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Archive for June, 2009

Cash For Clunkers Bill Approved by Congress

The Senate approved a $1 billion program yesterday to give vouchers to consumers who trade in their gas-guzzling clunkers for more fuel-efficient models — a move that dealers hope will revive slumping auto sales.

Congressional leaders attached the legislation to a $106 billion spending bill to fund troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The spending bill passed by a 91 to 5 vote but not before some Republican lawmakers unsuccessfully sought to strip the measure from the bill.

Dealers, unions, trade groups and automakers have been lobbying for months for the legislation in hopes that it would stop the streak of dismal U.S. auto sales.

“The simple fact is that we need to get Americans into car showrooms, and this is the bill that will do it,” Rep. Candice S. Miller (R-Mich.), a co-sponsor of the legislation, said in a statement.

Consumers would be able to start using the $4,500 vouchers as soon as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finalizes the rules — a process that must conclude within 30 days of the president’s approval.

Michigan Jobless Rate Leaps to 14.1%

Michigan’s jobless rate hit 14.1 percent in May, a near-26 year high, according to data released today by the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth .

The U.S. unemployment rate rose by half a percentage point in May, to 9.4 percent.

“Major events continued to unfold in Michigan’s auto industry in May, which had a considerable impact on the state’s unemployment rate,” said Rick Waclawek, director of the state’s Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives. “Curtailed production negatively influenced suppliers and other related sectors, resulting in further weakening in the labor market.”

It’s the highest monthly rate recorded in the state since July 1983. Since May 2008, unemployment has jumped by 274,000 people, or 67.2 percent. Unemployment nationally rose by a slightly larger 70.0 percent in the same period.

“It’s not good,” said Gov. Jennifer Granholm, at a Lansing press conference Wednesday

Drugs Won the War

Published: June 13, 2009

This year marks the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s start of the war on drugs, and it now appears that drugs have won.

We’ve spent a trillion dollars prosecuting the war on drugs,” Norm Stamper, a former police chief of Seattle, told me. “What do we have to show for it? Drugs are more readily available, at lower prices and higher levels of potency. It’s a dismal failure.”

For that reason, he favors legalization of drugs, perhaps by the equivalent of state liquor stores or registered pharmacists. Other experts favor keeping drug production and sales illegal but decriminalizing possession, as some foreign countries have done.

Here in the United States, four decades of drug war have had three consequences:

First, we have vastly increased the proportion of our population in prisons.

The United States now incarcerates people at a rate nearly five times the world average. In part, that’s because the number of people in prison for drug offenses rose roughly from 41,000 in 1980 to 500,000 today.

Until the war on drugs, our incarceration rate was roughly the same as that of other countries.

Second, we have empowered criminals at home and terrorists abroad. One reason many prominent economists have favored easing drug laws is that interdiction raises prices, which increases profit margins for everyone, from the Latin drug cartels to the Taliban. Former presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia this year jointly implored the United States to adopt a new approach to narcotics, based on the public health campaign against tobacco.

Third, we have squandered resources. Jeffrey Miron, a Harvard economist, found that federal, state and local governments spend $44.1 billion annually enforcing drug prohibitions. We spend seven times as much on drug interdiction, policing and imprisonment as on treatment.

Follow the Money in Health Care Debate

Congress appears ready to confront one of the nation’s most contentious issues — health care reform — and arguments will fill the air in the coming months.

Much of the discussion so far has focused on President Obama’s proposal for a government-sponsored health plan that he says will reduce costs. Insurers and doctors argue it will limit patient choice. Drug companies warn that the quality of care could be compromised.

Roughly $2.5 trillion is at stake, the amount the nation spends each year on health care, nearly a fifth of the American economy.

How that money is divided up — or prevented from rising at its current pace — is at the center of the debate. Many doctors, insurance companies and drug companies say they fear that their revenues could shrink significantly and patient care could be threatened.

As Congress gets closer to finalizing any legislation, the opinions of the many stakeholders are likely to become more strident and self-interested.

It’s getting pretty hard to stay optimistic in Detroit.

How much more pain does the state of Michigan have to endure?

The Detroit Red Wings gave us a great season.  Just wish they could of finished the job and won the cup for us.

This town really could of used the boost.