Words that did not appear in Rick Snyder's State of the State: auto, cars, trucks, vehicles
Gov. Rick Snyder delivers the State of the State address Wednesday night in Lansing.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com
The two are indelibly linked, but Snyder's focus is elsewhere -- and that reality was on full display Wednesday night during his first State of the State address.
The following words were nowhere to be found in Snyder's 40-minute speech, according to a transcript posted by the Detroit Free Press: auto, cars, trucks and vehicles.
Manufacturing made a cameo appearance twice. But entrepreneurs consumed the spotlight -- Snyder used the word "entrepreneur," or some derivative of it, no fewer than eight times.
It's obvious that Snyder believes that Michigan's future lies with an entrepreneurial economy. That's not to say Snyder, who's already visited the Detroit auto show a few times for various reasons, doesn't care about the auto industry.
Auto companies and suppliers would reap huge financial benefits from Snyder's proposed elimination of the Michigan Business Tax in favor of a 6 percent corporate income tax, a total tax cut of about $1.5 billion.
But Snyder focused most of his State of the State on a plan to reconfigure Michigan's economic development strategy to boost entrepreneurs and mid-size businesses. Michigan Economic Development Corp. CEO Michael Finney, who is charged with designing the new economic development efforts, said his goal is to develop a statewide "entrepreneurial ecosystem."
Emphasizing the development of that ecosystem is possible, in part, because the auto industry has already stabilized.
University of Michigan economists projected in November that U.S. auto sales would increase from 11.5 million in 2010 to 12.7 million in 2011 and 14.8 million in 2012.
That rise is very promising. It illustrates why Chrysler Group LLC is hiring 1,000 engineers and why Ford Motor Co. plans to hire 7,000 U.S. workers over the next two years.
Nonetheless, the collapse in Michigan's economy left a permanent scar: the decimation of the manufacturing sector, which will never get back to what it was.
In fact, in 2010 manufacturing of all types accounted for about 463,000 jobs in a total Michigan labor force of 4.84 million, U-M estimated.
The auto industry's health is critical to Michigan's economic stabilization. But growth in the Michigan economy will depend on other industries. Snyder wants entrepreneurs to lead the charge.
Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.
Comments
RayA2
Fri, Jan 21, 2011 : 5:10 p.m.
Entrepreneur, Small Business Owner, these are just Republican speak for wealthy capital owners. Manufacturing supports a strong middle class. Republicans and their wealthy supporters, want to undermine the middle class to enhance their own power. Rick's just done what so many grossly overpayed executives have done in the past, he's repackaged the same old message. In this case, the same old, and painfully proven unsuccessful, message is Ronnie's trickle down economics.
BusProf
Fri, Jan 21, 2011 : 1:24 a.m.
Oops, Sorry I meant Gov. Snyder...not Synder whoever he is.
BusProf
Fri, Jan 21, 2011 : 12:42 a.m.
Some readers seem to be under the impression that the "entrepreneurial economy" supported by Governor Synder and economic development entities such as SPARK will be "Mom and Pop" corner stores. This couldn't be further from the truth. Spending some time on the websites of SPARK ( <a href="http://www.annarborusa.org/)" rel='nofollow'>http://www.annarborusa.org/)</a> , the New Enterprise Forum ( <a href="http://www.newenterpriseforum.org/" rel='nofollow'>http://www.newenterpriseforum.org/</a> ) or the Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest (<a href="http://gleq.org/gleq.nsf/index.html)" rel='nofollow'>http://gleq.org/gleq.nsf/index.html)</a> would educate doubters that these are technologically advanced innovative companies founded by educated and competitive management teams, not "lifestyle" small businesses. The Governor is basically espousing a program based on a premise that 100 start-ups creating 100 new jobs each in a year or two, will better serve Michigan than a single company that promises 10000 jobs in five years. Such development would reduce risk and set the stage for the evolutionary replacement (or improvement) of "old economy" companies. A quick review of the evolution of the automobile industry will reveal a similar entrepreneurial pattern. There were hundreds of start-up automobile companies at the beginning of the twentieth century. The competition and innovation among them was the basis for the economic fortunes that Michigan realized in the second half of the century. That development replaced the extractive and agrarian industries that dominated in the nineteenth century. Governor Synder wants to facilitate and speed up this evolutionary process for Michigan again.
jackson72
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 9:20 p.m.
Nathan, the hypothesis of your column is just plain silly. It's stretch to surmise that Gov. Snyder somehow feels that reviving the auto industry isn't important because he didn't specifically mention cars or trucks in his speech last night. Quite frankly the auto industry has been reviving quite well recently and for Rick to have called for its revival would have been a bit superfluous. Not to mention the fact that if he had called for the revival of the auto industry, some reporter/blogger (one in the same these days) would have then said that he was trying to take credit for something that was already in motion. Frankly I'm glad that our governor spent his time developing and talking about newer initiatives. Please stick to reporting the news and try not to create it.
rreidannarbor
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 9:18 p.m.
The age old definition of insanity is "doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different result". Taking an entrepreneurial approach and getting our entrepreneurial mojo back is a different way. By focusing elsewhere at least offers the possibility of a different result. I'm sure the auto industry still matters and he'll pay attention to it but Michigan took on an entitlement mentality over the last few decades and the entrpreneurial spirit slowly died away ever since the inception of companies like Ford, Dow, Whirlpool and others here. The next wave of economic powers Google, Facebook etc have little to do with Chemicals or transportation. It may never get back to what it was but the "same old, same old" is the "insane old, insane old".
nekm1
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 9:05 p.m.
