Articles

Energy Monopoly Dark-Money Groups Donate $2 Million to Democrats; Dems Push for Renewable Energy Mandates for More Profit for Monopoly

The Detroit News reports that dark-money groups connected to DTE Energy gave $2 million to Democrat-aligned groups soon after the party took power in Lansing. Once in office, Democrats introduced legislation that would mandate Michigan completely abandon the coal and natural gas energy sources that constitute 89% of Michigan energy supply by 2035, to be replaced by “green” energy sources like wind and solar.

For the utility monopolies whose profit margins are guaranteed by state law, this would constitute a huge windfall: the higher their energy costs, the more money they make. But even the utilities viewed going 100% renewable by 2035 as wildly unrealistic.

Now, Democrats in Lansing are pushing for new legislation, House Bills 5120-5123, that would deprive municipalities of their right to participate in zoning and planning control, effectively pushing wind and solar facilities upon communities that do not want them. The authority to approve local planning and zoning for wind and solar farms would be granted exclusively to the Michigan Public Service Commission, the regulatory agency whose board consists almost exclusively of former DTE and Consumers officials.

In written testimony, Lenawee County Commissioner Kevin Martis expressed his opposition to the bills before a House committee, saying the proposed legislation “interferes with county and township ability to regulate utility scale renewable energy installations.”

“[Renewable energy] developers are corporations who have only a single allegiance and that is to their corporate bottom line,” he said. “They regularly run roughshod over legitimate environmental impacts. They ignore guidance from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and regularly attempt to site large-scale projects on environmentally sensitive places like the Michigamme Highlands and the Garden Peninsula and deny the existence of protected species like the Indiana Bat in southeastern Michigan. Wind turbines are the number one cause of death for bats in the U.S.,” he said.

Would these big expenses and upheavals in electricity rates and reliability be worth it? Despite higher power bills, less reliability, and more rolling blackouts, could we at least see global CO2 emissions falling — which we’re told would mean fewer bad weather events? A new study claims that decarbonizing Michigan would only reduce as much CO2 as China produces in 26 minutes.

  • Energy Monopoly Dark-Money Groups Donate $2 Million to Democrats; Dems Push for Renewable Energy Mandates for More Profit for Monopoly

    The Detroit News reports that dark-money groups connected to DTE Energy gave $2 million to Democrat-aligned groups soon after the party took power in Lansing. Once in office, Democrats introduced legislation that would mandate Michigan completely abandon the coal and natural gas energy sources that constitute 89% of Michigan energy supply by 2035, to be replaced by “green” energy sources like wind and solar.

    For the utility monopolies whose profit margins are guaranteed by state law, this would constitute a huge windfall: the higher their energy costs, the more money they make. But even the utilities viewed going 100% renewable by 2035 as wildly unrealistic.

    Now, Democrats in Lansing are pushing for new legislation, House Bills 5120-5123, that would deprive municipalities of their right to participate in zoning and planning control, effectively pushing wind and solar facilities upon communities that do not want them. The authority to approve local planning and zoning for wind and solar farms would be granted exclusively to the Michigan Public Service Commission, the regulatory agency whose board consists almost exclusively of former DTE and Consumers officials.

    In written testimony, Lenawee County Commissioner Kevin Martis expressed his opposition to the bills before a House committee, saying the proposed legislation “interferes with county and township ability to regulate utility scale renewable energy installations.”

    “[Renewable energy] developers are corporations who have only a single allegiance and that is to their corporate bottom line,” he said. “They regularly run roughshod over legitimate environmental impacts. They ignore guidance from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and regularly attempt to site large-scale projects on environmentally sensitive places like the Michigamme Highlands and the Garden Peninsula and deny the existence of protected species like the Indiana Bat in southeastern Michigan. Wind turbines are the number one cause of death for bats in the U.S.,” he said.

    Would these big expenses and upheavals in electricity rates and reliability be worth it? Despite higher power bills, less reliability, and more rolling blackouts, could we at least see global CO2 emissions falling — which we’re told would mean fewer bad weather events? A new study claims that decarbonizing Michigan would only reduce as much CO2 as China produces in 26 minutes.

  • Let’s Get The Government Mandates Out of The Auto Business

    The UAW strike continues to linger, with various daily reports suggest some “progress” and others identifying various layoffs or additional facilities that are walking off their jobs.

    Many liberal politicians posture themselves for photo ops with picketers advancing their “working class cred.” President Biden spared 12 minutes to stopover en route to a megabucks Silicon Valley fundraiser. The lunacy of government picking winners and losers is in full force. For those denying the UAW-centric posturing, where are photos of the selfies with management.

    The UAW’s positioning for a 40% pay increase and a 32 hour work week gets the headlines. Crucial issues for long term competitiveness of the “Detroit 3” and workers go unaddressed. The transition to Electric Vehicles (EVs) is the generational elephant to manage. As EVs are estimated to take 20% less labor content than current models, phasing in EVs phases out jobs.

    Here’s our take to provide our workers with the best long term security and financial benefits:

         • End the Electric Vehicle (EV) implementation mandates. Let the customers decide. Tesla captured the early adopters. Less than 7% of 2022 US automotive sales were EVs, with more than 60% to Tesla and about 10% to “Detroit 3”. Customers are likely wedded to internal combustion engines. Buyers could reject EVs like Bud Light’s woke branding.

         • Benchmark compensation components for similar jobs to non-unionized Tesla. Headlines want to focus on “cost per hour” when Tesla’s incentive plan is via stock options and the UAW approach is an annual profit-sharing check. In the “Detroit 3” one size fits all approach for an older workforce, pension and medical are predictably more costly.

         • What is UAW leadership really bringing to membership versus market without collective union bargaining? Let’s see what forced union dues laws are truly costing those it claims to help; and where a reimagined labor compensation structure could be more competitive and secure than historical pattern bargaining with legacy manufacturers.

         • Permanently end construction of the Marshall, MI battery plant. The pause stinks of strike posturing, with the risk of subsequent environmental issues after settlement. China’s environmental record is the worst on Planet Earth. China based technology could lead to risky supply chain disruptions if we don’t accept imports of their far cheaper EVs.

         • Consider other nations’ management labor relationships. VW, BMW, and Mercedes are deemed late adopters for implementing EVs. Notably unions hold half of VW’s board seats. Could that determine a more deliberate and enduring plan? Mexico allows unions to compete for representing workers. Could Teamsters get workers a better deal?

