I have a feeling it wouldn’t matter if Bernero were a yellow dog.
http://www.freep.com/article/20101017/COL01/10170481/Snyder-may-dim-lights-on-state-s-movie-biz Here is a Mitch Albom article on Snyder’s objection to tax breaks for the fledgling Michigan movie industry. There has been plenty of job creation in Michigan due to it and it is putting us on the map for movie producers. The jobs created have also resulted in increased business for restaurants and other periphery business.
Of course Snyder is against it.
<yawn>
The tax credit hasn’t come close to paying for itself. In essence, it rewards big movie studios with tax breaks at the expense of the Michigan taxpayer. Sounds like the perfect target for Democrats to march to war over, except it’s a tax break that is essentially funding the “arts” so it gets a pass.
And Mitch Albom is a piece of shit who was instrumental in the failure of the detroit newspaper union strike. I wouldn’t trust anything he says.
My personal opinion is that the movie tax credit brings some intangible and semi-tangible benefits, such as civic pride and good publicity, that are over and above the direct tax benefits to the state. Whether or not those intangibles are worth the dollars is debatable, of course.
And Mitch Albom may or may not be a piece of shit because of his actions during the strike, but that’s no reason to mistrust him. You should mistrust him because he has a record of fabricating information in supposedly factual columns.
There have been more than 20 movies in the Detroit area the last couple years. There is a series 187 that is based and filmed in Detroit. They built a 25 million dollar sound studio in Highland Park. There were several restaurant owners on TV saying they have had greatly increased business since they started filming. They said, if we drove them away, their business would be in jeopardy.
I don’t trust him because of the part he had in the strike. Essentially, he crossed the picket line (electronically, like a coward, working from his home office instead of coming downtown), and proclaimed publically that he was goign to try to act as an arbitrator/mediator between the union and the paper. The paper, of course, acted despicably toward the union, but they still paid Mitch Albom, so he kept working there. He didn’t mediate squat. It doesn’t surprise me that he woudl fabircate stuff (but I’d love some cites on that, just to toss them out when I can).
And your point is? If it costs the state more in tax credits then it generates back in tax revenue, it is unsustainable right now, when we’re over 1.6 billion in budget deficit.
I’t doesn’t that is why. How big a tax break would have to counterbalance a 25 million dollar studio? How many workers constructed the studio and work there?
Now there is a new studio being build downtown for 20 million. It is a fledgling industry making inroads into a community that desperately need jobs and industries. Checking your wealth is not just counting your change. You have to look at business you are creating that will help in the future. There are hundreds of jobs being created already. There will be more. We need them to break lose of todays problems and build a future.
It also is a good statement for the city.
And of course you have cites for all this, right?
I’ll tell you how you pay for a 20 million dollar studio…with NINETY MILLION DOLLARS in credits.
And they expect to spend $111 MORE million in the next year. Easy to pay for a $25 million dollar studio if you spend 5 times that much.
That aticle quotes Granholm saying the goal is to create jobs, not increase tax revenue. But the whole reason for creating jobs is to increase tax revenue, either by removing people from welfare rolls or collecting income tax on their wages.
Now, to some extent, I agree that certain investments have to be made. But I’d like to see some studies showing how long the payback will be before this kicks back into the red…the state can’t afford to give away money right now.
Here’s a story at USAToday on Mitch’s “faux pas.” Of course, the Free Press did little more than slap him on the wrist, and quickly swept the whole incident under the rug.
That article must prove something. What? And what does it have to do with Berniero? Do you find that to be some horrible transgression?
Michigan can not afford to pass up building an industry of the future. They can not pass up a business opportunity. The whole bullshit Republican mantra is trickle down. If you are a Repub, you must think bringing in the industry by offering tax breaks will result in jobs, property taxes , and make money for the state.
If you are a Dem, you want more jobs. You know people will spend if they get salaries ,helping the economy.
But it is not giving away money. It has resulted in spending in Detroit and more jobs. If you just cut them off, they will go elsewhere. Then what does the future of Detroit look like. We have given tax breaks to corporations forever. Often they did not hire like they said they would. But we kept doing it, because jobs were created. The movie industry has already hired lots of people and invested in the community.
You are guilty of short term thinking.
You’re guilty of being a moron.
Look dumbo it is not about Albom. He actually was involved in making a couple movies. He helped bring the movie industry here. And you claim some sports story error in 2005 is relevant? How damn stupid is that?
It is 2010 and we are discussing an election. You are stuck in a 6 year old sports story. Get with it .
I asked for the cite as part of support for my dislike of the guy for doing something you should be apalled at as well…help in breaking the Detroit Newspaper union.
I didn’t know it was going to be a sports story, it doesn’t really help my cause any that it wasn’t some more substantial fabrication. But that’s not the point.
The point is that I opened this thread looking for an intelligent debate and instead got your partisan dumbassery. All Democrats are good. All Republicans are evil. And all gonzomaxes are surely just not worth the time to argue with.
Both of you, dial it way back. Direct insults are not allowed in this forum.
twickster, 2010 US Election moderator
As opposed to your partisanship coupled with a hard on over a 5 year old sports story that is not germane.
You apparently believe we don’t need the movie industry. we have been giving tax abatements forever. Now it is evil.
I think we need the jobs. i think we need the studios and spending in the Detroit area.
You think Albom gave a bad story out 5 years ago.
I am a union backer. But I do not know Alboms union stance of is and I don’t know why it would be relevant to getting the movie industry jobs here.
We are being bombarded by some of the nastiest political ads I have ever seen. i don’t know how much worse they can get. They are being run one after another during every break. It is for all positions from governor to local judges. I have never seen this many ads . I have never seen them this nasty.
MY partisanship? I don’t identify with either party. How many pro-union republicans do you see out there? I am the antithesis of partisan politics, my friend. I am hated by both sides.
And you evidence your typical reading comprehension by harping on the “5 year old story” thing, when it is not something I brought up. The money spent bringing the movie industry here could have just as easily been spent helping out other people directly. 100 million bucks is a lot of cops, firefighters, teachers…
We could do a lot worse than Snyder, assuming he doesn’t become radicalized. I think he could end up being a Governor Schwartzenegger-type.
The Terminator allowed the energy corporations to fleece the California people out of billions of dollars. Repubs are not on the side of the people. They work for corporations .
Privatizing Social Security is a terrible idea. bankers see a huge pot they can filter through their fingers and obtain huge administration costs for running. S.S. is run on 1.5 % of its intake. That is extremely efficient. Healthcare companies filter 30 percent out of that boondoggle. They are pissed because the Obamacare holds them to 15 %. That is a lot of bonuses and multi-million dollar salaries they would miss. That is also why they are cranking up health care rates everywhere.
I see bad times ahead. The concentration of wealth is unprecedented. The whole country is changing to a plutocracy.