Michigan--Jennifer Granholm's jobs solution

The economy here in Michigan is not the greatest. Many of our jobs are/were related to manufacturing, esp. in the auto industry. We are/were a big union state. I'm guessing that outside of the larger urban areas, the economy has been sluggish for many years.
There are many are many reasons for fewer jobs here in Michigan. I'm sure the same is true in many parts of the country. NAFTA, outsourcing, automation, to name a few.
Michigan, Alaska and Indiana share honors for worst unemployment in the US. Michigan also has the distinction of having negative job growth.

Today on Off the Record, a local PBS program in metro Detroit, Ms. Granholm laid out her plan to create jobs.
One idea is to raise the minimum wage $2.00 per hour. Well, gee, that sounds great if you have that minimum hour job. But wait, the guy who had 10 minimum wage employees can now only afford seven!!! OOOOOOPS. Three more unemployeds.
I fail to see how that will create jobs in MI

Another brainstorm : she wants to, maybe, take all the highway repair/construction jobs for the next ten years, and do them in three. And that is supposed to put Michigan's non-working folks to work?
Seems to me that will help out-of-state construction workers. But, I somehow doubt many of Michigan's unemployed will benefit.

I've heard for every average one job in Michigan there are about ten applicants. I don't know if this is the norm. By average job, I mean working at someplace like Home Depot or JC Penney.

She is truly in over her head, She seems unalbe to make decisions, especially if it may impact her chances for re-election next year.
She did manage to raise the cigarette taxes once or twice.
She, the state legislators and the state workers all got nice raises.
She is in the third year of her first term and has little positive to show for it. She can no longer blame former Governor Engler for what ails Michigan's economy.

I fear Michigan is in big trouble.

Okay, now I have some sources for her plan...or lack thereof.

Even before she was elected in November 2002, liberals had identified Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm as one of the fresh faces to watch: a post-feminist moderate who would bring not only a fresh face but fresh thinking to a tired old Democratic Party.

If Granholm were really serious about jobs, she would have a word or two with her friends in the environmental community, who have all but shut down oil and gas development in Michigan and elsewhere. If it's jobs you want, nothing would help quite so much as bringing the price of oil back down from $45 to $50 a barrel.

Republicans in Michigan and elsewhere need to do a better job themselves of pressing for tax and regulatory reform if they want to credibly oppose such job creation nonsense. But Republicans in the Michigan Legislature were right to sit in stony silence while Granholm argued for saddling average Michiganians with huge subsidies for well-paid engineers and scientists to pursue unrealistic dreams.

www.detnews.com...

She's also breaking promises in education.

The governor's proposed cuts to balance massive state budget shortfalls have some education officials accusing her of breaking a promise to increase higher education funding.

www.detnews.com...

Why her bond proposal won't create new jobsbut will cost taxpayers more money:

The root cause of this performance is not that investors are unwilling to provide start-up financing for new firms, or the inability of our fine research institutions, which already receive tens of millions of dollars from the state, to commercialize their research in Michigan. Rather it is the dour economy that makes investors unwilling to provide venture capital or take new ideas into the market in Michigan.

www.detnews.com...

In another viewpoint on Ms Granholm's [lan, it is reported she hopes to have a bond issue before the Michigan voters this November:
www.freep.com...