Mark Maynard | 2011 | March

What I’d like to hear a politician say for once

By Mark | March 17, 2011

Posted in Observations, Politics | Tagged cartoon, cartoons by Mark, Governor of Michigan, governors, investing in the future, Mark's big ideas, mass transit, posts that are hard to read | 21 Comments

Mass Meeting to Mobilize Washtenaw Co. Against Current Budget Legislation

By Mark | March 17, 2011

I know very little about this event and the people behind it, but, given the subject matter, I thought that I’d pass it along.

Thursday, March 24 · 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Ypsilanti District Library – Whittaker Road Community Room
5577 Whittaker Road
Ypsilanti, MI

From:
Washtenaw County Emergency Taskforce for Economic Justice
-Mallorie Kettlehut Patterson

Info:
An emergency taskforce is being created in response to the current budget bills being set forth in Lansing. Washtenaw County residents, activists, political group members, unionists, and allies are welcome to come to a mass meeting to discuss movement building between groups for a mass mobilization of our county and eventually, a state-wide unified movement.

There are two mass meetings with similar content for convenience (one in Ann Arbor Monday March 21th and one event in Ypsilanti Thursday March 24th). Spread this widely! Hope to see you there!

And this, my friends, is why folks on the right want to destroy public libraries.

Speaking of public libraries, I’ve been meaning to mention it here for a while, but the threat to turn them private, which a lot of people scoffed at not too long ago, is now becoming all too real. Right now, the folks of Santa Clarita, California are trying to fight off just such an attack. Other than a brilliant video made by local activists mobilized against the take-over, which you can see below, I don’t have a lot of information. From what I hear, though, the corporation Library Systems & Services, LLC is behind the push to privatize it.

“Poor people and books, a dangerous combination.”

Posted in Ann Arbor, Corporate Crime, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged 2012 Michigan budget, budget cuts, keeping the poor from books, keeping the poor from education, libraries, library privatization, Library Systems & Services, local meetings, Mallorie Kettlehut Patterson, privatization, Privatization Beast, public meeting, Rick Snyder, Santa Clarita, threats to Democracy, Washtenaw County, Washtenaw County Emergency Taskforce for Economic Justice, Ypsilanti District Library | 13 Comments

Relying on Jim Kunstler to bring me down to earth

By Mark | March 16, 2011

When I catch myself smiling at a stranger, sniffing a flower, or doing something else which might give the impression that I’m anything other than completely fatalistic, I run home and check in with my favorite prophet of doom, Jim “fuck you” Kunstler. Well, this evening, when watching video of young people in Lansing discussing the plight of our state, and what they intended to do about it, I felt a small spark of hope flicker inside of me. (It was as though someone had lit my pilot light.) And, as I usually do, I thought, “What would Kunstler think about this?” So, I did a quick Google News search, and found a new interview with the author. Here’s my favorite part – Kunstler’s response to a question about the recent pro-democracy uprisings in the Middle East.

…One thing we also need to be concerned about is that a lot of the oil production infrastructure could end up getting smashed as these people settle their hashes. Gadhafi explicitly threatened to blow up his refineries and pipelines. The trouble could well spread to Iraq and even Iran. While many idealists are trumpeting the rise of popular movements in these places, it’s important to remember that the outcome is completely unsettled and may remain turbulent for as far ahead as we can see.

The oil industry will not operate well in a turbulent situation. I believe this will lead to a permanent energy crisis, which would include gasoline rationing here in the USA and much more extreme economic distress in more ways than you can imagine. At the same time, we’re seeing the situation aggravated by food shortages connected to climate change crop failures.

I suspect that we have left behind the supposed normality of the past decade and have now entered uncharted territory of the long emergency. We have also seen the first stirrings of American unrest in the battles over public employee bargaining rights. I’d maintain that this is only the start of a very rough political era in the USA. The buildup of tensions is fantastic. You have a dissolving middle class watching their futures whirl around the drain, and an obscenely rich Wall Street banking class (abetted by a disgustingly bought-off political class) that has been allowed to evade the rule of law in running a set of ruinous financial rackets, swindles, and frauds, and this alone is, to me, a recipe for civil disorder. I’m amazed that the Hamptons have not yet been torched…

Pilot light extinguished.