    The government’s unforced picking of “winners and losers” has rarely had more at stake. Certainly implementing “Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency” (CAFE) mandates played a part in redesigned vehicles with less customer appeal, with volumes going to imports and transplants. The Great Recession resulted in auto industry bankruptcies. A repeat is at the door of the uncompetitive and unsuccessful, particularly as non-union carmakers look for innovative compensation approaches. The taxpayer absorbed much of the embedded pension costs of retired and active workers during the Great Recession’s bankruptcies. It might not be willing or able to do so in a second round.

  • Letter from Chairman John Dunlap

    Fall is always a wonderful time of year. The weather becomes more comfortable, football season starts up, kids are back in school and the leaves are starting to change color.

    On November 7th, 2023, we have another election coming up. This is an off-year election, with the main elections being candidates for:

         • City of Chelsea, City Council Members
         • City of Manchester, Mayor and City Council Members
         • City of Milan, Mayor and City Council Members
         • City of Saline, City Council Members
         • Milan City, Library Board

    Additionally, there are Proposals on the Ballot. These include:

         • City of Manchester, Charter for the City of Manchester
         • City of Milan, Library Renewal Millage
         • Manchester Township, Fire Protection Services Millage Renewal
         • Scio Township, Fire Services Improvement and Expansion Millages (2 Proposals)
         • Lincoln Consolidated School District, Operating Millage and Millage Renewal (2 Proposals)
         • Manchester Community Schools, Bond Proposal
         • Napoleon Community Schools, Bond Proposal
    You can go to the Washtenaw County Clerk’s website to find the names of the candidates for each of these races and some details on the Ballot Proposals. The website is at this link.

    Please note in the off year November elections, the average turnout in Washtenaw County is typically 18%-20% of all registered voters, compared to approximately 60% or higher turnout for gubernatorial or presidential elections. The difference between winners and losers is these off-year elections is typically just a few hundred votes. If you want to see a candidate get elected or a tax millage defeated, reach out to your friends, neighbors, co-workers and church members to get them to come out and vote.

    This year, most cities and townships are voting normally, no early in-person voting. The one exception to this at this time is Scio Township, which will do 9-day voting. Absentee ballots are supported as well. In the next election cycle (2024), with the passage of Proposition 2 in 2022, there will be a 9-day voting period. The details of how this will work are still being worked out between Washtenaw County and the city/township government bodies within the county. Check with your city/township clerk’s office to find the voting locations and times for the 2023 elections.

  • Inflation and Impeachment: Let's Help Connect Joe's Dots

    In this installment of “Following Your Money”, we will provide our perspective of President Biden’s comments on inflation, and what we believe may be of interest to those investigating the Biden family’s financial relationships with foreign powers.

    As reported by many traditional news gatherers, President Biden ostensibly joked on July 28, 2023, that House Republicans considering impeachment of him for his potential participation with son Hunter’s business adventures could add lowering inflation to the charges.

    “Earlier this week, the Washington Post suggested Republicans may have to find something else to criticize me for now that inflation is coming down,” Biden said in an economic speech.

    “Maybe they’ll decide to impeach me because it’s coming down,” he quipped.

    Let’s look at dots the “Gaslighter-In-Chief” ignored, perhaps showing his own “dot-age”:

    • Biden’s policies created the inflation.

    • Biden and his entire economic team ignored the “transitory” inflation, then denied it by claiming “supply chain issues”, which perpetuated pain onto Americans.

    • The pain of reducing inflation via generational high interest rates has been inflicted hardest onto Main Street USA’s working classes, retirees, and Generations X and Z.

    • We still face significant unaddressed inflationary risks resulting from the bloated Fed balance sheet, fiscal overspending, and replenishment of strategic energy reserves.


    Creating Inflation: Inflation is a result of too much money chasing too few goods.

    • As previously noted in “Following Your Money”…….”The Biden Administration pushed The Radical Left’s agenda driven spending programs with unnecessary spending for the $1.9T “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021”, and the $1.2T “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act”. Moreover, the Wall Street Journal editorial of March 24, 2023, determined the real cost of the Inflation Reduction Act’s energy and climate subsidies at $1.2T, far more expensive than the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of $391B.”

    • Moreover, Biden Administration created 2021-2023 fiscal deficits of $2.7T more than pre-pandemic levels!

    • When it’s all his party in charge of the legislative and executive branches, Joe’s blame of MAGA Republicans for his own unforced errors defines “Gaslighting”.


    Ignoring Inflation: Inflation erupted to levels not seen since the late 1970s/early 1980s.

    The Bureau of Economic Analysis annual inflation stats speak for themselves:

    Biden: 2022 – 6.5%; 2021 – 4.7%    Average: 5.6%
    Trump: 2020 – 1.2% 2019 – 1.8%; 2018 – 2.4%; 2017 – 2.1%    Average: 1.9%



    The highest inflation rate was Carter’s 1980 13.6% and was coupled with recession.

    Denial of Inflation: The “Inflation Deniers” developed an Echo Chamber.

    Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, and the supporting talking heads of the New York Times wanted us to think inflation would magically disappear from their radar screens and our pocketbooks once they were more settled into their jobs. They proffered “transitory inflation” as if prices would suddenly drop to prior levels.

    Fed Chair Powell’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) advised in April 2021 they would migrate “above the 2% inflation target for a period of time before raising rates to allow the economy to have more time to heal.” So much for the end of “Quantitative Easing” and unwinding $8T of bonds it held since 2009 to allegedly prop up the economy. The decision to increase interest rates was postponed by the Fed but the bomb would not be easily defused.

    In May 2021 Secretary Yellen claimed the early Biden era price spikes would last only a few more months before they were to fade away. They continued for two more years, far from a self-correcting condition. The price spikes stayed high and higher without retreat or relief.

    In 2023 New York Times Columnist Paul Krugman concurred with the Fed’s playbook, while noting it took years rather than months for transitory to play out, ignoring that cancer is also “transitory” while under chemotherapy treatment. He cited appreciation for the Fed’s ability to reduce inflation without higher unemployment, overlooking that wages did not keep up.

    Then we went through the “supply chain disruptions mantra” as the excuse when inflation lingered into 2022. Biden cabinet secretaries and the New York Times columnists were no longer on the “Transitory” bandwagon. The group jointly leap frogged onto a “New Normal” theme that we were to accept just because they said so.

