Michigan Representative: State Unemployment Could Hit 20%
That would be 1 out of every 5 employable citizens of Michigan out of work.
Michigan’s unemployment rate could hit as high as 20 percent with the Obama administrationto blame, one Michigan congressman warned Friday.
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) said that Michigan’s unemployment — already the highest in the country at 14.1 percent — could go even higher as General Motors and Chrysler continue to shed jobs after their government-financed bankruptcies.
“Sadly, we’ve seen estimates, because of the radical restructuring that the auto task force demanded, that this year, Michigan wind up over 20 percent unemployment,” McCotter said during an appearance on a conservative news radio program.
McCotter blames the state’s skyrocketing unemployment on the government restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler, but Michigan’s historically wild employment swings are nothing new. And, frankly, I think they’re what happens when government intervenes in the market too much. Michigan is perhaps one of the most liberal states in the union as far as taxation and regulation go. Outside of a couple of west coast states, there may not be a state in the union that has a government more intrusive than Michigan’s. Meaning that the states economy is far too dependent on the tax and regulatory decisions made by its political leaders.
If Michigan would limit government, and embrace a more free market approach to its own economy with lower taxes and less regulation, they wouldn’t be so likely to see such wild swings in employment numbers and economic growth. Ups and downs, sure, because all markets are cyclical. But when the government gets involved, things get worse.