Posted in Mark's Life, Observations, Other, Uncategorized | Tagged collective bargaining, democracy protests, food shortages, gas rationing, global climate change, Jim Kunstler, Libya, Middle East, Muammar Gaddafi, oil, optimism, pessimism, Struggle Against Authoritarian Rule in the Middle East, the growing gap between rich and poor, The Long Emergency, threats to the middle class, unions | 16 Comments

“Michigan Governor’s Anti-Union Power Grab Is Unconstitutional”

By Mark | March 16, 2011

According to the folks at ThinkProgress, there’s one little problem with our Governor’s plan to appoint emergency financial managers throughout the State and empower them to void collective bargaining agreements… it’s unconstitutional.

Here’s a clip:

…There’s a pretty serious problem with this power grab, however — invoking it would violate the Constitution. The Constitution forbids state laws “impairing the Obligation of Contracts.” This provision provides a robust limit on a state’s ability to dissolve contracts between the government and a private party. As the Supreme Court explained in United States Trust Co. v. New Jersey, state laws impairing such contracts must be “reasonable and necessary to serve an important public purpose.”

The bill does contain some language requiring the emergency manager and the state treasurer to determine that they are not violating this constitutional limit before a collective bargaining agreement can be blown up, but Snyder’s own budget gives the lie to any claim that an assault on working Americans is “necessary” to ensure that Michigan governments can pay their bills. Snyder proposed a massive $1.73 billion business tax cut even as he was arguing that his anti-union power grab was necessary to restore the state’s fiscal balance.

The consequences of Snyder’s actions could be stark. If a state is free to break contracts whenever they feel like it, then no one will agree to do business with the state. Investors will refuse to buy the state’s bonds, and state contractors will demand all payments upfront out of fear that the state will accept their work and then tear up the contract requiring the workers to be paid. Creditors will charge the state enormous interest rates to secure against the risk that the state will just waive its hand and make its obligation to repay go away.

In other words, Snyder is so determined to chip away at collective bargaining, he’s demanded a power that he cannot constitutionally use and that would drive his state into an even deeper financial hole if he ever tried…

Posted in Michigan, Politics | Tagged collective bargaining, Constitution, Emergency Financial Manager, Rick Snyder, Supreme Court, union busting, United States Trust Co. v. New Jersey | 22 Comments

How much will Ypsi’s historic Freighthouse sell for at auction, and who will our Emergency Financial Manager be?

By Mark | March 16, 2011

Last night, I decided to do something I don’t usually do. Instead of just getting online and bitching about the changes that are taking place under the leadership of our current Governor, I decided to spend some time considering how, if I were so inclined, I might be able to cash in on some of these things that are happening. Two things came immediately to mind. First, it occurred to me that I might be able to pick up our beloved Freighthouse for a song at auction, once financial martial law is declared in Ypsi, and our appointed Emergency Financial Manager begins liquidating every asset the City owns. (I might also buy the bust of Demetrius Ypsilanti to use as an ashtray.) And, second, it occurred to me that I might want to apply for the position of Emergency Financial Manager. As I understand it, not only will they wield god-like powers, but they can make more than $177,000 a year, thanks to the the defeat of a Democratic amendment that would have made that the salary cap.

I can’t find a source that verifies it, but I heard today that somewhere between 60 and 80 Emergency Financial Managers had already been hired. They’re apparently undergoing training now in secret location. From what I’ve heard, though, this number could double. I mentioned to my friend Phil from Pontiac that I was thinking about submitting my resume, and received the following in response.

Don’t send Rick your resume. Remember, he promised transparency and accountability. I’m sure that the job posting will be at your local Michigan Works office and that the standard Michigan state government hiring procedures will be followed.

I nearly died laughing.

The laughter stopped, however, when it dawned on me that the Emergency Financial Manager assigned to Ypsi could very well be our old friend Andrew Shirvell.

Regardless of what crony puppet we get assigned to us, whether it’s the dim-witted son of a Republican donor, or an otherwise unemployable political operative, you can bet you that the first order of business, after voiding all employee contracts and firing our democratically elected officials, will be to privatize everything that can be privatized, and liquidate everything that can be liquidated. And I wasn’t kidding about buying the Freighthouse. Unless there’s some way to protect it that hasn’t occurred to me, I’m almost certain that it’ll be sold off at the same time that our local utilities are handed over to the Koch brothers. It’s a shame too… from what I hear they were planning to reopen in the Spring.

So, I’m thinking that we should have some kind of betting pool around the Freighthouse, when it will be sold, and how much it’ll go for. Anyone care to take a guess?