Not Everyone in Michigan is Suffering

We received the following letter, and thought you'd find it interesting.

Jack,

Big supporter - can't wait to see some debates.  I thought I would pass this thought along to you.

When Levin took office, Michigan was a boom state as was the whole Midwest. Since he has been supposedly taking care of us, we have seen the area from Gary, Indiana to the eastern side of Pennsylvania become known as the Rust Belt. In the same time period, I employed 11 people and had an average salary over that time period of $80,000. I now have a total of $18,000 reserve cash, about $100,000 in IRA, and have business and mortgage debt of around $900,000.

Now, Mr. Levin has wealth beyond my dreams, no debt that I know of, has a retirement fund in the millions, more cash than I have ever seen in one place, [and] lives in an incredible home in a fancy upper class neighborhood. All this and his average income over the same period is less than mine.
 
How can a supposed public servant do so drastically much better then I, a small business owner, who has had his financial security on the line the whole time? I stuck my neck out there to actually create jobs and to try and secure financial security for my family. I have to match all of my employees' Social Security, effectively making me pay 11 times the amount of a non-business owner. And, the feds have spent it.

I or my family will never see even a fraction of the money I have put into Social Security. I would have been better off putting it into a savings account. My business property pays $25,000 a year in property taxes. (I have yet to make anywhere near this on my property investment -- value down, rent income flat or not able to rent space etc). The government makes the money off of my investment.

I tell you it is all wrong, and the list goes on. I read that the state of Michigan owes the feds for unemployment money and that we business owners may be hit with their penalty charges, and the list goes on. I would love to be able to ask Levin questions in a public format.

I beg you for us out here, don't give him an inch. Call him on everything. We need some real support for us and our state in DC.

Thanks for being there.

[Name Withheld]