My life and the economic condition of Michigan led me to move my family to South Hill, Virginia, last month. After spending several years trying to find permanent full time employment, we left. We also were under pressure with the predatory lending situation my wife got into before we were married. She ended up buying a house that was sold for about $40,000 more than it was worth. The real estate agent was a dual agent, representing both seller and buyer, no conflict of interest there. Then he took her to a mortgage broker for Contrywide that just happened to find an appraiser to appraiser the house for $148,000, the sale price, even though he could not find another house of uncer 1000 square feet that had sold for more than $105,000. What the appraiser did was use much larger houses, some as much as 40% larger and then made very small adjustments to "prove" that the house was worth $148,000. The house had been on the market for nearly a year, so clearly it was overpriced, as this was 2003 and properties were selling like crazy.

One way to pull out of the crisis is to get rid of all the corrupt people in the industry. Agents, brokers, ceo's and cfo's. All of them. As was said on the Bill Moyers show, we need to take this to the streets. We can't let the people who created the crisis keep benefiting from the crisis. The head of Bank of America and CHASE must be the first to go.

You can use my comments on the air and you can contact me.

Here in West Michigan, we continue to see more companies and industries moving and expanding here. I work for The Right Place, Inc., West Michigan's economic development organization. Last year, 2008, was our most successful year in our 25 year history. There is much churn and transition in the economy and it our duty as a region to embrace this transition period to continue building our local economy.

We recently published our 5-year strategic plan for the region which outlines key industries and growth opportunities we will be pursuing. Our President and CEO, Birgit Klohs, would love the opportunity to discuss West Michigan's economy with you and your listeners.

Although we are currently facing some difficult challenges, there are huge opportunities out there for those willing to go after them.

I'm just very very disappointed that
a-- for the most part Michigan is ignored by mainstream media (all persuasions) in terms of our long term unemployment issues. For example, while listening to All Things Considered last night, a big deal was being made out of California's unemployment rate; the number 2 and 3 state were both mentioned by name, but the number 1 state---Michigan--was ignored.
b--Detroit is not Michigan; we are MORE than just the auto industry. The rest of the state is hurting as well. There are counties in West Michigan that have double plus the state's unemployment rate and the only place I hear about it is from the GR Press or a GR television station.
I'm really really hoping that the ENTIRE state will be considered, not just south east Michigan.

From a business perspective, if anything positive can be said, a down economy gives a business time to regroup, strategize, and create a stronger company. I think we are seeing that at the Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw (http://wxwbusiness.com/), a business group for women in growing businesses where women business leaders get real-world examples of how others have solved business problems. Generally, when business is difficult, networking and education become far more important, not only to grow a business, but also to find reliable vendors, as a recruitment tool, and just generally for support.

We are seeing that with the number of attendees at WXW events. I think the fact that this group has attracted over 500 women business owners and leaders at a variety of educational and networking events over the past year is a testament to the tenacity of Michigan businesswomen to grow their businesses despite a difficult economy. Currently, the group is planning a full day conference for May 15th, and expect more than 300 women to attend.

The WXW launched in Ann Arbor one year ago at a conference attended by more than 200 women. The group has an audience, women came from as far away as Lansing and northern Ohio. (You can see a brief video about that event here: http://www...Lb3xQ16r6k)

Michigan Radio is welcome to use my comments.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Lopez Kriss
Steering Committee Member, Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw

Frustrated by the news, and activities of the financial sector, my neighbor and I wrote and recorded a jazz song - the lyrics ask the question "Who Took the Dough?" We wondered, after all the hoopla over bailouts, and the crash of the equities markets, where did our money go, and what can we do about it?

Not a whole lot was the prevailing theory. So we wrote a song with serious and satricial overtones.

Her? is a link to the 18 second preview hook of the song:

www.saxpix.com/sns_pub/WTTD_listen18.mp3

and
here is a link to the complete 3 minute version:

www.saxpix.com/sns_pub/wttd_M165_id.mp3

All the talent are local home-grown players who live and work in the Ann Arbor, area. 

Dean Solden, paino, vocals, composer
Andy Sacks, lyricist, producer
Jake Reichbart, guitar
Eric Nyhuis, drums
PAul Keller, bass

recorded in Ann Arbor, at Big Sky Studios, Jan. 2009

Andy Sacks
Chelsea, MI

While you are covering the auto industry and the fate of Detroit this week you should talk about the work being done by Executive Director Deborah Groban Olson and the Center for Community Based Enterprises (www.C2BE.org) in Detroit. In partnership with entrepreneurs, unions, foundations and neighborhood communities, C2BE is promoting a speaker series this summer to foster the creation of Mondragon in Detroit, modeled after the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation (www.mcc.es), in Spain. CBE's, Community Based Enterprises, put the interests of the founding community at the very center of the stakeholder group for a new enterprise, locking the business in place so it can support the community that launched it. There is much more to this story and Deb can be reached at dgolson@c2be.org and at (313) 300-6517

Currently I am a student at the University of Kentucky, but I grew up and lived in Cadillac, Michigan for over 15 years.

I understand that Detroit is very important to Michigan, and people there are clearly struggling, but northern Michigan is suffering the same industrial fallout as southern Michigan. We need to not only diversify economically and industrially, but we should also focus on diversifying geographically. Our state can no longer rely on Detroit and Grand Rapids for our entire economy. The state should focus on bringing educated people and new industries to the whole state, not just southern urban areas.

You can use my comments and contact me.

For many years the leading industry in Michigan has been the Automotive Industry. in 2008 the industry was valued at approximately $83 billion annually. The next two largest industries are Agriculture at $63 Billion and Tourism at $60 billion annually.

There are many initiatives around the state to increase local food production and purchasing, establishing Farm-to-School programs, changes in legislation to make it easier for institutions to buy from local producers and for local producers to sell institutions. In addition there are also new projects related to developing new markets for crops and and other agricultural products including the MSU Bio-economy center in the former Pfizer plant in Holland and energy from Waste from farms using bio-digesters.

This is a growing (pun intended) industry.

What are the greatest opportunities to assist our Agricultural Industry to help them thrive and grow?

Ken

Some ideas for Michigan: computer soft ware companies, fast transport to Grand Rapids and other cities, a home weatherizing project involving energy audits and armies of folks to weatherize home with no-interest loans, a Detroit history park focusing on the Voyagers and Indians who lived there that offers birch bark canoe trips and French restaurants.

We can do this!! We just need to get creative!

I am dismayed, but not really surprised that you treat the Detroit area and the automobile industry as Michigan. This area is only a small (albeit populous) area of this large state. It is unfortunate that the auto workers are suffering, but economic deprivation is nothing new to most of the state of Michigan. Just ask anyone who lives north of Flint. The Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan have been suffering economically for many years. Why is it that no newscasters ever seemed to notice that? Any economic rescue plan needs to address the needs of the ENTIRE state, not just the southeastern corner.