    The Pain from Reducing the Inflation Rate: The Fed flipped the rate increase switch on in 2022, raising the Fed Funds Rate as below. We started from minimal interest rates of 0.25% to 0.50% when inflation in 2021 was at its 40 year high of 4.7%. The Fed Funds Rate is critical to financial markets as it represents the rate the Fed will pay to its member banks for deposits and charge for loans, becoming the starting point for most other interest rates. The Fed’s charter is both to stabilize prices and boost employment. The gap of this magnitude between inflation and interest rates creates an unsustainable disconnect to the financial system. The rate increases were in concert with other central banks, arguably protecting weaker currencies.

    Here’s the table illustrating the 2022 rate increases which have continued at a somewhat reduced pace so far into 2023.

    Meeting Date RATE CHANGE FED FUNDS RATE
    March 17, 2022 +0.25% 0.25% to 0.50%
    May 5, 2022 +0.50% 0.75% to 1.00%
    June 16, 2022 +0.75% 1.50% to 1.75%
    July 27, 2022 +0.75% 2.25% to 2.50%
    September 21, 2022 +0.75% 3.00% to 3.25%
    November 2, 2022 +0.75% 3.75% to 4.00%
    December 14, 2022 +0.50% 4.25% to 4.50%
    February 1, 2023 +0.25% 4.50% to 4.75%
    March 22, 2023 +0.25% 4.75% to 5.00%
    May 3, 2023 +0.25% 5.25% to 5.50%
    July 26, 2023 +0.25% 5.50% to 5.75%



    The rate increases were of historical frequency and magnitude. Customer demand dropped in almost every segment of the economy. The rate of inflation fell from prior levels simply because Americans could no longer afford to buy things they wanted. The most immediate impact was felt for items that would be financed at interest rates 5.25% higher than in early 2022. Mortgages, car loans, and “Big Ticket” items became far more costly simply due to carrying costs, which squeezed out demand for anything discretionary and requiring cutbacks for essentials. Please note prices rarely fell, it’s just the rate of increase was reduced.

    Unnecessary pain was inflicted on Main Street USA. Local banks had to manage their deposit portfolios in ways they were not used to in a near zero interest rate environment. This impaired their desire to make loan commitments, which holds back the economy. We previously commented on bank failures where both management and regulators were too “woke” to recognize and address their changed operating environment. More recently we commented on the tepid post-pandemic growth in the US economy. Profligate government spending failed to grow the economy resulting in record high credit card debt of over $1T. Our youngest generations took on disproportionate amounts to make ends meet. Moreover, all Americans suffered as real wages declined 1.61% in 2022 and 2.19% in 2021 following real gains of 4.09% in 2020 and 0.83% in 2019.

    Most critically, the ongoing inflation risk to our economy still has not been addressed.

    • The Inflation Reduction Act will not Reduce Inflation: This is a pork barrel program that does not identify the cost of “The New Green Deal” or “Build Back Better”. Most of the funds are yet to be spent. Expect skyrocketing costs of anything construction related.

    • The Fed’s Bloated Balance Sheet: The Fed currently has $8.1T of assets on its balance sheet to unwind and does not wish to tighten over $1T per year due to risk of recession. As reported in Fortune, Chair Powell admitted to Congress in June 2023 the 2019 effort to tighten the balance sheet failed. We are to now rest assured the Chair now has “experience”, even though the balance sheet risk has grown larger with the pandemic.

    • Replenishing the National Strategic Petroleum Reserve: The reserve was depleted by half in efforts to ease the pain at the pump from the Biden’s mismanaged energy policies. At the end of July 2023, crude oil inventory stood at 346 million barrels (MMB) versus an absolute capacity of 727 MMB. December 2019’s inventory was a normal sized position of 635 MMB. The purchase price paid for the current reserve is $30 per barrel with current prices at $80 per barrel, suggesting replenishment cost approaching $15B above the original investment. This is two weeks’ worth of consumption, roughly 4% of our annual usage. By the way, as renewables are far tougher to inventory and transmit, storage capacity of fossil fuels will likely go up to meet the shortfall from renewables.

    • Housing, Housing, Housing: The core services component of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) remains stubbornly high as shelter is over a third of the CPI and over half of core services. Higher financing, construction and energy costs for our homes will continue as a headwind, ironically making a transition away from fossil fuels even more costly.


    Since you brought up the Impeachment word, Joe, is it merited? Or did you trip while awarding yourself a fantasy induced victory lap?

    From the US Constitution, Article II, Section 4: The President, Vice-President, and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

    Mismanagement of the economy, and general ineptness are not Constitutionally granted grounds, but Treason and Bribery certainly head the list of impeachable offenses.

    Common Sense things we may want to look at:

    An Impeccable Game Plan: Any impeachment proceedings cannot be perceived as “just partisan politics” or a high stakes game of “gotcha”. They must be undertaken with utmost seriousness rather than as political theatre, as we have seen two many times in recent years. It cannot be perceived as “get even political scorekeeping”, “making the other side pay”, or “we can do this to you, too”. The impeachment managers and House leadership must prudently bring a case that goes beyond airtight facts.

    It must be presented to show misdeeds beyond relatively minor errors in judgement or personal indiscretions, but as actions that have placed the United States of America in a most significant harm’s way. This cannot be an exercise in finding clerically incorrect tax returns but must demonstrate Joe’s real treason in his conduct of foreign policy and how it has hurt America, even if committed as “Vice”-President. As a point of reference, the 1974 Nixon Impeachment hearings, the House Judiciary Committee defeated a proposed article regarding underpayment/avoidance of income taxes. Let’s respect these precedents and follow the facts to their fullest implications. The adverse Biden entanglements may take significant time to unwind, whether with friends or foes.

    The Initial Corruption Indicator: How can Joe Biden afford to live in the DuPont Mansion when he has officially worked for only a government salary for approximately 50 years? As we know, the math does not add up. It might have been convenient that Beau Biden was previously Attorney General for Delaware. By the way, does Hunter (or Uncle James) have any notable business accomplishments without a connection to Joe? There are enough photos of Joe, Hunter, and business associates to ask lots of very direct questions of Joe’s involvement.

    Ultimately, where do the dots in Ukraine really connect? Not only do most of the family business relationships involve a foreign government, but Joe’s boasting of getting a prosecutor fired as a contingency to release $1B leaves him wide open to his own corruption. If it can be proven this prosecutor was anywhere on the trail of Hunter and Burisma, this is the most impeachable presidential offense in US history. If this bribery and treason is not worthy of an impeachment conviction, we might as well eliminate the clause in the Constitution. If we don’t think there are long term consequences of this relationship, then why are we so extensively supporting the Ukraine militarily, risking our own munition stockpiles?

