I here from other's who live outside of Michigan say that their local economie's are just as bad as Michigan's. I don't see it. Our unemployment is now over 8.0% here in Michigan an average for the entire state (and some local cities like Flint, Saginaw, Lansing are even higher) and the last time I looked, the national rate was around 5% unemployment. We have an average of 60 + months of housing inventory on the market, housing values are losing at least 30% around here in Metro Detroit and our taxes continue to go up. Our so called "Leaders in Lansing" Governor Granholm, Mike Bishop and Andy Dillion have no clue of whats going on. We have no leadership in Lansing and Downtown Detroit is ran by a Mayor who is undergoing criminal and civil investigations and lawsuits. Somebody sent me a picture that said "Welcome to Detroit, We're so bad, even our Mayor is a criminal". A change in leadership is long overdue.....

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"THE KILPATRICK ENTERPRISE IS GOING TO JAIL, MIKE DUGGAN IS MAYOR, SYNDER IS GOVERNOR AND IS FIXING MICHIGAN"

AJAX MATERIALS CORPORATION...AJAX PAVING INDUSTRIES....BLACK OR WHITE, WE PAVE MICHIGAN

i wouldnt live in Michigan if it was the last place on the face of the earth!

Well, I have to say one thing about Two Penny Jenny, She said "youll be blown away" Shes right, im packing up and headed to the Pacific Northwest this week. These people have no clue how to run a state, from both sides of the isle. There is no republican leadership trying to push Granholm to do anything. Look at our current infastructure. The roads are in bad shape. The bridges are literally crumbling. How is that being fixed? Mdots budget minded solution is to buy 2x6s and plywood to catch the concrete that is falling. Instead of fixing the bridge, catch the concrete before it hits the roadway underneath. Seems like a good way to me.

We are taxed to death. IUOE 324, my union, says in order for all the operators to get back to work, we need more taxes on our fuel. This, the same union that told me I need to vote for Clinton for president, even before the primaries began. It pains me to have to leave the state I call home, and love, in order to make a living. Sure, I could go work for $10 an hour, but thats not going to keep my house. There is only a few reasons im keeping my house right now. 1. My wife is still in school, and would have a hard time transfering her credits else where. 2. It would take 6+ months to sell my house. It was a steal when i bought it, I might be able to get what I paid for it, and Im one of the lucky ones.

I understand things are slow everywhere, but we have been slow for 2+ years. Even before the rest of the economy started slowing. Another thing we need to be aware of is what WE are doing to OURSELVES. People demand cheap goods. Ok, so we get this junk from China. People dont care how long it lasts, only that its cheap. Same proves true with cars. Sure, the UAW has hurt the auto industry to the point where the cant compete with forgien cars.

Michigan has bounced back before, but I dont think its going to happen this time. It used to be the big thing in Mi when you were working on constructing a new auto plant. Now its a big thing when your tearing them down. News flash, there are not that many left to tear down. Look at what Gm is doing alone. They are building test tracks out in the southwest. They are also setting up desgin offices there too. That tells me the plan for the future is to design and test new vehicles there, and build them in Mexico.

Its a shame I have to move away from MI to do what I love. I love this state. Maybe one day I will be able to come back for work. The sad fact is, at the rate things are going, I probably wont be back until I retire. If im lucky.

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Charter Member, QBall Fan Club
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The construction economy sucks most every where but before you all start saying we need to move right just a few points for your consideration.

We (the USA) are engaged in a war that costs us, the taxpayer, $12 billion a month. These are costs we have yet to bear as virtually every dollar used to finance this war is borrowed. You guys in your twenties and thirties who are just now starting your careers in whatever industry will still be paying for this folly when you retire, No Sh##! This war was sold to us by the guys on the right.

There are greedy brokers on Wall Street who will package and sell anything. More recently it was sub-prime mortgages. They were only supposed to experience a 1 in 10 default rate but when the rate was more like 2 in 10 then the system collapsed caused a lot of so called smart investors (read investment banks and other so called smart financial institutions world wide) to lose a lot of money. This cost, unlike the cost of the war, has to be born in the market place, so the result is the economy suffering, through higher unemployment and inflation. (For you guys who don't understand what inflation really is just need to look at the impact the price of gallon of diesel has on the economy.) These guys are on the right, too.

And then there is the fact that money is traded just as all other commodities are traded, whether it is oil, gold, wheat or electricity. The fact that the United States Treasury continues to borrow (print) money at the pace it is, then everything will cost more, particularly if it is imported from anywhere but China. And that is because the Chinese Governement is the primary holder of the securities the United States Treasury sells. And the Chinese have their own motives and interests which don't always mirror our own.

