Hot Air » Blog Archive » Michigan legislature: Raise taxes, buy iPods for all the kids in the state

Michigan legislature: Raise taxes, buy iPods for all the kids in the state

posted at 5:12 pm on April 7, 2007 by Bryan
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly

The Michigan legislature might be insane.

We have come to the conclusion that the crisis Michigan faces is not a shortage of revenue, but an excess of idiocy. Facing a budget deficit that has passed the $1 billion mark, House Democrats Thursday offered a spending plan that would buy a MP3 player or iPod for every school child in Michigan.

The editorial goes on to slam the Democrat-controlled legislature for cluenessness and general stupidity.

But maybe they’re not so stupid. They’re just arrogant and corrupt. It was de Toqueville who said “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” What is a promise to raise taxes, cut no spending anywhere, and then buy the kiddies iPods, if it’s not an attempt to bribe the public of Michigan with its own money?

The MI legislature isn’t stopping with its “educational” iPod giveaway, though (one wonders, did Apple grease a few palms to make this happen?). It may attempt to levy what amounts to a tax on all foreigners living abroad.

For example, Dillon says he would shift the burden of business taxes to companies that operate in Michigan, but don’t have a facility here. The certain outcome of that plan is to drive even more businesses out of Michigan.

Indeed it is. But these are Democrats we’re talking about.

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

Trackbacks/Pings

Trackback URL

Comments

Comment pages:

That’s what happens when you elect the Robin Hood party to office.

crosspatch on April 7, 2007 at 5:19 PM

It isnt the robin hood party its the party of Joe Stalin

William Amos on April 7, 2007 at 5:21 PM

The only goodies handed out by Stalin were made of lead.

crosspatch on April 7, 2007 at 5:31 PM

Watch the islamists in Dearborn pile up the ipods, pour gas on them, and burn up the infidel music players. Apple Akbar!

Buck Turgidson on April 7, 2007 at 5:31 PM

Michigan, the New Massachusetts.

TheBigOldDog on April 7, 2007 at 5:38 PM

When do they spring for the Air Jordans?

Kini on April 7, 2007 at 5:49 PM

this is the most moronic idea i’ve ever heard

and I wonder if i’m young enough to get one :-p

Defector01 on April 7, 2007 at 5:49 PM

Living in Michigan I can tell you how annoying it is to go across the boarder into Wisconsin to shop, or go to work, or hell… do anything.

Not to say Wisconsin doesn’t have their own share of problems, but Michigan is well on it’s way to becoming the next California, if it isn’t already.

Keljeck on April 7, 2007 at 5:51 PM

democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess of the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence:from bondage to spiritual faith;from spiritual faith to great courage;from courage to liberty;from liberty to abundance;from abundance to selfishness;from selfishness to complacency;from complacency to apathy;from apathy to dependency;from dependency back again to bondage.
–Sir Alex Fraser Tytler (1742-1813) Scottish jurist and historian

Romeo13 on April 7, 2007 at 5:56 PM

And THAT is exactly the reason we are not a Democracy, we are a Republic and the Senate needs to return to being appointed by the state legislatures as it was originally intended and was for over the first 100 years of our country.

crosspatch on April 7, 2007 at 6:04 PM

I wish Apple would lobby the New Mexico Legislature.

It would cost less to buy every adult citizen in this state a top of the line Powerbook than to buy every kid in Michigan an I-pod. And some us might actually do something useful with a good computer, perhaps eventually earning some revenue back into the state coffers.

LegendHasIt on April 7, 2007 at 6:06 PM

Annals of Congress, House of Representatives, 3rd Congress, 1st Session, page 170 (1794-01-10) [2]. The Annals summarize speeches in the third person, with the actual text of Madison’s quote as follows: “Mr. Madison wished to relieve the sufferers, but was afraid of establishing a dangerous precedent, which might hereafter be perverted to the countenance of purposes very different from those of charity. He acknowledged, for his own part, that he could not undertake to lay his finger on that article in the Federal Constitution which granted a right of Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” The expense in question was for French refugees from the Haitian Revolution.

crosspatch on April 7, 2007 at 6:10 PM

No wonder they can’t build a cars any more.

Wade on April 7, 2007 at 6:17 PM

This PDF document is a good read too.

The Rise of Government and the Decline of Morality

crosspatch on April 7, 2007 at 6:27 PM

Won’t these kids need computers now to download illegal songs to it?

Those poor, poor kids wont be able to use them.. now one more level between them and the rich with computers.

Shack on April 7, 2007 at 6:41 PM

Now, the true Exit question, just to blow this up…

Will the also give IPods to illegal Alien students?

Romeo13 on April 7, 2007 at 6:56 PM

Can we choose which model we want?

Ropera on April 7, 2007 at 7:07 PM

Maybe if Jeff Daniels just does some more commercials, companies will decide to relocate there despite the idiots running the government

kmcguire on April 7, 2007 at 8:00 PM

Uh, apart from all the other obvious travesties of this, aren’t iPods and MP3 players in direct conflict with the education function of school children? They did specify “school children.” Households with one child would get one, and households with five kids in school would get five, right?
Well, back to Roman times, bread and circuses. iPods and MP3s, just a bit worried about whether the Christians would be “recruited” into those deadly circuses again.

naliaka on April 7, 2007 at 8:09 PM

I wonder what would come pre-loaded on the iPods? Perhaps an animated version of “Why Mommy is a Democrat?” or diversity information provided by CAIR? This absolutely reeks of alterior motive, and whatever it is, I can assure you it is 10 times worse than any of us could imagine (because our minds are not wharped like the dhimmicrats.)