    The “Deep State” coverup deserves its own Congressional investigation. Who signed off on Hunter’s “pardon”, otherwise officially claimed to be a plea deal? Anyone appointed by Joe, or who worked for someone appointed by Joe? Were we only a whistleblower away from this case permanently buried from justice?

    Was AG Garland’s appointment of a special counsel to publicize the truth or obscure the truth? Is the AG subject to his own censure and/or impeachment?

    Where this is likely to lead: Joe prioritizes his family’s financial wealth ahead of yours and mine. The money suggests Bribery; the foreign “entanglements” suggest Treason. The foreign aspects require us to look at the risk of any compromised entanglements. The actions with Ukraine are exceptionally suspect and we may find similar regarding China. Whatever a Biden has done in an official or personal relationship is likely to have severe and adverse long-term consequences. We need to know where the US has been compromised and undo the damage!

    Lisa McClain is the only Michigan representative on the House Judiciary or Oversight committees. We need to provide her encouragement and support!

  • Statement on Presidential Nomination Rules Change

    This post is to help clarify the decision made last weekend by the Michigan Republican Party to change the process by which we will nominate our candidate for President of the United States next year.

    As one would expect, people with various political motivations have explained this decision in a way that leaves more questions than answers.

    Here is the simple explanation and context behind this decision.

    In January 2023, the Democrat-controlled state legislature passed a law opposed by every Republican lawmaker to move the Michigan Presidential Primary to February 27th, 2024, which would have made it one of the earliest contests in the nation.

    The obvious reason Democrats did so, knowing that they had no presidential nominating contest to speak of, was to invite Democrat voters to vote in an early and therefore influential Republican primary election.

    But as the Democrats also knew, moving the primary to this early date would violate long-standing, non-negotiable rules of the Republican National Committee, and the Republican National Convention would have seated only 12 Michigan delegates, rather than 55.

    It was a cynical power play by the Democrats, to meddle in the Republican presidential race and humiliate Michigan Republican voters.

    Given that scenario, the Michigan Republican State Committee voted last weekend to turn the tables, and considered a variety of options.

    If we held our own primary election in March, the party would have had to pay for it, costing us millions of dollars. That money would then be unavailable to spend winning the November election.

    Another option was to hold Iowa-style caucuses, but that would have required every county Republican Party to administer a complex, potentially expensive caucus event that nobody had experience doing. It would have been a big risk if there were problems in any county caucus.

    Instead, the Michigan Republican Party, in consultation with the Republican National Committee, crafted a plan that maintains Michigan’s open primary while reclaiming our national delegates: by allocating our 16 at-large delegates by the result of the primary, and 39 congressional district delegates by the result of party caucuses in March.

    Under the plan, which was approved by the State Committee 67-21, we will still have a primary election on February 27th, but also a county convention on February 26th to elect delegates to congressional district caucuses held on March 2nd. In each of Michigan’s 13 congressional districts, those delegates will make a presidential preference vote to award their three national delegates.

    Therefore:

    • Instead of having 12 national delegates chosen in the primary, we have 16 delegates chosen in the primary and 39 additional delegates. We get all of our national delegates back.

    • We do not allow Democrats to control how we nominate our presidential candidates.

    • We keep Michigan a competitive state whose early results will shape the race, ensuring that candidates have an incentive to compete for Michigan. This can only help our down ballot state and local candidates receive the spotlight they deserve in so many tough elections.


    This is a win-win-win plan that reclaims our national delegates, allows for full public participation in the process, and ensures that Michigan will be important in what could be the most compelling Presidential election in our lifetime.

    I would like to thank the State Committee, the Michigan Republican Party and the Republican National Committee (including Dr. Rob Steele) for their hard work in resolving this issue.

    Thank you and please consider donating your time and supporting the Washtenaw County Republican Party financially. It is important we take back our County, our State, and our Country.

    In liberty and freedom,

    John Dunlap
    Chair, Washtenaw County Republican Party

  • The Debt Ceiling That Truly Matters – Any Room Left On Your Credit Card?

    Following Your Money
    By Rob Zimmerman

    The drama, and perhaps all the feigned trauma, of debt ceiling jousting concluded with the debt ceiling raised yet again. We have had 100+ debt ceiling raises since 1917, when the law was created. It’s a vital tool to assist Congress in its Article I constitutional authority providing oversight of the Executive Branch, notably the Treasury Department’s issuance of debt.

    The work that truly matters must be brought forward: getting the US economy to grow at rates we have traditionally enjoyed. These growth rates have allowed our nation to prosper to levels not enjoyed anywhere else at any time in recorded history. We will take an in-depth look at the debt picture of the US consumer, particularly Generation Z.

    The economic picture at Main Street USA matters far more to us than political games that matter only to the Beltway and its corporate media shills. Regrettably, the recoveries from the Financial Crisis and post-pandemic have been tepid at best. We estimate the annual cost from the lack of growth at over $10,000 per person, pain felt by all.

    The additional government revenues would help close our deficits and restore the viability of the Social Security Trust Fund. The baby-boomer and buster generations now doubt the integrity of their retirements, with younger generations at a loss of hope for their futures. How many of us used to look at a better future than our parents as a traditional part of American Exceptionalism?

    The debt ceiling was increased to never imagined levels, with interest to be paid by Generations X, Z, and their children. It’s our task to ensure a pathway to prosperity for them. Otherwise, we risk a Japan- and Western Europe-style no-net-growth economy with class warfare over its crumbs.

    Key Takeaways:

    • The debt ceiling arguments from the radical left are just smoke screens hiding significant objections to their policy of non-stop and unneeded spending programs.
    • There is no default risk to payment of interest on US government debts. Moreover, claiming the 14th Amendment is a pathway to expanding the debt ceiling is fantasy.
    • In the most recent debt deal passed last week, the debt ceiling was raised yet again. However, as part of the bill, if Congress fails to pass a budget by the New Year, as is typical, it will trigger an automatic discretionary spending cut of 1% - which would be the largest spending restraint in recent memory.
    • US economic growth since the 2008 Financial Crisis has been tepid in most years. US government deficit spending has funded programs that have provided no long-term benefit to the US economy.
    • Previously, deficit spending in the past has often provided either a Keynesian pump priming to get short term cash to private citizens to spend and invest and/or projects enhancing a competitive advantage that grows the economy. “Stimulus” packages are now well excessive of the lost value of economic activity during the slowdown.
    • Absence of this historical growth, particularly in rebounding from the Great Recession and post-pandemic, has hindered development of our national wealth to the significant detriment in our working classes and younger generations. The money spent by government to enrich government is not helping Main Street USA invest.
    • Without real growth in the economy, our citizenry will bear increases in their debt load, particularly in the form of high interest credit cards. We are seeing this play out, most sadly for Gen Z, who are already are stifled with higher delinquencies and will face the added pressure of 2023’s continuation of student loan payments.


