Feb 7, 2011

Snyder caught cooking the books


Many people are aware of Gov. Rick Snyder’s questionable past business practices, but he is apparently bringing some of those practices with him to the public sector when he was busted last week for cooking the books to try and make it look like public employees are overpaid.

The only plan Snyder has let out of the bag on how he plans to make up an estimated $1 billion budget deficit is on the backs of public employees, despite his constant talking point about “shared sacrifice” while he gives his cabinet large raises. To that end, Snyder released a report last week that said public employees are compensated more than double private sector workers.

But the fact is that study after study says when educational level is taken account, public employees are underpaid, like the report last August by respected Michigan State University professor of economics Charles Ballard that said state employees earn less than their private-sector counterparts with comparable educational attainment. The Ballad report also confirmed what we already know: state government is smaller now than it was in 1973. Doing more with less would seem to meet another of Snyder’s meaningless corporate buzz words, “value-based budgeting”

To reinforced and confirm Ballard’s work and debunk Snyder’s cooked study, a study released Thursday by Citizens for Accountability and Reform and the Economic Policy Institute found that public employees in the state are generally paid about market wages, but most state employees are below those market rates. The report showed that after correcting for education levels, state workers have total compensation 9.67 percent less than their private sector counterparts.

According to subscription only Gongwer, Jeffrey Keefe, a Rutgers University economics professor and author of the study, and of several others recently showing public employees around the nation are paid on par with or less than private sector, said the key failing of most studies showing otherwise is not correcting for education level.

"The single most important factor in determining somebody's level of earning in the U.S. is their level of education," he said. For Michigan public employees, 53 percent have at least a bachelor's degree and 17 percent have no more than a high school diploma. Among private sector workers, only 31 percent have a bachelor's degree or higher and 37 percent have no more than a high school diploma.

12 comments:

kevins said...

"Many people" are aware of Snyder's "questionable" business practices? Are those the "many people" who voted him into office, giving your Democrat one of the worst thrashings in recent state history?

Snyder created jobs. He is successful. He gets things done. It's no wonder you don't like him...he's nothing like you.

Communications guru said...

Yes. No.

Snyder created jobs? Not in the U.S. he didn’t. Why is it that in your small world pointing out the fact that he is using false info to prove a point mean I don’t like him. But you are right, I am nothing like him; I don’t lie.

kevins said...

You are such a liar. Now you've been caught but you will try..and fail ..to weasel your way out of it.

When he was CEO of Gateway, jobs in US and Michigan grew greatly. The so-called outsourcing you try to tie to him came after he left his administrative position, although he was on the board for some of it. He says he opposed that decision; you can choose to believe him or not. But his word is much better than yours.

If many people had a problem with Snyder, why did he clobber Bernero so badly? You can't handle the truth. The Michigan voters, by a huge margin, chose Snyder. You conveniently ignore that. Small wonder. Your angry man got a beat down the size of Fieger's epic defeat.

The voters spoke loudly. You just didn't like the result. Too bad for you, but that's a democracy. Even liars and fools like you can vote, but fortunately your votes don't usually mean much.

But tell me again, how do you defend the lie that Snyder never created jobs in the U.S.?

Communications guru said...

Sorry, the fact is that when Snyder was on the board at Gateway Computers, the company outsourced nearly 20,000 American jobs to China and other parts of Asia. But Snyder took good care of himself at the same time - cashing-out tens of millions of dollars in stock options while the lives of thousands were ruined.

That’s a fact. Snyder has tried to weasel out of it by saying he opposed it, but the fact remains.

Why would his word be better than mine? I have never lied or cooked any books like he has.

What does the margin of victory have to do with Snyder cooking the books? I don’t think Bernero would have won even in a wave year even if he had the kind of money that can buy Super bowl ads.

Of course I don’t like the result, and I’m going to continue to point out his lies and campaign for the Democrat so hopefully the result will be different.

kevins said...

You are such a liar.

Your exact quote: "Snyder created jobs? Not in the U.S. he didn't."

That's wrong. That's a lie...and it's another lie when you say that you correct mistakes.

When Snyder joined Gateway in 1991, the company had about 1,000 employees. From 1991-1997, when he ran the company, Gateway employees grew to 13,300 including 10,600 in the United States.

Even if your outsourcing claim were true (and I believe him, a man of success and integrity, over you, a failure and a liar), the fact remains that he created more than 9,000 jobs in the U.S., directly refuting your lie and your failure to correct your false statement.

