That ambiance has left and the people in Michigan are losing hard! Not only are over 12% of us unemployed, but the crime rate is staggering and house values….yeah right. Even if they wanted to, the middle class couldn’t move out of this state right now without taking a huge loss.

It’s not just the closing of iconic plants like Flint Powertrain North, but it’s also the closing of numerous dealerships and parts suppliers around the state. Unless you live here, you could not image the chaos of losing so many jobs so quickly.

This loss has helped Michiganders band together and help others, as we are all the same boat. Community support for our local Garber Buick Dealership is a great example of this. Garber Buick has been serving the people of Saginaw for 102 years starting in 1907 and received the dreaded letter from GM that in October of 2010 they will have to close the doors. The dealership has set up a website (Garber Buick) as a message to their customers and to rally support appealing to GM about the closing.

Dick Garber states: “Garber Buick is one of the top performing dealerships in America. We’re off the charts in sales, service and facilities.”

Michigan has lost its identity, stability and jobs, but we’re sticking it out, making the best of it. Many of us have planted gardens for the first time this year…helping with the money at the end of the summer when the cost of the kids going back to school always hits. There are garage sales on almost every corner, every weekend…people just trying to make an extra buck to get by.

I read an article this morning in which some morons (President Obama’s Advisers) said:

“The economy is gaining momentum and the Democrat-passed stimulus package is only just beginning to pay dividends to the American workforce”

Just beginning to pay…HMMM

• National Unemployment rate is 9.4% – Michigan 12.7%
• Obama’s advisers say it’s the smallest job loss since September of last year – Did they think maybe most of the people have already lost their jobs or their unemployment has already run out which means they are not counted?
• Joe Biden says the stimulus is funding 3,600 projects and that $11 billion has been spent to date on highway construction. – What jobs did that created? It just brought back the laid off highway workers which is good for them.

What about the people that have 20 to 30 years into these plants across America that are closing down? The Federal Government has “plans” in place to retrain these workers. Well, if I worked at a plant for even 15 years, I would not want to retrain into a new job I knew nothing about for lower wages and shitty benefits.

• The three car companies that employed a half-million Michigan residents three decades ago employs just 112,000 in 2009. In 2010 when more plants, suppliers and dealerships close due to the bankruptcy this number will drop significantly. 
• Michigan in 2000 had 105% of the national average per capita income, it’s now at 89 percent.
• Michigan also trails its neighbors, Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin in personal income growth this decade.         Michigan – 14.7 percent, Neighbor’s average – 25 percent.

Although Michigan is losing a sense of history, we still have the Red Wings and the appreciation of a sunny 80 degree summer day.

One more thing:

President Obama told America that taking over GM was the only way to save what’s left of the economy and that we, the taxpayers, will own 60% stock in the automaker.

Well, Mr. Obama I don’t feel comfortable owning 60% stock in a failing company…so can I cash out now? Just send it direct deposit…we don’t accept checks.

Basically YOUR car insurance covers YOUR vehicle and persons in YOUR vehicle regardless of fault.

Here is where it kicks you in the ass……

Let’s say you do not have collision insurance on your vehicle, someone HITS YOU and its THEIR FAULT. If your vehicle sustains over $500 in damages you are entitled to what they call a mini-tort claim. The mini- tort is paid by the insurance company of the person at fault (providing they have this coverage, if not you have to sue them for it).

Someone hits you, it’s their fault …you get a SMASHED UP CAR and a measly $500!

Doesn’t seem very fair, does it? This has happened to me TWICE! It’s ridiculous!

Last Thursday afternoon coming from the HIGH SCHOOL I was hit by another driver. I had the green light and she BLEW through the red light into me at 45 MPH! Luckily I was turning and did not have my son with me. As I pulled into the nearest drive to get out of traffic she comes rushing up to me saying, “It was my fault, I did not realize the light was red”. She stated that she was worried about getting into the share a ride with the construction ahead and was not even looking at the light. Then she proceeds to tell me that she does not even live in the area, but wanted KFC so she got off on the previous exit and drove through Bridgeport.

For those of you who know our background you can imagine my anger. She ran a red light at 45 MPH at the High School intersection, minutes after school let out! Our son was killed just 100 feet down the same road two years ago! What if one of those students from the High School was crossing at the one and only crosswalk in town, the same crosswalk she just BLEW through to hit me! They would have had no chance against her SUV!

I was proud that I was able to keep my composure and not wrap my hands around her neck and squeeze tightly. I was so angry and distraught, so many bad memories of Dustin’s accident running through my mind. I just grinded my teeth, clenched my fist and tried to be patient as we waited for the police.

She was sited for failure to yield a red light. If the school signs we requested two years ago would have been put in place her citation would have been much worse or maybe just, maybe she would have seen the school signs and been more careful. (We were told by the Saginaw County Road commission that the signs were misleading to motorists)….what a crock of bull!