    What The Headlines are Not Saying:

    For the past month or so, the financial pundits have been panting all over themselves pontificating about an approaching “default” should the US government reach the debt ceiling of $31.4 Trillion. It’s a recurring and uneventful story as we have 100+ prior debt ceiling data points since 1917 that government has traversed without default. Nearing the “Down to the Wire” date calculated by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, “crisis” headlines have become staples of the political talking heads.

    However, negligible commentary is found regarding the impact the increase in the debt levels We The People are incurring. Washington is way too oblivious to the challenges in our daily lives in a stagnant growth and inflation overloaded economy.

    Let’s ask the real tough questions….how does the US economy look and what does our leadership in the House of Representatives need to do to get our economy growing again?

    The American Consumers’ Debt Position:

    • Credit card debt increased 15.2% during 2022 according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Delinquencies have also increased, particularly felt by Gen Z.
    • Year-end 2022 US Household Debt is at a record $16.9 Trillion, an increase of $1.32T, or 8.5% from 2021.
    • This takes our consumers backwards. The debt increase is well beyond the 2022 rate of inflation of 6.5% as well as the private sector wage gains of 5.1% for 2022. Real GDP growth was a pedestrian 2.1% for 2022.
    • Most of the household debt remains in mortgages, considered an investment in a stable asset – housing. This obscures interest rates increases borne by those originating mortgages. Originations declined significantly in the 4th quarter of 2022, reverting to pre-pandemic levels. Consumers pulled back when costs went up.
    • Moreover, student loan payments are to restart in 2023, placing more economic pressure on Gen Z.

    Those with any sort of business experience know that whenever your customer is hurting, the hurt will soon be shared with you. Again, the Democrats are oblivious to this pain based on all the spending they have passed to fund their pet projects. We estimate the lack of growth to the economy from the Obama and Biden wasteful spending policies costs each of us over $10,000 per year.

    Next, the Political Landscape:

    To keep the growth of government unimpeded, at the detriment of the rest of us, here are the political facts the “default” fearmongers, including Joe Biden, choose to ignore:

    There will be no default of US Treasuries. Tax collections are more than ample to cover the interest owed on all US treasuries. Monthly interest payments in the past year have ranged between 7% and 29% of revenues. The interest due WILL be paid on your savings bonds as well as all the US treasury bonds held in mutual funds, pensions, IRAs, ETFs, or directly by you.

    If you have a treasury bill or bond maturing, it can be rolled over, or refinanced, even if the debt ceiling has been reached. Or you could even keep your cash as needed to pay for the higher cost of living under Bidenflation.

    Claiming the 14th Amendment allows the president to override the debt ceiling has never been tested, let alone permitted, by any court. The post-Civil War 14th Amendment states in Section 4: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, …shall not be questioned.” This was written to protect those financing the Union debts to end slavery. Congress is constitutionally granted by Article 1 the proverbial power of the purse. Secretary Yellen has commented “it’s legally questionable whether or not that’s a viable strategy.”
    The most recent comparable situation was the 2011 joust between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner. The Budget Control Act of 2011 reflected cuts across government including sequestration provisions and targets.

    • The first step raised the debt ceiling by $900B with $917B to be cut over 10 years. There were no tax increases.
    • The 14th Amendment was raised by outliers but did not get close to serious talks.
    • President Obama wanted a “clean” bill raising the debt limit by $2.4T without spending cuts. The House of Representatives defeated it 97-318.
    • Negotiations were extended well beyond the May 16, 2011 reach of the ceiling. Then Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner directed "extraordinary measures" to fund federal obligations. The deal was signed on August 2nd, 2011.
    • There was no capitulation by the newly elected Republican majority despite incessant media hostilities.

    This jousting is critical to the House of Representatives asserting its budgetary responsibility.
    Alternatively, in subsequent Congresses, Speaker Pelosi completely concentrated traditional budget preparation and review to her office, pushing the annual Omnibus(t) spending packages through her caucus. No time to read the bill; “You’ll have to pass it to see what’s in it”. This process was so abhorrent that House Republicans insisted Kevin McCarthy end it before naming him Speaker.

    What’s at Stake:

    The fiscal policy of the US Government is off the rails and must be reined in to get our economy growing again. We will go deep into the numbers to show the shortfall to our economic growth resulting from the outrageous spending.

    The debt ceiling arguments should be primarily about the wasteful policies behind what we are spending, not just limited to the abhorrent amounts of spending. The Clinton, Obama, and Biden “stimulus” packages in substance were political payback packages to primarily benefit organizations that put them in office. While attending an invitation-only private conference, I heard an internationally known Michigan based non-political economist describing the Obama Era “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” as a waste of $1 trillion for how little economic activity it created. (Remember the Obama Administration’s backing of Solyndra’s $535 billion in eventually worthless loans created by its profligate spending and subsequent bankruptcy.)

    Moreover, the Federal Reserve calculated the economic contraction from the 2008 Financial Crisis at $500B. This is on top of running deficits at three times the amount pre-recession, totaling $2.8T in spending to address a $500B loss of economic output. Ouch!

    It’s about the agenda politics, not growing the economy, regardless of the rhetoric and fear behind the left’s “salesmanship”. The Biden Administration emerged from the basement to an economy that had already fully recovered from the pandemic’s loss of economic output. The $2.2T CARES Act fully funded the $2.1T loss in 2020 GDP, with GDP almost back to peak pre-pandemic economic activity.

    The CARES Act remains the exception to the rest of the so called “stimulus” packages as it put cash directly into the hands of the America consumers. The remainder of these programs placed significant money into politically connected purveyors of projects that could not be economically justified with investment from private capital. This recovery still didn’t stop the Biden Administration’s 2021-2023 deficits of $2.7 trillion in excess of pre-pandemic levels. This was claimed to be necessary to cover a problem that was already solved.

    The programs behind this spending are “cures” worse than “the disease”!

