Governor Rick Snyder spent a great deal of time last year telling us that when he took office, “Job One is Jobs.” It was an idea that certainly sounded good, but unfortunately, it isn’t one that has translated into results.
News released today showed Michigan’s unemployment rate rising once again to 10.9%, the 3rd month in a row that Michigan’s unemployment rate has headed in the wrong direction. While the Governor may simply shrug that off as a short term problem, it is in fact a reversal of a trend started in 2009 that had Michigan’s unemployment steadily decreasing from a high point of 13.6%.
More troubling than the increase itself is the Governor’s lack of a plan of how to address it. Earlier this year he signed into law a massive tax rewrite, one that shifts a tremendous tax burden away from big business and put it squarely onto the backs of middle class families and seniors. While touting it as a plan to encourage job creation here in Michigan, the Governor was forced to acknowledge that he couldn’t promise that it would actually create a single job. Today, we’re seeing another sign that he was right, it won’t.
Instead of creating jobs, Michigan has reversed course and is now losing jobs. Instead of helping families get back on their feet, he signed legislation to slash unemployment benefits for those who need it most. Instead of moving Michigan forward, he is leaving Michigan’s middle class behind.
When the Governor promised us that job one was going to be jobs, maybe we just forgot to ask him whether he meant ‘more’ or ‘less’ of them.