Despite this morning's wrenching news about GM filing for bankruptcy, my state should not be the object of pity. Michigan should be the subject we study as the president leads an energy economy revolution. We will not be victims: we intend to lead the country in a move from 20th century rust to 21st century green.
Predictions are that by the end of this decade, due to the collapse of the nation's automotive and manufacturing sectors, Michigan will have lost almost one million jobs. Let me say that again: one million jobs lost in ten years in just one state. Good paying, middle class jobs. Jobs that have defined our state's identity and prosperity. Jobs that created communities, large and small. Gone.
We've had enough. We've gone through all the stages of grief and loss: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and, just maybe, acceptance. With GM's bankruptcy filing today, we know we're finally starting to hit bottom. While many of us have not been supportive of the bankruptcy strategy, we are bound and determined to climb out of this decade-long tunnel of darkness.
My fellow governors often offer their sympathies. "When I feel depressed about my state's situation," one recently said to me, "all I have to do is look to the manufacturing sector in Michigan to feel better." Hmmm. I'm not sure we want to provide the means of comfort to others in that way. We don't want anyone to feel sorry for us. We are resolute, determined, and focused on the fix to our situation. Key to that fix is using Michigan's expertise in manufacturing products to achieve our nation's goal of energy independence.
It is old news that with globalization, U.S. manufacturers move production to low-wage countries. But when it comes to manufacturing green products, it's time to change direction on offshoring. And here's why: in short order, the U.S. will have enacted a national commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and end our dependence on foreign oil. This new energy policy will have defined a critical national need for the U.S. to become energy independent.
My point is this: we can't become energy independent by becoming dependent on energy products made by other countries. We either have the means to control our energy future, or we have to rely upon products made elsewhere to do it. Great nations do not relinquish their ability to make the products that will lift them to greatness. This is the moment for our nation to make green products here and export them, rather than the other way around.
In Michigan, we're not waiting around. Now and for the past five years, we are laboring to position ourselves to help lead the green industrial revolution. We adopted our own energy policy to create demand for renewables. We restructured utility incentives to deploy efficiency. We enacted tax incentives and grants for production of green products and created venture capital for green start-ups. We changed regulatory policy to invite producers of alternative energy products. We restructured our workforce training to provide the skills for green jobs. We are targeting our competitive strengths. And, now, we're no longer going it alone. We have a president whose energy policies will put Michigan's efforts on steroids.
Today, the advanced batteries used in electric and hybrid vehicles are made in Asia. Tomorrow, they will be made in Michigan. Today, the wind turbines used in much of America's wind farms are made in Europe. Tomorrow, they will be made in Michigan and in states across America. We have the technology, the workforce, the machining knowhow, the universities, the factory capacity, the infrastructure for transporting these products...and we will have federal policies that drive demand for those products researched, developed and produced in America.
So, three major opportunities exist to turn the destruction of bankruptcies and job losses into the creative reconstruction of America's manufacturing economy:
President Obama's commitment to free us from dependence on foreign and carbon-based fuels; the imperative that those green products be made in America to create that true independence; and a talented manufacturing sector hungry for work.
The moment is now to use our lean, retooled American manufacturing sector to build the green cars, batteries, a smart electric grid, wind turbines and solar panels that will lead us to energy independence.
It's a time of dramatic, historic, national transformation. And despite today's devastating news, Michigan is ready to lead.
Or change! Move into the 21st century with new ideas and policies. The idled Michigan work force possess a deep pool of knowledge and skill. Properly channeled by government direction and with government support, they can move in right new directions and help lead the country into the future.
Balanced trade enforced with tariffs
The same jerks who allowed the manufacturing sector of our economy to fall into the abyss are going to be getting big green contracts. Right now in Maine, the little guy is about to be trampled by a wind turbine project which will involve transporting huge pieces of equipment by road, at night, through formerly peaceful very rural areas. Massive 300 year old trees will go down and roads widened in the name of going green. Farm animals and wildlife will be subjected to noise and fumes they've never encountered before. And lastly, quality of life will be compromised for the people who make their homes and livelihood from the land. All of this could have been mitigated if there were a combination of sea/rail transport. Get your duckies in a row before you start the march to progress.
by Diane Wilson
Many years ago, I listened incessantly to a song called American Pie: "Drove my chevy to the levee, But the levee was dry." Yesterday, June 1, 2009, I felt the music really did die as GM went under.
Consider, "Drove my Prius to the wind turbine, but the blades were rubbing, while top math and science students were drinking lattes, saying I need more credentials." Where's the magic?
The fates of GM and America remain intertwined. A quick look at the history of the Dow components provides a glimpse of the movement of the economy from America to points beyond. Who today has even heard of Dow components American Beet Sugar and American Can and American Car and Foundry and American Locomotive?
Clearly the American management of the big carmakers did a terrible job for many years and abandoned defense, allowing Toyota and Honda to score goal after goal on an open net.
So, now we have Obama in net, which cynics could laugh at, given that his knowledge of the game ranks lower than bowling. However, I think Obama has put in a floor for American industry.
Which means it might be cooler in the future to drive your Chevy to the place where they make solar panels. Obama would dearly love to put the word America back into the many companies it now oversees.
Posted by Canadian Scribe
For one thing, as long as GM and the Big 3 are in Michigan we will NOT be a green state. Detroit has ZERO mass transit because of the Big 3. How green is that? Our tri-county area is the wikipedia definition of SPRAWL with little to no mass transit.
THe big 3 in the Detroit area us foreign labor abroad AND in Michigan. H1b visa workers in our state take jobs that we could be doing.
We are at the mercy of the Big 3. We do what they want us to do. And that will probably never change. So Jenny can claim that we are moving to be a leader in green, but honestly those jobs will be done in China and India, or some other cheap labor country. And Michigan will continue to be the doormat of the Big 3, even as they slowly pull out and move to China and Mexico.
The reasons this has happened can be traced to CEO'S making bad or stupid decisions like continuing to make gas guzzlers when oil was reaching astronomical heights and these CEO's made 10's of millions each year for making such stupid decisions, also GM was competing in a global economy where cars can be produced with cheap labor and not have to pay for health care because these other countries provided single payer health care for all their citizens.
All the above was a recipe for financial ruin of one of America's greatest corporations because it failed to adapt to a changing world. Hopefully, a reorganized GM will be able to survive this financial crisis and come out of it a more competitive corporation that will once again be able to provide high paying jobs that this country so desperately needs.
I get sick of ppl saying it's because of the cars they made. No it's not. If they would have made gas efficient cars that NO ONE BOUGHT, they would have been out of business 10 years ago.
If that's a reference to Obama, and you're with Rush in hoping that he fails, and you're acting out of spite -- well, I guess you're a Fox News Republican. Lots of luck with that.