    The Radical Left has perpetuated this practice with unnecessary spending for the $1.9T “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021”, and the $1.2T “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act”. Moreover, the Wall Street Journal editorial of March 24, 2023, determined the real cost of the Inflation Reduction Act’s energy and climate subsidies at $1.2T, far more expensive than the Congressional Budget Office’s estimates of $391B.

    Perhaps excepting the $280B CHIPS and Science Act, these programs have not added value to the US economy as a whole and were substantial in creating the inflation struggles of 2021 and beyond. Moreover, a jobs program in a period of historically low unemployment and an inflation reduction act that does not reduce inflation are 1984 style lies shoved onto the American public.

    Saddest of all, these programs have taken the growth out of the US economy. We failed to approach traditional GDP growth rates despite well beyond traditional spending levels, which were ostensibly intended to increase economic growth.

    The recovery periods after recessions often experience the highest annual GDP growth rates.
    Since 1960, here are the 2 year and 3 year average GDP post-recession growth rates. As a point of reference, US GDP has risen an average of 3% over the past 62 years, and for the 54 non-recession years it has averaged 3.6%.

    1970: 2 year – 4.5% 3 year – 4.9%
    1974/75:  2 year – 5.0%  3 year – 5.2%
    1980/82:  2 year – 5.9%  3 year – 5.3%
    1991:   2 year – 3.1%  3 year – 3.4%
    2009:   2 year – 2.1%  3 year – 2.2%
    2020: 2 year – 4.3%  1st Quarter 2023 – 1.3% (annualized)


    Please note we believe 2021’s growth of 5.9% as highly influenced by the CARES Act, the only stimulus program that placed cash directly into consumers’ hands rather than targeting the politically favored. We will exclude 2021 from our determination of the loss of growth to the American consumer.

    The shortfall to growth in the Obama years was not limited to his first term. The highest GDP growth rate he achieved was 2.7% in 2015. Over the seven non-recession years of his administration, GDP growth averaged the same 2.2% as in the recession recovery years. As another point of reference, the Reagan Administration averaged annual GDP growth of 3.5%, which included the Great Recession inherited from the Carter Administration. The Obama Administration averaged 1.6% GDP annual growth.

    Shortfalls to growth have cost the American consumer dearly, impairing not only their pocketbooks but also the loss of tax receipts that would greatly help fix the federal deficit and the social security trust fund.

    Annual GDP growth in non-Obama recessionary years averaged 1.7% less than the non-Obama years. This would take the seven year shortfall to 11.6% even without compounding. Including another 1.3% shortfall from the lackluster Biden economy would take it to 13% of total GDP. At a current GDP of $26.5T, the per capita shortfall comes to over $10,000.

    Presuming FICA and Income Taxes at 15% to 20% of these amounts, annual revenues to government could increase by almost $700B should we just get to average growth.
    In the timeless words of Margaret Thatcher, “Socialists eventually run out of other people’s money to spend.” Our corollary: When government spends it on pet projects with negligible if any value added, private money sits on the sidelines and does not get invested and does not grow.

    Here’s What the Budget Deal Achieved:

    Under the debt-limit deal, the most egregious segments of the far-left agenda that were approved by the last Congress were clawed back. This included hiring of 87,000 IRS agents, returning $50+B of unspent COVID money, slowing the freight train of “Green New Deal” spending, and return the US to the work requirement tenets of welfare reform enacted by the Clinton Administration.

    Most significantly, House Republican negotiated an instrument whereby the discretionary budget is automatically scaled back by 1% if a budget is not passed by the end of the year. This comes on the heels of years of Congress passing “continuing resolutions” instead of budget that simply extended previous spending. This automatic 1% cut will force both parties to come to a budget agreement in the future, or else force the federal government to reduce spending. Even a 1% cut is a significant step in the right direction. This would reduce spending by about $17 billion, but most significantly, would cancel any automatic increases, which are typical.

    Our Next Steps:

    Growing the economy is one of the most important responsibilities of government. It encapsulates the Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness ideals of the Declaration of Independence. Our economic successes will substantially determine all others.

    • Growth will get our economy back on track. We must have growth in GDP faster than we grow the debt. Otherwise, revenues (taxes) cannot keep up with the growth of interest payments as a share of the economy. It will create a death spiral that will be slowed only when a financial calamity forces a most painful fix.
    • Encourage the House to make the tax cuts of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent. Send pro-growth programs to the Senate and White House.
    • Completely discard the programs identified above that hold our economy back. Growing the economy must be the most critical 2024 election issue! Republicans must distinguish themselves from Democrats to succeed!
    • Restore programs that reward innovation. For those of us old enough to remember 1960s and 1970s era urban smog, which is most responsible for enhancing air quality? A) The Clean Air Act, B) Establishing the EPA, or C) Adopting Catalytic Converters.
    • We need higher wages to bring back higher labor participation into the workforce that will help restore the standard of living to our working classes. This must be done by restoring the traditional incentives of working, not a coerced raise in the minimum wage. An increase in minimum wages has proven to be a pathway to reduced hours for the most vulnerable levels of the workforce. Securing our borders is a key step in restoring the integrity to our labor markets, along with ensuring China does not keep its free pass to desecrate the environment with impunity.
    • Get a realistic calculation for the cost of every aspect of the Green New Deal. This would include costs not officially borne through a government entity, but also include the transition and opportunity costs to renewable energy that directly hit consumers. This process would allow us to truly pay as we go to make the best market driven tradeoffs of costs and benefits. We must also develop a Congressional Budget Office that truly understands the dynamics of our economy. Understating costs by two thirds for a ten-year subsidy program totaling $800B in discrepancies is a huge hurt to America.


    Our best days can still be ahead for us. Changing our spending toward growth oriented policies is a big Step One.

  • "ESG Investing": Sham to the Environment, Scam to Main Street Investors

    “ESG Investing” represents an approach targeting investments based on their scores in the areas of Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”). In our last column, we addressed the danger to our banks and our financial system when government officials and bank management were more concerned about their ESG scores than their solvency. Now we identify the risks of ESG Investing to Main Street USA as shareholders and retirees, as well as the potential impact to all investors from the Biden Administration’s Department of Labor rules for fiduciaries.

    It has become a mantra for social justice warriors to put “people before profit.” What does this mean? Are those investing in their own retirement not people? Yet retirement funds and other investing entities have allowed their political and social aspirations, expressed as “ESG,” to supercede their traditional fiduciary responsibility for prudent return on capital invested.

