Brother, Can You Spare A Job?

A report today says that Michigan, the state I call home, has the second-highest unemployment rate in the country. And a good morning to you too, sir.

Bummed? Well, yeah. I think Michigan is a great state and I didn't even grow up here. No, it's not fancy-pants like Atlanta/Raleigh-Durham/Phoenix or any of those other locales that companies flock to every other day. But West Michigan, where I live, is an awfully nice place. Not perfect, but no place is.

Manufacturing is just getting killed here and all the new economy initiatives take a while to gather momentum. Hopefully, they work. My area is really pushing a biotech initiative. The trouble is that we have to get in line behind every other area in the country.

But I do see signs of hope here in Kalamazoo. Smaller companies emerging from the bigger ones, smart people deciding to stay despite the weather in February, developers putting money into the downtown.

Screw the number crunchers. I'm soldiering on.


— Dean Gemmell