Today’s Wall Street Journal has this excellent editorial on the continuing woes of Michigan. Political “leaders” (they don’t really lead, of course — they command) there shoved a big tax increase on the people as a means of closing a budget gap. Naturally, the new revenue numbers for the state are falling far behind predictions as the economy continues to deteriorate. This is similar to the experience of the whole country back at the outset of the Depression. Instead of lowering taxes and downsizing the government, the “leaders” back then (Hoover, then FDR) increased taxes and expanded government. The Depression got worse and worse.
The trouble in Michigan isn’t just high taxes, though. It’s the whole socialistic mindset that views productive people and enterprises as existing to provide the wealth needed for the truly important parts of society — the government and its many hangers-on. As Governor Granholm and other Michigan pols (especially those targeted for recall elections for having promoted the tax increase) are slowly discovering, productive people and capital have other options. They can depart from or avoid places like Michigan where they’re only welcome as resources to serve the state.
