP) on Nov. 13, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared victory over illegal immigration and announced that the Obama administration is ready to move forward with a mass amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens already living in the United States.
Arguing the Obama administration’s case for amnesty, Napolitano laid out what she described as the “three-legged stool” for immigration reform. As the administration views it, immigration reform must include “a commitment to serious and effective enforcement, improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm but fair way to deal with those who are already here.”
Acknowledging that a lack of confidence in the government’s ability and commitment to effectively enforce the immigration laws it passes proved to be the Waterloo of previous efforts to gain amnesty for illegal aliens, Napolitano was quick to reassure the American public that those concerns could be put to rest.
“For starters, the security of the Southwest border has been transformed from where it was in 2007,” stated the secretary. Not only is the border locked up tight, she continued, but the situation is well in-hand in the interior of the country as well. “We’ve also shown that the government is serious and strategic in its approach to enforcement by making changes in how we enforce the law in the interior of the country and at worksites…Furthermore, we’ve transformed worksite enforcement to truly address the demand side of illegal immigration.”
If Rep. Joe Wilson had been in attendance to hear Secretary Napolitano’s CAP speech he might well have had a few choice comments to offer. But since he wasn’t, we will have to rely on the Department of Homeland Security’s own data to assess the veracity of Napolitano’s claims.
According to DHS’s own reports, very little of our nation’s borders (Southwestern or otherwise) are secure, and gaining control is not even a goal of the department. DHS claims to have “effective control” over just 894 miles of border. That’s 894 out of 8,607 miles they are charged with protecting. As for the other 7,713 miles? DHS’s stated border security goal for FY 2010 is the same 894 miles.
The administration’s strategic approach to interior and worksite enforcement is just as chimerical as its strategy at the border, unless one considers shuffling paper to be a strategy. DHS data, released November 18, show that administrative arrests of immigration law violators fell by 68 percent between 2008 and 2009. The department also carried out 60 percent fewer arrests for criminal violations of immigration laws, 58 percent fewer criminal indictments, and won 63 percent fewer convictions.
While the official unemployment rate has climbed from 7.6 percent when President Obama took office in January to 10 percent today, the administration’s worksite enforcement strategy has amounted to a bureaucratic game of musical chairs. The administration has all but ended worksite enforcement actions and replaced them with paperwork audits. When the audits determine that illegal aliens are on the payroll, employers are given the opportunity to fire them with little or no adverse consequence to the company, while no action is taken to remove the illegal workers from the country. The illegal workers simply acquire a new set of fraudulent documents and move on to the next employer seeking workers willing to accept substandard wages.
In Janet Napolitano’s alternative reality a mere 10 percent of our borders under “effective control” and sharp declines in arrests and prosecutions of immigration lawbreakers may be construed as confidence builders, but it is hard to imagine that the American public is going to see it that way. If anything, the administration’s record has left the public less confident that promises of future immigration enforcement would be worth the government paper they’re printed on.
As Americans scrutinize the administration’s plans to overhaul immigration policy, they are likely to find little in the “three-legged stool” being offered that they like or trust. The first leg – enforcement – the administration has all but sawed off. The second – increased admissions of extended family members and workers – makes little sense with some 25 million Americans either unemployed or relegated to part-time work. And the third – amnesty for millions of illegal aliens – is anathema to their sense of justice and fair play.
As Americans well know, declaring “Mission Accomplished” and actually accomplishing a mission are two completely different things. When it comes to enforcing immigration laws, the only message the public is receiving from this administration is “Mission Aborted.”
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MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com
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Go to http://www.MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com and read articles and comments from other Americans on what they’ve witnessed in their communities around the country. While most of the population of California is now ILLEGAL, the problems, costs, assault to our culture by Mexico is EVERYWHERE. copy and pass it to your friends.
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Report Illegals & Employers Toll Free... (866) 347-2423
INS National Customer Service Center Phone: 1-800-375-5283.
http://www.ice.gov/ ICE, ice, ICE
http://www.reportillegals.com/
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Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform
www.CAIRCO.org
http://www.FAIRUS.org
http://www.JUDICIALWATCH.org
http://www.ALIPAC.us
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http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/mexico/2011/01/getting-over-the-border-fence-fast.html
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Obama Quietly Erasing Borders (Article)
Article Link:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=240045
CONTACT THE HISPANDERING LA RAZA PARTY PRESIDENT HERE:
You can contact President Obama and let him know of your opposition to amnesty for illegal aliens:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/
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