Did Engler's budget cuts of yesterday cost us jobs today? Will DeVos and the MI GOP's current actions and rhetoric do the same for tomorrow?
Yes, during her recent trip there the governor wrapped up deals with 12 Japanese companies that will invest $84 million in Michigan and create 400 much-needed jobs here.
But during her trip Granholm was blindsided by an announcement from Honda Motor Co. The Japanese automaker said it will build a $400 million assembly plant, which would employ 1,500 workers, somewhere in the Midwest by 2008.
Honda's new-plant announcement -- made from Japan on May 17, while Granholm was in the same country hunting for jobs -- must have embarrassed her, to say the least.
A visit to Honda's headquarters wasn't even on Democrat Granholm's itinerary. Trying to recover, she instructed the Michigan Economic Development Corp. to quickly draft an investment proposal, which was delivered to Honda on May 19.
Seems to me I heard rumbling about Honda before Granholm's trip, but I might be confusing it with all the media focus on Toyota. I find it hard to believe that she was actually "blindsided" by this- but, maybe she was, I don't know. Perhaps it wasn't on the radar due to Honda's long relationship with Ohio- it seems we lost them long ago.
Ohio, where Honda has been building cars since 1982, and neighboring Indiana are considered front-runners in the race to capture the new plant. Even Granholm is downplaying expectations Honda will select Michigan.
Honda's lengthy and profitable history with Ohio gives the Buckeye state an edge. And analysts say Indiana's low taxes make the Hoosier state a tough competitor.
But Ohio and Indiana share another important competitive advantage over Michigan. Both states have maintained trade offices in Japan for years, allowing them to continuously tout their strengths to Japanese automakers.
Indiana has kept a trade office in Japan for 20 years, staffed with three trade professionals, said Jane Jankowski, Gov. Mitch Daniels' spokeswoman. Ohio has operated a three-person trade office in Tokyo for more than a decade, according to the Ohio Department of Development.
Michigan used to have a trade office in Tokyo. But Republican Gov. John Engler closed it and several other foreign offices in a budget-cutting move in the 1990s.
This move obviously had future repercussions.
"The biggest mistake we made was closing our Tokyo office," said Marc Santucci, who ran Michigan's international trade operation in Gov. James Blanchard's administration in the 1980s.
That's not a partisan shot at Engler. Santucci, who now heads Elm International Inc., an East Lansing-based auto industry research firm, said he's a conservative Republican who just happened to work for a Democratic governor.
To be fair, Granholm visited Honda during a trade trip to Japan last year. And she's worked hard to court any number of Japanese companies, including Toyota Motor Corp., which is building a major technical center near Ann Arbor.
But convincing a skittish Japanese automaker to locate an assembly plant here in the home of Big Labor and the Big Three is no short-term challenge.
"That takes years of work, and it doesn't pay off until years later," Santucci said.
Ohio or Indiana will likely soon see a big payoff from their years of staying the course in Japan.
Fast forward to now. As Governor Granholm scrambles to make up for lost time, the Republicans in Michigan are still insulting foreign investors and trying to thwart attempts to create jobs, sending the constant message that Michigan is a bad place to do business.
Saul Anuzis called Granholm's trip a "publicity stunt". Wonder what those companies that did choose to invest here thought about that. I hope that it didn't get back to them- it's a statement that shows the GOP doesn't appreciate their investment and commitment to our state. Instead of welcoming these companies, Saul insults them.
Dick, a man who created jobs in China instead of Michigan (tell me Dick, why aren't you manufacturing product here for export to China? Hurt the profit margin, does it?), had this to say-
GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos says last week's trade trip to Japan by incumbent Democrat Jennifer Granholm wouldn't "do any good" without fundamental changes in a business climate that has Michigan in "economic misery."
DeVos also told the Detroit Economic Club Tuesday that he's opposed to state financial incentives Michigan has used for more than a dozen years to lure and retain jobs.
How does eliminating incentives help our state? It doesn't. It will hurt us. Engler himself "created the Michigan Economic Growth Authority in 1993 to compete for business projects that other states were throwing tax breaks at". We needed to be competitive then, we need to be competitive now- and this is the standard. Ohio and Indiana are offering these incentives, and, good or bad, we have to also. From a CBS News story on the battle for the Honda plant-
"Indiana has a long tradition in manufacturing and a skilled work force to bring to Honda," said John Sullivan, director of Purdue University's Center for Advanced Manufacturing.
Sullivan said Honda's decision may come down to the financial incentives offered by the two states.
"With the current (Indiana) administration, these sorts of things are a very big priority," he said. "I think they will be very aggressive."
As the Indiana case shows, "low taxes" aren't enough. More "incentives" are what these companies now expect. Dick wants to throw that all away- which would presumably take us out of the running for future investment.
Dick also attacks Granholm's efforts to promote our state.
"A better sales job isn't what we need," DeVos told a luncheon audience of about 400. "It doesn't do any good for state officials to traipse around the world, selling Michigan, if what we're selling doesn't meet the needs of buyers"
What Dick ignores, as far as "meeting the needs of buyers", is we obviously can do that, or these trips Granholm has made would have been totally fruitless. Instead, she created thousands of jobs and millions in investment just by reaching out. Apparently the GOP doesn't appreciate that, either. I bet that the Michigan citizens who got jobs and the Michigan cities that benefit from this investment appreciate it a great deal.
One wonders how many jobs we lost due to Republican indifference and rhetoric that actually discourages foreign and domestic investment. They keep running around talking about how "bad" everything is here- it's no wonder companies look to other states.