So we do need some change.

We need corporations that believe that American jobs are as important as the stockholders bottom line.

We need a leader who will work for the common man, not the last corporate lobbyist who contributed a campaign donation or the biggest depositer in the bank.

And we can't fight wars on the cheap. We need to be paying for this crap now. We need to own our own debt!

But think where $12 Billion dollars a month could be spent. Our infrasrtructure such as water and sewer systems along with highways and bridges are failing at an alarming rate. Spending all of our money on guns instead of butter has its conseqences.

Dwight Eisenhower warned us of this as he left office. Talk about a prophet.

If we all move any more right we will fall off of the proverbial cliff!

Sorry to rant but you provoked me. Now you all go out and vote!

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https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elis-Hobby-Diecast/803248369690387?ref=hl

Well I hate to say it but it is not much better out here in the Northwest gas prices are way up and there are all kinds of houses for sale but no one is buying them they are just sitting there the way I see it is no matter where you go things are bad and they will be for some time to come.......

That is just my point of view.......

William........

I gotta agree with ya Dan. Mdot is replacing a lot of signs up here. Last year they replace signs on a section of I-75 that was redone by Denron 5 years ago. All the signs were 5 years old. As for the business agents, I have opinions about some of them. Particularly one in the Lansing area. Seems he doesnt care about laborers running forklifts and skid steers. I havent seen any in Escalades, the vehicle of choice seems to be the Jeep Liberty with the diesel. I give The BA in my area credit. He does a good job for a former LongBoomer. Hes got an uphill battle in this area. Contractors in Dow and Hemlock Semi Conductor have been able to get away with too much for too long. This has spilled out into the streets. With the exception of the GM plants, and the Consumers Power plants, its a free for all in this area. Dow and Semi Conductor do not allow Union reps on site. When our new BA started he took a trip to both of them. Two weeks later he got letters from both stating that if he was ever on the property again he would be arrested, for violations of the Homeland Security Act.

As for the Northwest, your gas prices are only 30 cents a gallon more than here. Homes for sale and no one buying. Thats a supply and demand issue. The housing market was brought on by the banks that lend money to people that should not get houses. I was working in Ohio a few years ago, and witnessed several houses that were foreclosed on. These people were moving out of that house, and down the street a block or two into a brand new bank. You think the banks would have gotten smart after the first loan. From what I can tell the housing market out there is WAY over priced. I know some people out there. One guy I know has a house that is the same size as mine. His doesnt have a garage, mine does. My house 95k, his house 272k. This make sense? I know theres a lot of work in the Northwest if you know the right company in the right trade.


Dan, im trying to finish up your lime spreader before I take off. Dont know for sure if ill get it done. If not, Im going to be back home in June, ill finish it then. Just finished up all my class A cdl, air brake hazmat, doubles/tripple, and tanker endorsements. If this northwest thing doesnt work out, ill be back to drive truck. Thats not much better than being on the other side of the country, but its better than sitting at home not making any money.

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Charter Member, QBall Fan Club
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Thing's are bad here in Fl. never seen it this bad all the dealers Cat, komatsu, case, deere,everyone
is laying off.i hop it gets better soon.

the whole county is tied up arguing about whats more important, gender or race, and the whole mean time the big corperations are ****ing us over nonstop

Things suck in Mass/northeast as well. We been working steady for about 3 weeks now but still planning for the worst. We sold a piece of equipment to pay everything off just in case things get extremely slow.

We are bidding on alot of work but getting not alot because we cant compete with the guys who lowball and cut corners to get the jobs. We are biddding against them or several other guys on just about every job.

Equipment dealers will practically give you a machine around here cause its the only way to get the equipment off the lot.

Diesel is about $4.17 a gallon on road, $3.59 off road, and $3.33 this week for regular gas. Its really hurting everyone. Every trade around here is slow and hurting. Its extremely unfortunate, people cant or wont pay for the good named companies and we all have to compete with the "hacks" out there who can afford to undercut the rest of us.

I'll be 20 next month, I paid over $600.00 in taxes and almost $200.00 to the state.

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Bring the Qball back!

Eric
I did live in Michigan for 20 years and yes I know it was bad I went back in 1976 to try and get a job and there was nothing there that is why I stayed in the military at least it was a job and a pay check every month and yes your tax dollars payed for me too go all over the world and that is how I ended up out here.

After working in the port of tacoma for several years I have seen some businesses close down there the alcoa close and be torn down and a lot of the log yards that use to be down there are going the old meat packing plant close and there were lots of log trucks down there every day the biggest thing it the port now is all the containers so that keeps a good bunch of the drivers still going.

William.........