Tom Walsh of the Free Press offers this perspective on Michigan’s recovery.
Halfway to revival, halfway to cheating death, to dodging a label as America's first third-world state. The glass is half full.
While challenges certainly do remain, the good news is that we have cleared two big hurdles on the four-step path to economic self-realization:•
Halfway to revival, halfway to cheating death, to dodging a label as America's first third-world state. The glass is half full.
While challenges certainly do remain, the good news is that we have cleared two big hurdles on the four-step path to economic self-realization:•
We know now that Big Companies can't support everyone in perpetuity. We've seen that at General Motors, Delphi, Visteon, DaimlerChrysler. Remember Comerica, Burroughs, Unisys, National Bank of Detroit?•
We know Big Labor can't protect everyone either. Just look at the shrunken payrolls of GM, Ford and Chrysler; the reduced wages at American Axle; the extinction of the Electrolux appliance plant in Greenville.
Now we're at Step 3 on the path to self-realization, dealing with the belief that Big Government can ride to the rescue. Government can and should provide aid in emergencies, it must not become a crutch used to prop up an otherwise uncompetitive economy. That's where we are in Michigan now, wrestling with how to wean ourselves off reliance on government largess. We're still plugging the state budget with federal stimulus money. Detroit relies on federal cash to knock down blighted housing.
The last hurdleIf the state can survive that struggle, all that remains will be Step 4 in self-realization: The only ones who can save us are Ourselves.
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