Gateway, as did many companies in that industry, fell on hard times. They had a number of leaders during that time, they lost money and they shed jobs.

One of those leaders was Snyder who came on as interim CEO in 2006. During that year, Snyder reversed years of red ink and posted a profit of more than $9 million. He also brought back jobs from overseas and put them in Tennessee, which you may not realize is in the U.S. So there is another example of Snyder creating jobs in U.S., something you lied when you said he had not done so.

It's not surprising he was able to turn a profit where others did not. During his first stint as Gateway's leader, stockholder equity grew from $129 million in 1992 to $930 million in 1997 when he left.

He is a successful, smart, private sector job producer. As such, I can see why he is despised by a democratic socialist such as yourself.

He makes money. You expect other people to work hard and then turn their money over to be used by people like you.

Will you admit that you were wrong and lied about the jobs Snyder produced in U.S.? Or will you continue your lying, sniveling ways?

I think we all know the answer to that one.

Communications guru said...

No more than you are. Yes, I said "Snyder created jobs? Not in the U.S. he didn't” because it’s true.

The fact is when Snyder was on the board at Gateway Computers, the company outsourced nearly 20,000 American jobs to China and other parts of Asia. You may be correct when you say, “he created more than 9,000 jobs in the U.S.,” but the fact is when Snyder eventually ran the company into the ground the number of Gateway employees sunk from more than 20,000 in 2000 to fewer than 2,000 by 2005,and I’m not sure how many were jobs in the U.S. But he did very well when he sold and ran. In other words, the net gain was a loss of U.S. jobs.

Then there is Discera, the high-tech company Snyder founded and was a board director as late as last October that opened a new state-of-the-art facility in China in July 2010 to help companies outsource jobs.

To expand on what this blog post was about, Snyder not only tried to make state workers look bad with the lie that they made double what workers in the private sector make, but it turns out he not only did not take education into account, but he skewed the data by throwing in more than 1 million private jobs that shouldn't have been there.

In the study by the study by Citizens for Accountability and Reform and the Economic Policy that called Snyder out, Rutgers University Economist Jeffrey Keefe said Snyder's "Citizens Guide" released last week underestimates private sector annual pay and benefits by more than $12,000.

I stand by what I wrote.

kevins said...

You lie. You lie. You lie. You say that you will correct errors but instead you keep lying.

You said Snyder didn't create jobs in the U.S. In fact, he created thousands of jobs in Michigan and in the U.S. You don't argue that fact, you just ignore it.

Your other allegations don't change a thing. Snyder created jobs in U.S. and you said he didn't.

You are the liar.

Communications guru said...

Sorry, you are still wrong; a net loss of jobs means he did not create a single job in the U.S. or Michigan. China, however, is a different story.

kevins said...

It's funny that you use the years 2000 to 2005. Snyder wasn't running the company then. He was working elsewhere. He was one vote on the board of directors. That's all. And why did you stop at 2005? Could it be that it 2006, Snyder came back to work at Gateway. That year, Gateway posted a profit and he brought jobs from overseas to Tennessee.

If you want to talk about net job loss, how many state jobs did Granholm flush during her administration?

Communications guru said...

Sorry; the fact remains the Outsourcer was a company official at Gateway when they outsourced nearly 20,000 American jobs to China and other parts of Asia.

How is Gov. Granholm responsible for the Bush recession; the longest and deepest since the Great Depression? So, the answer is zero.

kevins said...

Actually, I wasn't referring to the private sector job loses while Granholm was governor. I don't hold her responsible. She wasn't competent enough to have that type of impact.

I was referring to all the state government jobs that disappeared while she was at the helm. She didn't outsource them. She got rid of them altogether. Nice leadership.

You lie about Snyder. You can bleat all you want, but it's a lie. He created thousands of jobs...something you've never done, something Granholm never did.

He's a successful person who didn't rely on government handouts. No wonder you don't like him.

Communications guru said...

Wow. Unbelievable.

Republicans cry about how they want smaller government, but when a Democrat does it, it’s a bad thing. Unbelievable, but coming from a hypocrite like you I should not be surprised.

Sorry, I don’t lie.

“He didn’t rely on rely on government handouts?” Who did? I’m sure he paid cash for his college tuition, but he could have had a student loan or maybe even a grant. Some might consider that a “government handout.” Your lies will not stop me from pointing out how harmful and tyrannical his policies are.