We're Movin' On Up! Didn't it Suck to Be Last?

We’re Movin’ Up!!!!!!

Great news!!!!

Michigan’s economy is no longer last among the 50 states!!!!!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!! Way to go Jennifer Granholm!!!! WE ROCK. Didn’t it suck to be last?


Well, maybe we don't rock. But it is good not to be dead last. I mean, we could be like Louisiana and recovering from a massive hurricane and the destruction of a major city. Something like that could make us 50th (like they are). Or maybe Microsoft skips the $4 Billion bonuses this year and makes it look like our economy and personal incomes are dropping (like what happened in Washington state – now 49th in the nation).

But what’s our excuse? No weather tragedy. No Microsoft. What’s the reason that we are 48th?

Better yet, what are we doing about it?

Well, it looks like we are going to raise the minimum wage. Great idea. We want to be “employer friendly” and attract employers. What’s the best way? Ratchet up the minimum wage. You betcha! Let’s not go up a little, either. Let’s jack that baby way up. The new minimum wage will be $7.15 per hour in two years. I bet companies are just lining up to get some of this stuff!

We already have the worst unemployment rate in the country at 7.3%. Some economists can “prove” that for every 10% increase in a minimum wage, there is a corresponding 1% increase in the unemployment rate as employers choose not to hire new laborers. Wow! We are raising our minimum wage by 40%. That could mean a 4% increase in unemployment. Great thinking, Jennifer.

How could I say it better than economics professor Mark J. Perry who wrote in the Flint Journal:

“Raising the minimum wage will hurt Michigan's struggling economy and the already fragile labor market, especially the displaced workers who will be priced out of the labor market by artificially high wages. How can the thousands of unemployed, unskilled Michigan workers be better off without a $7.15-an-hour job than they would be with a job that pays $5.15 an hour?”

Oh, well. I think that I’ll just sit back and revel in the fact that we are movin’ on up in the economic rankings, at least for now. Doesn’t 48th feel so much better than 50th? So hey, I’m going to enjoy it now, because I get a sinking feeling that we’ll be sinking again.

Titanically Yours,

Blawgerman