JustTruth101 on April 7, 2007 at 8:24 PM

We have a lot of Michiganders that have relocated to Tennessee. 20 years ago it was because of cheap land and low property taxes. Now it’s because of the exact thing that Bryan posted above. Hostile to business and the tax burden is absolutely insane.

I teach, and I have spoken to quite a few parents that have relocated to Tennessee from MI and they all say the same thing: “we had a family business, but we couldn’t stay afloat, so we moved here.”

But, when you vote the morons into power, you get what you deserve, I suppose.

robblefarian on April 7, 2007 at 9:05 PM

Michigan, the New Massachusetts.

TheBigOldDog on April 7, 2007 at 5:38 PM

The wannabe Vermonts

RightWinged on April 7, 2007 at 9:32 PM

The Democrats, led by their increasingly erratic speaker Andy Dillon of Redford Township, also pledge $100 million to make better downtowns.

The plan includes rivers of chocolate and trees that grow M+Ms and a water park in the state house. They also promised to ban Mondays and make everyone who wants to be eligible to play for the Detroit Lions or be a cowboy, whatever their preference.
Feminist groups are outraged and demanded a rider to the bill allowing girls to all be “horsey doctors.” A compromise bill is in the works.

coondawg on April 7, 2007 at 10:29 PM

Can even one The Michigan legislature use an Ipod, or understand what it is?

Typical Democrats, typical Media……..

PinkyBigglesworth on April 8, 2007 at 1:05 AM

Heh. I posted this story in a discussiongroup under this headline:

You all thought Californians had the dumbest politicians…

Don’t miss the best part of the article.

Senate Republicans issued a plan a week ago that eliminates the deficit with hard spending cuts. Now their leader, Mike Bishop of Rochester Hills, is sounding wobbly, suggesting he might compromise on a tax hike.

We hope Bishop is reading the polls that say three-quarters of Michigan residents oppose higher taxes.

Michigan has voted down Affirmative Action and is steadfastly against tax hikes. What don’t the Democrats in Michigan understand? The people of Michigan do not want thier agenda, how hard is it to recognize that? The disconnect between the people and their liberal government is growing, the backlash will be nice to see. Go Buckeyes.

Theworldisnotenough on April 8, 2007 at 1:13 AM

This is a mixture of Stalinism and the Usual Hippie Idiocy and the New American Nanny-state. Welcome to the future…..

Janos Hunyadi on April 8, 2007 at 1:21 AM

Forget homeschooling…I want a free ipod dangit.//sarc//

vcferlita on April 8, 2007 at 6:48 AM

Great…I suppose this is on top of the laptop my taxes have to pay for for every kid in the school district I live in to do their schoolwork because a thumb drive and fewer communal desktops just aren’t good enough for the children.

As for ‘the people of Michigan,’ they may not want their agenda, but by and large they’re too stupid to realize that they have to vote them out of office to tell them that. I can see more ‘Kerry/Edwards’ bumper stickers here today than I did when I lived in DC during the election.

James on April 8, 2007 at 8:24 AM

God is cool. He has an iAm.

Coronagold on April 8, 2007 at 8:25 AM

It’s not like you can say that politics haven’t advanced over the years. Look at Michigan for example; they’ve gone from a chicken in every pot to an iPod in every hand. I wonder what effect that will have on future elections?

I can just imagine a candidate saying: “The Educational iPods, known as EdiPods, were just the beginning. A vote for me will insure your children have unfettered access to the advanced educational tools like the new EdiPod with Parental Controls. Your child deserves the best education possible and tools like the new PC-EdiPod will help ensure that your child’s education is comprehensive and relevant for today’s social environment. Don’t sell your child’s education short. Vote for me and vote PC!”

RedinBlueCounty on April 8, 2007 at 12:01 PM

If we could only get rid of Detroit! And for us in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan GET RID OF THE DAMN BRIDGE! And yes we have stupid people running the show.

ChrisIansNana on April 8, 2007 at 6:29 PM

Big Money from Chicago tends to go to the Riviera of the Midwest, just a 90 minute drive (or two hour boat ride) around Lake Michigan to beautiful, sandy beaches and sunshine. The real estate there has been priced to California prices, and 6,000 square foot vacation homes are all up and down the coast from New Buffalo to Pentwater. $Millions.

Wait until this body of legislative nitwits and leftists fully comprehends that they have these non-residents by the short hairs…

Jaibones on April 9, 2007 at 11:29 AM

The certain outcome of that plan is to drive even more businesses out of Michigan.

Bullpucky. That’s like saying raising taxes slows the economy and thus isn’t a simple mathematical concept. Everyone knows doubling taxes simply provides double the money with no drawbacks or side-effects.

Or at least, the people with this plan have always assumed the above is true.

gekkobear on April 9, 2007 at 3:07 PM