    To protect these ESG causes from fiduciary duty, President Biden vetoed a bipartisan bill to nullify a November 22, 2022 administrative rule to fiduciaries to weigh climate change, social justice causes, and other ESG factors when considering retirement investments. Moreover, under the rule, fiduciaries are now protected from lawsuits should these choices result in lower returns or loss of capital. This was Biden's first veto and comes in the wake of the collapse of woke banks such as Silicon Valley Bank.

    Wall Street investment firms have developed a cottage “ESG industry” acting as self-appointed sherpas to “guide” companies, investors, and investment managers through ESG investments. Sadly, these firms have co-opted “green environmental” benefits to serve their “green pocketbooks.”
     

    Dive Into the ESG Investment Funds


    “Following Your Money” jumped directly into the ESG-themed Exchange Traded Funds. We sorted for the 5 largest ETFs claiming an ESG investment approach. Then we gleaned those earning 4 or more stars from Morningstar, a most notable evaluator of funds and their management. This approach ensured we evaluated not only the most commercially successful ESG funds, but also the most highly regarded for investing acumen. We then compared these funds with large non-ESG funds that earned similar ratings. As shown in the chart below, ESG funds performed almost identically to non-ESG funds – but featured far higher expense fees.
     

    ETF Comparisons

    Top 10 Investment Holdings, Portfolio Performance. Notice the first column in ESG funds v. the first column in non-ESG funds are almost identical, yet the expense fees are far higher for the ESG fund.


    For ESG Investing to be a suitable approach to fund our retirements and enhancing our lifetime legacy, we examined three key issues:

    What are the financial results of ESG-driven investing versus traditional fiduciary-oriented investments?
    What are the standards for the scoring of ESG investing?
    Has ESG Investing been effective in improving outcomes in the areas of Environmental, Social, and Governance?.
     

    What We Learned


    • Not only can an investor select a non-ESG fund with similar investment performance to ESG funds, the non-ESG funds will have lower fees.

    • You get very similar investment holdings regardless of ESG label. The Top Ten Holdings of the largest ESG funds had eight of same holdings in its non-ESG equivalent. In one case, the top eight mirrored exactly, and in exact order.


    In other words, these fund managers have simply mirrored their top selling index funds, slapped "ESG" on the name, and charged more for what is essentially the same thing.
     

    When did this go off the rails?


    Investing in companies that provide products and services that appeal to niche investors, who wish to practice “social responsibility,” is not new. Forcing investors’ money into these investments is very new.

    Religious groups such as Quakers and Methodists have long been noted for pooling their investments to avoid “sin stocks”. They believe certain companies' products and services adversely impact the health of their members. The transparency to those wishing to invest with their group is well-known and far from compulsory. There is no “scoring” to rank the level of “sin.” No company would be selected for investment simply because it was deemed less sinful than its competition. Bad was always “Bad” and didn’t need to be quantified.

    This theme has mutated into the ESG paradigm where some employers’ pension and 401(k) retirement plans can provide only choices where ESG ratings reign supreme above financial returns.

    There are no universal criteria for identifying what management practices or results are “ESG.” For instance, a company’s Financial Statements are audited by licensed CPA firms according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Quality Audits are performed against a standard such as ISO-9000 by a certified Registrar. There is no on-site audit requirement for testing the accuracy of management’s ESG claims, or a certification process for analysts and statisticians compiling and computing their ESG scores.
     

    ESG Scoring and Fund Management Became a Cottage Industry Unto Itself


    Many organizations compile ESG scores utilizing statistics from public sources, but with no consistent methodology for tabulating results, weighting components, or statistical analysis of attributes.

    The industry is comprised of various financial data gatherers such as Bloomberg, Lipper-Refinitiv, SPGlobal, and Thomson-Reuters. Others such as MSCI are considered rating agencies that actively sell their data, which drives higher management fees for ESG centric funds, as run by fund managers such as BlackRock. This setup has worked exceptionally well for BlackRock, whose stock has grown from $324.77 at the end of 2016 to $669.12 at the end of the first quarter 2023. This pales to the capital gains enjoyed by MSCI with stock increasing from $73.93 to $559.69 during the period. A good green deal for Wall Street!

    MSCI describes its process: “An MSCI ESG Rating is designed to measure a company’s resilience to long-term industry material environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks. They use a rules-based methodology to identify industry leaders and laggards according to their exposure to ESG risks and how well they manage those risks relative to peers. MSCI’s ESG Industry Materiality Map provides a framework for key E, S & G issues by GICS® sub-industry or sector and their contribution to companies' ESG Ratings. MSCI assigns percentage weights to each ESG risk, according to their assessment of their time horizon and impact. The ESG scores are then combined and normalized relative to industry peers to achieve the overall ESG rating. MSCI ESG Ratings range from leader (AAA, AA), average (A, BBB, BB) to laggard (B, CCC).”

    Notice anything about actual benefit to the environment or society? Nope – it's just word salad.

    Other rating agencies have different methodologies, which will generate different results. When there are multiple “standards”, there no real standards. Companies are instead rated against their competition, perhaps using the robust algorithm a quant nerd can derive. Coca-Cola may be graded as less bad than PepsiCo, as if their sugar laden drinks are perceived to cause less diabetes risk. This scheme also helps sell consultancy contracts to woke management and the fearful non-woke. “Non-woke” management can easily get swept into the process as it does not wish the negative publicity of appearing out of step with the Woke’s loudest and most impatient voices.
     

    What are the Risks to Your Retirement?


    The most significant risk derives from the Department of Labor rule of November 22, 2022.

    The rule assumes that ESG investments provide potential financial benefits that can be taken into consideration during fiduciary decision making. The evidence of tangible results is less than skimpy.

    Moreover, investment managers can satisfy their fiduciary responsibilities by reference to purported ESG benefits, without a requirement to provide supporting verification of their value. Similar criteria were enacted for shareholder proxy voting.

    The “tiebreaker” standard set by the Trump Administration required competing investments to be economically indistinguishable before collateral factors could be brought to bear. The new rule effectively stripped this requirement.

    Finally, the rule that fiduciaries do not violate their responsibilities if they provide options believed to popular with participants. It is assumed the public will more greatly participate with this rule.

    This provides any cover that any investment manager could ever want to provide a less than economically prudent course. This rewrites the both the fiduciary and suitability standards. The public can then be given what investment management believes they want, rather than what is truly financially responsible. This could eliminate all sorts of regulatory and civil liabilities. "We The People" will become "The Wee People."