What "got us here" (autos) also led to a state where high school graduates could earn $100,000 a year doing menial tasks. Worked great before globalization. Now we have a mantality in a larger portion of the state that education isn't important. This has gone of for generations. Look at how it has now devistated the state! Big new plant hiring thousands of workers is the past. Those days are gone. Families need to listen to the drumbeat of our new Governor and Legislator's, work to be the best in your class, focus on education beyond high school, and be part of the solution. No free lunches in Michigan anymore.
stunhsif
Fri, Jan 21, 2011 : 3:21 a.m.
Exactly, Back in August 1995 I was making a visit to an auto plant in Washtenaw county as a sales rep for a now defunct union trucking company ( ANR Freight System--Golden CO). We hauled a lot of their freight and I would take in donuts or lunch to the shipping and receiving dock on a monthly basis. After dropping off pizzas I was making small talk with one of the dock workers ( hi-lo operater) who told me that he was on track to make over 100k with all the overtime he was putting in. I remember thinking at the time that this guy was making twice the income I was with no education beyond a H.S. diploma. On top of that, said person took a buyout less than a year later and retired at the age of 59 with a wonderful pension and healthcare till he dies. Not a bad gig at all for him but it has devastated the state of Michigan.
GRANDPABOB
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 8:38 p.m.
This is part of Synder's right to work state thing he will be pushing for. If people would just start buying more made in USA articles it would improve everything, but they like to buy non union stuff then blame it on the unions for doing so.
tlb1201
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 9:19 p.m.
I could not agree more with you that that US consumers need to start voting for US-made products with their wallets. But I honestly don't think that the consideration of whether an item is union-made or not enters most consumers' minds when they make most of their purchase decisions. Fewer yet are even going to think of the unions and blame them when they find something to be poor quality. Consumers are just not wired that way. Most look at the combination of price, utility, and style for most items when they decide. True, there may be some with a particular union or non-union mindset, but they are very much in the minority. To think otherwise sounds like paranoia.
Bob W
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 8:25 p.m.
At this stage, the autos have gotten their help (thanks to us tax payers) and Ford didn't need it. From this point on, it's up to them to be going concerns. He was right to focus his attentions and intentions, elsewhere.
ruminator
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 8:19 p.m.
No, he does not get it. What start-up ma & pop is going to hire in numbers like 1000 & 7000 as stated in the article? Even Google has fallen way short of their promised hiring and they are far from a start-up! Better take good care of what got us here. Ford, Gm & Chrysler could pretty easily leave too for neighboring states or countries. The new bridge to Canada would just right for the one away trips to move tooling out of the state if we are not carefull. No advanced degree needed to figure this one out.
KJMClark
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 5:56 p.m.
"Nonetheless, the collapse in Michigan's economy left a permanent scar: the decimation of the manufacturing sector, which will never get back to what it was." That's *way* too pessimistic. You may be right that auto industry manufacturing will never get back to what it was, but that's only one sector of manufacturing. I wouldn't be surprised in ten, twenty, fifty years to find that manufacturing gets back to a significant percentage of Michigan jobs. But it probably won't do that building cars. Gov. Snyder's being smart. The best way to steal jobs from other places is to grow the jobs here. If you want to create the most jobs, it doesn't help to prop up sunset industries. The big problem is that so many people in Michigan still think it's the "automobile state." The attitude that comes from that is our biggest impediment. It's like people from California thinking they're the "gold rush state", and propping up mining when they should be encouraging whatever job growth they can get. We'll certainly never get a Silicon Valley in Michigan while we're concentrating on being part of the rust belt.
jcj
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 5:52 p.m.
Another story with no particular point.
aareader
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 5:07 p.m.
"The auto industry's health is critical to Michigan's economic stabilization. But growth in the Michigan economy will depend on other industries. Snyder wants entrepreneurs to lead the charge." The State is already showing stabilization due increased auto sales this past summer. We cannot ignore the auto industry. One can check the number of auto research labs in AA alone to see how important the auto industry to this area alone let alone Michigan. Let us hope the Governor works on growing all the areas, including a growing movie industry.
clark
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 5:05 p.m.
I think it's smart for Snyder to focus his attention elsewhere. Not that Ford and GM aren't important parts of the Michigan economy (they are and will continue to be). The auto industry isn't going anywhere either, but the undeniable trend in building new auto plants is to put them in places of moderate climate without strong union ties. With reliable real-time video conferencing, having your factory in the same physical location as the rest of your business is less important than ever. Real innovation and small business is the best shot Michigan has at a prosperous future.
81wolverine
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 5:02 p.m.
Big deal. So he didn't mention autos, cars, or trucks. It doesn't mean he doesn't want to help the automotive industry. Nor does it mean he doesn't want new businesses to focus on the auto sector. Snyder is just correctly making the point that Michigan MUST diversify its economy in the long run so we're not dependent on the auto industry for our economic stability. That being said, I DO think the state should attempt to identify specific industries which Michigan has the best chance of being very competitive in based on the resources and expertise we currently have and nurture new businesses in those areas. For us to try and compete in the memory chip business (for example) would most likely be a waste of time and money.
JimB
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 : 4:42 p.m.
If the state doesn't put forth efforts to retain it's young entrepreneurs and fund other start ups, someone else will. Brain drain on the state.