Kiwanis Club hears State Sen. Pappageorge
Democrats as well as Republicans listened respectfully when Republican State Senator John Pappageorge surveyed how Lansing is dealing with Michigan's long economic decline.

Speaking to the Royal Oak Kiwanis, Pappageorge began by saying that civilization has experienced three major revolutions: hunting/farming, manufacturing, now high tech. "Michigan has stayed too long in the heavy manufacturing phase," Pappageorge said, and he suggested that too many in Lansing still favor the manufacturing sector "at the expense of small business." We have to move into industries like lithium-ion batteries," he cited as an example.

About financial matters, the senator defined "stimulus" as "taking out a loan to pay bills," before, I'm afraid, losing some of us for a few minutes, as he talked of cashflow and moving averages, before moving on to more understandable, if debatable, concepts like:

[Citing what the governor did re business taxes] Democrats insist on "revenue neutral," which in real life means "if you remove a tax here, you must add one there."

Michigan's regulatory jungle is causing the state to "lose people who would create jobs."

The difference between liberals and conservatives is that liberals feel that government should dictate "distribution of income."

Lansing's annual budgeting process is of dubious value. "It always contains $900 in estimated revenue which isn't really there."

Term limits place "a premium on ignorance." As a compromise Pappageorge prefers upping the limit to 14 years and allowing each elected official to choose which house he want to run for to reach the term limit. -- Apr 2009

Kiwanis Apr 09