Auchtoon!Smacking a Politician
Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
January 19, 2014
After many, many, many years of economic challenges, Michigan finds itself in the unfamiliar situation of having a budget surplus. Estimates put the surplus at close to a billion dollars. One school of thought is to reinvest that money in programs and projects that have been cut continuously for more than a decade. Another thinks refunding money to taxpayers is the way to go. A third way proposes socking that money away in a rainy day fund. All good thoughts that should be explored and debated. What I don’t want to happen is for the legislators to get so caught up in how to use the surplus for political gain that they don’t actually do anything positive with it. Which is why a smack or two across the face may not be a bad idea. (Lawyer note: John Auchter accepts all the benefit but none of the liability for this idea.)
JIm said,
January 21, 2014 @ 9:10 am
How much of that money came from the “Michigan Promise” that was yanked out from under our kids? Maybe Michigan could actually save face by making the promise a reality rather than yet another failed campaign promise.
John said,
January 21, 2014 @ 10:20 am
Excellent suggestion, Jim! I’d love to see that money come back. Although it was much too easy to break a “Michigan Promise.” (The name was just too plain.) So this time, money for college students should be “Michigan Cross My Heart and Hope to Die, Stick a Needle in My Eye.”