Here’s a blog that tracks businesses closing in Saginaw, thirty miles up the road.
Now here you have functional commercial real estate, at bargain prices, close to scenery and abundant recreation just to the north, and a work force looking for work. Why aren’t businesses flocking there from other parts of the country?
Might the problem be fifty miles to the southwest, in Lansing? The state is spending a lot of Michigan taxpayers’ money trying to attract them — I’ve seen the television ads. What the ads don’t say is that in order to pay for the ads, it’s got high taxes, particularly on businesses, and that it’s not a right-to-work state. But Jennifer and the legislature will no doubt continue to point fingers everywhere else.
Closer to me, New York City is looking at a long, painful crawl through the next couple years too. Even being “the X Capital of the World” for so many values of X (finance, fashion, art, law, marketing – and many “second place” values of X as well, such as TV and movies) won’t help it given the ridiculous costs of labor and real estate imposed by its regulatory structure. It’s rent regulation and development handcuffs are only the well publicized restrictions; there’s far more where that came from.
Probably they’ve drunk their own Kool-Aid, and believe that Big Bad Corporations routinely force people to buy their poisonous life-destroying products through the magnetic power of advertising alone.
I mean, if Wal-Mart can turn a huge profit despite the fact that everyone knows shopping there is tantamount to sodomizing Mother Earth, it can only be because of Wal-Mart’s awesome control of the minds of mortal men through the dark magic of advertising.
So, heck, if Sam Walton’s evil empire can do it, why not Michigan?
Because Walmart already got dibs on the smiley face emoticon = ding ding ding win win win.
Mmmmhhhhhhh, Smiley says buy more socks and cheese whiz….
that was sad to see. Before I moved to FL two years ago I spent my entire life in that city, I knew many of those businesses well. I was particularly saddened to see the demise of the last Dawn Donut shop. I used to visit that quite frequently in my misspent youth. They made a much better donut than Krispy Kreme IMO.
In addition to the huge tax burden, another barrier to businesses coming to Saginaw is the crime. One by one Neighborhoods that were peaceful and idyllic in my youth are now completely overrun by gang violence and the police show no ability or even desire to try and stem the tide. Nobody wants to shop where they can’t feel safe and there’s less and less of Saginaw where one can feel safe.