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Taxpayer advocate: 'Economic health is not created when people's labor is used to make things nobody wants'
When "Love and Honor" was filmed in Ann Arbor in 2011, it received statewide media attention. But when the movie was released, the film was more like its original working title, "AWOL."
The movie was released March 22 to two theaters and grossed $2,815 in its opening weekend. As of April 11, it has grossed $16,769, according to Box Office Mojo.
Michigan taxpayers gave the "Love and Honor" production company $1.6 million in film incentives for $4.1 million in spending in the state.
"Love and Honor" was far from the only movie shot in Michigan to fizzle at the box office.
Entertainment One Films said "Freaky Deaky," which starred Christian Slater, never got a chance to be seen in a theater. It was released straight to DVD on Feb. 26. The movie received $2.8 million in film incentives for $7.8 million in spending.
"Moviegoers don't want to see the film that Michigan taxpayers are paying to see," said Leon Drolet, chair of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance. "Economic health is not created when people's labor is used to make things nobody wants."
Drolet said he doesn't agree with the idea that bad movies still result in jobs.
To illustrate the point, he told a popular story about the late economist Milton Friedman.
Friedman was said to be on a trip in Asia when the vehicle he was traveling in was stopped while workers were digging a canal. Noticing that the men were using shovels instead of tractors and heavy machinery, Friedman asked a government bureaucrat about it. The bureaucrat explained that this work was a "jobs program." Friedman said he thought they were trying to build a canal and famously said, "If its jobs you want, why not give them spoons?"
"If government thinks jobs is making products nobody wants, we might as well take the money and make mud pies," Drolet said.
As Michigan Capitol Confidential has previously reported, the number of jobs that existed before the film tax incentive program to today has remained largely the same at about 6,000.
Michelle Begnoche, spokeswoman for the Michigan Film Office, didn't respond to requests for comment.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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Education Denied to 15K Walled Lake Students
Bus drivers call in 'sick'
The Detroit News reports that 15,600 students in the Walled Lake School District didn't have school Wednesday because bus drivers called in sick.
The Walled Lake school board last week voted to contract out for busing to save money. Walled Lake Superintendent Kenneth Gutman told The News that contracting will save the district $1.4 million a year.
In addition to that $1.4 million, Walled Lake will save money on workers' compensation and legacy costs, according to the West Oakland Spinal Column.
This money is not trivial — the district needs to erase a $10 million deficit. And, current bus drivers would have the opportunity to continue working with the district. Kellie Dean, the owner of the company that Walled Lake will contract with, told the school board Tuesday night that he wants to hire the district's current bus drivers, and that their seniority would be taken into account.
The bus drivers likely won't be paid as much, but how could they expect to, given the financial condition of the district? The money saved by contracting out transportation services will be used to forgo cuts in other areas: The district will have $1.4 million more to spend on educating students.
Public employee strikes are illegal in Michigan. However, "sick-outs" are common. On Dec. 11, some 26,000 Michigan students were denied their education because teachers in the Warren, Taylor and Fitzgerald school districts called in sick to protest pending right-to-work legislation. The president of the Taylor Federation of Teachers even received an award for it.
In 2011, about 40 percent of West Bloomfield teachers didn't show up to work to protest contract negotiations.
The Walled Lake bus drivers who called in "sick" likely will still receive their paycheck at the end of the month. Instead of being paid for a day spent using Walled Lake students to exact revenge on officials faced with tough decisions, the bus drivers should be fined.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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