Rick the Trick Behind the Stick

There is a snide mistruth that underlies the concept of Snyder reversing the state's exemption of pensions from state income taxation.

The concept is the oft used mantra of the Tea Party as applied here: Whose money is it? . To wit: "It's our money." Now Snyder and Engler-holdovers and that political corporatist chameleon, Andy Dillon have put forth the new BIG GOVERNMENT KNOWS BEST redefinition into the mix; "The retirement pensions are OUR MONEY and WE MAY TAKE OUT OF IT WHAT WE WANT because we are the judges of "fairness."

What about Snyder's oft repeated assertion that he's the arbiter of total "FAIRNESS" for all.
Snyder's over 300% tax increase on seniors s not about fairness.

It's about securing the state's largest shift of seniors' personal money to corporations in the history of Michigan. If the people of Michigan allow this MONEY GRAB will it will indeed be "unfair" to the corporate contributors to Snyder and his cronies? Though you may agree with Tricky Rick that it would be simple and efficent.


SNYDER CLAIMS TO HAVE A BIG SOFT SPOT IN HIS HEART FOR POOR SENIOR CITIZENS, YET BEWARE !

If some folks, for elective reasons or out of tough economic circumstances, or other necessity (supporting grown children in financial difficulty) are still at work in places like Wal-mart or McDonald's past normal retirement age, we the BUREAUCRATS OF LANSING now proclaim that unfortunate condition, if out of necessity, is so tragic that we must FORCEFULLY LEVEL THE PAYING FIELD by instituting a whopping new 300% tax increase on those seniors with earned the right to it, and/or were promised delayed compensation/pensions as part of the condition of their willingness to render services.

So ill-prepared and under-calculated is Snyder's scheme that Rick's beancounters ignored and/or overlooked the fact that SOME SENIORS HAVE NO SOCIAL SECURITY AND DEPEND STRICTLY ON LIMITED PENSION FUNDS FOR THEIR LIVING, DRUGS AND MEDICAL CARE, AS WELL AS OTHER LIVING EXPENSES.

Gov. Snyder admited this omission; and promised earlier this week, during a statewide telephone-townmeeting, (held seeking public input and pressure on the legislature to pass his budget package) that he would look into that omitted class of pensioners' dilemma.

The corporate-serving Snyder Team would have us believe that removing $900 million in pension funds piped directly into the business community's cash flow is good for Michigan. NOT SO, NOT SO AT ALL!

Those lost pension dollars pulled from the economy equal a huge loss in broadly spread business opportunity and employment in Michigan. Keeping this money in circulation is now more important than ever, it's ceertainly a big part of the state's service sector.

PAY CLOSE ATTENTION: Every pension dollar in Michigan's pensioner hands spent on goods and services produces $6.49 in economic activity in commerce and business. 

How important are pensions to the Michigan Economy. According to the National Institute on Retirement Security: Michigan's "state and local pensions also supported more than 45,000 jobs that paid nearly $3 billion in wages and salaries, nearly $7 billion in total economic output, and nearly $970 million in federal and local tax revenues."

THAT FOLKS IS A REAL CHUNK OF CHANGE !

Cutting into Michigan's retiree pension revenue by $900 million (to fund a corporate tax break) as Rick Snyder has demanded) could result in a stunning loss of economic activity in Michigan in the range of tens of billions of dollars!

Who best knows how to spend their own money: Retirees on limited/capped incomes or BIG GOVERNMENT out of Lansing; Rick Snyder's intent on funneling this LEGISLATED BILLION PLUS WINDFALL to favored business interests?

GOP State Senator Brandenburg (the Harrison Township Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee) said of Snyder: "I want to work with him, I do, but I can't because he (Gov. Snyder) has a $900 million money grab in there, and there's no guarantee that the tax cuts for businesses will generate a lot more jobs."

News reports reveal: "The governor acknowledged that levying the standard income tax on retirement income has very little support among fellow Republicans in the House and Senate."

Perhaps being a beancounter and "one Tough Nerd" leaves one out of the realities of the real world. The Michigan Views Daniel Howes column touched on the heart of Snyder's problem in this regard: Snyder may be a University of Michigan Wunderkind-turned-CEO-turned venture capitalist and he may be a trained accountant, but it's increasingly clear he skipped the communications classes that turn business executives and politicians into their own kind of rock star."

However, again, to frame Howes' phrasing, there are thousands of Michiganders who are out-of-step with this Tough Nerd: "...And they each have their own version of what fresh kind of hell Snyder's Michigan would visit on everything from schools and city halls to economic development and the environment."

It will take more than some "factual concoction of dashboard indicators," using campaign-speak to get the citizens of this state back on the track. "Fairness (as any seasoned union or management bargainer could tell you) is in the eye of the beholder," opines Howes.

"FAIR" for Rick is largely slanted toward his predisposition to favor business and money over people and children's well-being. Nothing fair there! Just the fact that Snyder would turn over 800,000 poor into the vacant space of neglect is stone-cold.

Now, regrettably Snyder is now so far mired the muck of political misrepresentation and mendacity concerning the underlying reasons for his programs and his involvement with the urber-corporate/Koch Brothers/Mackinac Center's "legislative force-feeding of Lansing Tea-Publicans via A.L.E.C. that it may not be possible for him to successfully lead the state.

Rick is way behind the stick.


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