So this is the second time that I have a smashed car with no means to fix it. I will hopefully get the $500 mini-tort, but that won’t cover the $1500 in damage she caused because she was an idiot! The first time this happened I was hit from the rear at a red light, pushed through the intersection by a driver that had a suspended license!

The no-fault law also kicked us in the ass when Dustin was killed. At that time we did not have a running vehicle, (my husbands transmission went out) so we had no insurance. Since it is a no-fault state we received a mere $1400 to cover his funeral expenses that way exceeded $10,000 and our son was dead.

The state of Michigan says that no-fault insurance helps keep costs down, yet we have some of the highest rates in the country. We as citizens give up our right to sue when involved in an accident (unwillingly). Many of the people that live here don’t even realize what no-fault means. It only helps the person that is AT FAULT! How callous can you be?

The damn insurance companies have you again….all that money you pay them and you can’t even get your car repair when someone else is careless!

We will be hearing that every two weeks from now until ……WHO KNOWS! For the last two years Chad has been able to avoid that dreaded phone call to Marvin on Wednesday mornings to collect his unemployment check, but this year he was not able to weather the storm. This time of year is always the hardest for the Construction Trades in Michigan. The layoffs start coming and you just hope that the company you work for has enough to keep you going until the summer boom hits.

It is almost embarrassing to live in a state where day after day hordes of people are losing their jobs. Our Governor has no words of relief for her Michigan residents. In fact by moving up the primary election, she pretty much screwed us all. The only extra attention that Michigan is receiving is whether or not “our” votes will be counted…..Well at this point WHO CARES!!!! Michigan residents need some serious help here, help with our economy for our struggling families. The people of Michigan would vote for Joe Blow right now if he would help us get back on our feet.

Chad & I are the lucky ones, because he has been able to avoid Marvin up until now. We know that Chad will be back to work even if it takes a couple months, he still has a job. (Thanks to IronWorkers Local 25!) Other families around our state are not as lucky, their jobs are actually gone for good. People that have made it their life to work hard in our factories, are being set aside like last years garbage, forced into “other” areas of employment. With one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and Detroit holding the highest number of foreclosures, things look bleaker for Michigan residents everyday.

Meanwhile we will try to survive on a MARVIN check for now which is only a ¼ of Chad’s regular pay. The short term future reads: eat a lot of Ramen Noodles, and pray the kids don’t have any unexpected expenses….like getting sick.

Beautiful Morning – From High in the Sky

Universal Gas & Electric promises it’s customers a “lock in” rate on their utility bills for five years. They entice people by scaring them with the threat of higher natural gas price, saying things like

“when the cost of gas increases your rate will stay the same.”

What they fail to tell you is that their rate is already HIGHER than your current rate and you will only benefit if the cost of natural gas goes “extremely” higher. This company also fails to notify their prospective customers that once they sign they are locked into a contract for five years with a $250 cancellation fee.

My personal experience in looking into this company has taught me to stay away and warn others. Over a year ago we began receiving promotional flyers for this company in our mailbox. They were offering a lock in rate for two years at $1.09 a CCF for natural gas. Our utility provider was only charging us $0.89 a CCF at the time, so wondering why I would switch I read the fine, fine print were it proceeds to briefly mention the “lock in” contract. Red Flag for me, but giving them the benefit of the doubt, I continued to check the CCF price on our monthly gas bills. For the last twelve months our rate has fluctuated from month to month, but never exceeding $0.96 a unit that is still well under the rate that Universal wanted to lock us in at. Salesmen representing the company have also appeared at my door a few times. Those poor fellas did not know that I knew the dirty little tricks of their company. They actually insisted that I show them my current utility bill, so that they could see what rate I would be eligible for. I went on to explain that I would not show them my bill and what our average usage was. They kept stating that they could not provide me a rate without the bill, so I asked them about “the contract”. As one salesman eyed my electric meter the other flat out LIED stating that there was NO CONTRACT! At that time both gentlemen said they would come back later when I had more time to find my bill. I had no intentions of showing them my bill and they never returned.

As I read the article on our local news site  about the company being investigated it broke my heart. People that are most effected are senior citizens and low income households. In our failing economy in Michigan who wouldn’t want the promise of saving money on your heating bills. Now these residents with a fixed income are encountering higher bills, and locked into a contract they can not afford to get out of!

On their website Universal Gas & Electric states

Universal Gas & Electric Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Energy Group, a publicly traded company on the TSX. For more information on investor relations see universalenergygroup.ca

According to Business Week

Universal Energy Group Ltd. announced the release of its financial results for the three month period ended December 31, 2007. The company earned revenue for the three months ended December 31, 2007 of $80.1 million compared to $46.6 million for the 2006 period.

That’s almost double the revenue, scamming innocent people out of their hard earned Money.

If you are a victim of this scam you may visit Universal Energy Scam – and how you can get out of it. A very good article posted at Cheeze Wiz and Mustard.

Universal Energy Corporations Survivors Page – a self-help site educating people on how to get out of this mess