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Mary - Friday, November 20, 2009   Incentivize the state legislators Rate this idea:   Current Rating: 3.0 (231 votes cast) The salaries of state legislators should be based on the average MI worker's wages, including $0 for each unemployed person seeking work. Their wages would go up or down with everyone in the state. When economic times are good, their wages increase with everyone else. When times are bad and people are being laid off, can't find work, are under employed, etc then legislator salaries would go down. Having their salaries directly linked to the success of Michigan's people would encourage them to think creatively and do the most good for the most people.

Fred A. Vollrath - Friday, November 20, 2009   Taxes & Efficiency Rate this idea:   Current Rating: 3.0 (186 votes cast) l. Eliminate Business Personal Tax. Business currently pay 6% sales tax on the purchase of new equipment and continue to pay tax on the same equipment over the next 5-10 years. Why would a new business looking to relocate consider Michigan when their new equipment purchase will be double taxed? 2. Consolidate school districts and eliminate wasteful bureaucracy. According to the Cato Institute, millions of dollars could be saved. 3.Cancel the proposed lease on the new State Police building. We need more police officers on our roads, not a new building!

bradley foster - Friday, November 20, 2009   saveing money Rate this idea:   Current Rating: 3.0 (202 votes cast) Stop high cost of workmans comp .[Highest in country] Put leg on part time at average workers pay . If not at sessions no pay .Account for expenses .Clean out deadwood . To many people working for goverment . We lose 750 people a day ,but goverment doesn't cut .They just sit back with less to do .Any other jobs ,when things slow down they down size . Seems we need to down size in all of our state goverment departments .

earlbob - Thursday, November 19, 2009   FACTORY BUILT ROADS Rate this idea:   Current Rating: 3.1 (207 votes cast) What if roads could be made stronger and cheaper, and best of all, the ground underneath never froze? That could eliminate seasonal restrictions on roads that would last for years. Just because roads have been built the same way for as long as we can remember doesn’t mean it’s the best method. Our roads seem to be under constant repair. Why? Concrete transfers cold. The wet soil underneath during spring runoff creates a phenomenon called frost heave. So, how can we prevent that from happening? Honeycomb-core composite panels are not new. They are used everywhere: in the aerospace industry, in RV’s, and even for rock concert stages, to name a few places. They are lightweight and incredibly strong. However, the current method to make them would not work for road building, but, that too can be changed. How? With a simple, but dramatic change in methodology, using a surface material never before considered for such an application, and by incorporating a surprisingly inexpensive core material. During the lay up process, before the actual pressing begins (and you only need atmospheric pressure), each of the hollow core cells could be filled with a terrific insulator like vermiculite or perlite. Panels 10 feet wide, 50 feet long, and 12” thick could be produced in a factory, shipped en masse by flatbed trailer, picked up without a problem, unloaded quickly, and secured in place. As fast as you can lay them down is how fast a road could be made. Try doing that with a concrete slab the same size. Not going to happen. It would snap immediately under its own weight. Besides, cement production is one of the leading contributors to global CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the proposed methodology lends itself to affordable hurricane, flood, and fire resistant homes, preconceived flood barrier protection in flood prone areas, bracing for fail-safe levees, Solar Vortex Generators, and so much more. Want to learn how? Please give me your vote.

Mike F - Monday, November 16, 2009   Turn a problem into an opportunity Rate this idea:   Current Rating: 3.0 (233 votes cast) To understand this GOOD IDEA, consider what I think you will agree is a BAD IDEA. I'll set the stage - you're outside your local lumber yard and you check to see where the in-demand TONS and TONS of wood fuel pellets sitting outside the store - selling at a substantial rate a ton -are coming from. Rather than seeing that they came from MICHIGAN with our abundance of potential wood products, you see that they are shipped in from IDAHO. Don't get me wrong - I believe in free markets. Those who provide the best product for the lowest cost should prevail. But just as its UNLIKELY that we Michiganders CAN'T produce the best vehicle for the money (although there are plenty of forces out there working to prove otherwise),its unlikely that with our unemployment rate double that of Idaho (you would think we would have an able, available and willing work force), and our abundance of potential forest products and with forest product prices at low levels, it doesn't make sense that we can't produce and sell the best product on the market. So that's the idea - find out why it is the IDAHO product that is selling in the heart of MICHIGAN. If its because of our taxes relative to Idaho, - change that. If its because we don't have the available labor at low enough cost - change that. If its because our resources/entrepreneurial spirit are inferior - change that. If its because Granholm /Lansing has not shown leadership in creating an environment where new businesses can quickly and effectively come on line and thrive - change that. If there are regulations preventing it - change that. Why make any and /or all these perhaps uncomfortable changes? BECAUSE IT ALL STARTS WITH JOBS. Its the JOBS stupid. The job creates the employee. The employee needs a place to live. The living place needs to be kept up and maintained. Goods and services are demanded and Michigan grows once again. Find out why it is the Idaho product that is being sold and you find out how to create a better Michigan.