Well, they slew the Job Slayer in Lansing today (link to Reuters, pioneers of new and creative forms of war zone photography!). The Morning Sun's editorial stance on this has mirrored practically every other paper in the state -- repeal or fix it, but make sure you can replace the money. I would argue something further -- replacing it with an increase in the sales tax or income tax represents a further shift in the tax burden to the struggling middle class and the poor, since those folks use a greater percentage of their incomes to buy things.

Standard & Poor's tells us why:

"We believe that the administratioin and Legislature will diligently work to
solve the gap in a structurally balanced manner and past evidence supports this
belief. However, the magnitude of the deficit, political uncertainty, and
uncertainty regarding the timing, volatility, and initial collection
possibilities associated with any replacement revenues cloud the likelihood of a
true and timely structural solution."

You can find the entire statement on the S&P Web site, if you're willing to register. They reaffirmed the state's basic credit rating (good spending habits), but gave the municipal bonds guaranteed on the state's good name a negative rating. Why? Well, let's say your wife's brother Earl cuts back on his hours at work by one-fourth, but wants to borrow a little cash to help build a new garage...

A quick breeze through the usual Web sites failed to turn up how our local representatives -- Caul, Cropsey, Hummel, Goschka, McManus, or Moore -- voted.