a:1:{s:15:"field_blog_body";a:1:{i:0;a:2:{s:5:"value";s:1738:"<p>I missed the State of the State address - the wife and I were at Dusty's Taproom in Okemos - so I started reading to see what I missed.&nbsp; Just a few brief thoughts.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.michigan.gov/accountability">dashboard</a> sounds like an interesting idea to get a broad view of how Michigan is doing. It's simplistic, but that's part of the point. You will not have to go searching through dozens of web pages to get basic stats about the health of the government.</p>
<p><a href="http://detnews.com/article/20110120/MIVIEW/101200419/The-State-of-the-Nerd">Henry Payne</a> had some other thoughts:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For the first time in eight years, Lansing insiders felt their governor had a grasp of reality. The reality that the budget is deep in the hole. The reality that tax cuts - not tax hikes - attract business. The reality of two-year budgeting. The reality that Michigan's future is manufacturing and supporting the industries it has - not dreamy musings of thousands of &quot;Green Belt&quot; jobs that might - someday, somehow - transform Michigan into a utopian future. <br />
<br />
&nbsp;</p>
<p>But the speech's best moments were punctuated by hard numbers and pro-business plans. A May 31 budget deadline. Elimination of the Michigan Business Tax in exchange for a 6 percent flat corporate tax.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That's a much better idea than the MBT should be a big help. I was curious about the MBT and went on the <a href="http://michigan.gov/taxes/0,1607,7-238-47449-183551--F,00.html">Michigan.gov</a> website. Take a look at just one of the answers to a frequently asked question (it's ugly) and you'll see why a flat tax will be much more welcome than what we have now.</p>";s:6:"format";s:1:"2";}}}