    With ESG scoring schemes all over the map, do we really expect any of the rating agencies to be able to prove they have helped drive the results they aim for? A company’s scores will be different among agencies, providing management an opportunity to put its “best” ratings forward. This will make good tangible financial results even tougher to achieve for the public.

    In a recent article, The Federalist’s Helen Raleigh cites Sanjai Bhagat’s work citing companies using their adoption of ESG as a cover for poor financial performance. Moreover, Bhagat notes many companies in ESG portfolios had worse compliance records than non-ESG companies, then failed to improve compliance with labor and environmental regulations. So much for “doing good” for those who invest to “feel good”.
     

    What’s at Stake


    The financial impact of an investment shortfall will adversely affect your financial flexibility in retirement, as will higher fees to the ESG scorekeepers.

    • The result is another “hidden tax” to pay for the Green New Deal, as if the higher pump prices and heating bills are not enough. No one has presented the true cost of transitioning to renewables from fossil fuels. We can probably all guess why not.

    Those managing retirement monies for us ideally operate as fiduciaries, who put the best interests of their customers above everything else. The social and climate justice warriors WILL put their agendas ahead of their customers. Moreover, they use their power for shareholder voting to increase their sway with management.

    The ESG evaluation process is far from “time tested”, or even “back tested”, to determine if the scoring approaches are effective in measuring the desired outcomes.

    In a perverse way, the Radical Left may claim ESG investing helps protect Medicare and Social Security trust funds. The public will delay retirement, which will keep us paying FICA taxes longer, delaying the time when the fund balances turn negative.
     

    The Red States Push Back


    Florida, Texas, West Virginia state governments are taking their own actions to discourage, and in some cases, deny investment decisions made utilizing ESG scores.

    Florida now prohibits the state’s pension fund managers from using ESG criteria when making investment decisions. The state has recovered its proxy voting rights, which permits Florida to vote their shares as it wishes, rather than as the fund manager wishes. Texas and West Virginia, as producers of carbon fuels, have ceased business with financial firms that do not invest in energy companies.

    Similar legislation was introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives this past week (House Bill 4381), but with Democrats in the majority, the bill has no realistic chance of passage.

    Nineteen state governors have signed a group statement looking to leverage state pension funds to focus on companies maximizing shareholder value, rather than proliferation of woke ideology. Moreover, efforts would be made to protect citizens from financial institutions using ESG influences such as “social credit scores” in providing financial services.

    This has been backed up by 21 state attorneys general. Fifty-three large financial institutions were warned to follow their fiduciary obligations under various state laws to maximize investment returns.

    Moreover, individual investors are beginning to catch on to the weaknesses of this investment approach. The fourth quarter of 2022 showed $6.2B in net outflows for US sustainable funds. Perhaps no definable benchmarks or standards, higher fees, and results that can be replicated elsewhere do matter.
     

    Our Recommendations


    Note: This column is presented solely for informational and entertainment purposes and is not to be construed as financial or investment advice.

    • Select investments based on financial prospects. If your employer does not offer non-ESG funds, take your complaints to Human Resources, Finance, and Legal. Talk to your coworkers. It's your retirement and should be invested in the most profitable manner possible, rather than simply wasted paying for a meaningless “ESG” label.

    • Thank all our Michigan Republican congressional delegation for voting to nullify the DOL rule favoring ESG. Encourage another bite of the apple.

    • Hold our Democrat state lawmakers accountable for failing to take up legislation to ensure that state funds are invested only in funds that exclusively prioritize return on investment rather than non-financial metrics.

  • Washtenaw GOP Opposes Taxpayer Funding of "Woke" Initiatives

    Across Washtenaw County, Democrats are using our taxpayer money to fund programs to promote a radical ideology commonly referred to as "woke."

    The "woke" ideology aims to convert ordinary people into revolutionaries by first teaching that they are perpetrators or victims of systemic racism, then offering the "oppressors" an escape by become sexual minorities as transgendered persons. It is pervasive on college campuses and increasingly indoctrinated in K-12 schools as well.

    (Formerly known as cultural Marxism, "woke" ideology keeps with the Orwellian tradition of naming things the opposite of what they actually are, and refers to a state of being a hopelessly brainwashed fanatic.)

    Here's how your tax dollars are being spent:

    Washtenaw Board of Commissioners Reparations Committee

    The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners has created an Advisory Council Committee on Reparations

    "Reparations" typically refers to confiscating money from white people, who are presumptively all guilty of slavery, and giving it to black people, who are presumptively all victims of slavery. More recently it has expanded to include other forms of racial discrimination.

    According to the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, "The committee will craft a “Washtenaw Reparations Plan” with specific actions officials can take to remedy those harms across housing, wealth, health care, education, employment and fairness within the criminal justice system, among other areas."

    Graduate Student Strike at U of M

    As you may have heard, the Graduate Student Organization at the University of Michigan has been on an illegal strike since March 29. Among other things, Graduate Students are demanding:

    • A 60% pay increase
    • An "Unarmed, community-oriented response to public safety & financial support to transformative justice initiatives and alternatives to policing”
    • Abortion services expansion, paid leave for abortions, and an abortion healthcare reimbursement fund
    • Transgender health care services 

    State Representative Carrie Rheingans, County Commissioner Yousef Rabhi, and Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit participated in the illegal strike.

    Washtenaw Community College to Offer Drag and Implicit Bias Classes

    Washtenaw Community College is providing a “Drag Wig and Makeup Workshop” and “Implicit Bias Training” this summer with your tax money.

    Please contact the Washtenaw Community College Board of Directors at this link and tell them to stop using taxpayer funding for radical gender ideology and Critical Race Theory classes.

     

    The Washtenaw County Republican Party rejects the unconstitutional use of taxpayer funds for woke initiatives.

    Our commitment is to recruit and elect Republicans who share our commitment to traditional values.

    Please get involved with your local GOP, or donate here.

  • The Staggering Hypocrisy of Democrat “Justice”

    The Washtenaw County Republican Party is committed to fighting political corruption and abuse of power whether it is at the federal, state, or local level of our government.

    Our disloyal opposition, however, takes a very different view: corruption and lawlessness are fine – when they do it.

  • False Indictment of President Trump Proves Once Again Democrats Guilty of Crimes Projected Upon Their Opponents

    The Washtenaw County Republican Party leadership hereby calls for the immediate resignation of Manhattan Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg for the forthcoming indictment of President Donald Trump, an abuse of the justice system in a transparent effort to interfere with the 2024 presidential election that constitutes an assault on American democracy and rule of law.