A recent article in the Saginaw News reported on state Democrats' efforts to repeal Michigan's drug maker immunity law. The article was especially critical of Sen. Roger Kahn and Senate Republicans who feel that our state's immunity law is necessary in an effort to thwart frivolous lawsuits against drug manufactures. For a state that's hemorrhaging jobs and trying to diversify its economy, the last thing we need is to make it easier for pharmaceutical companies to overlook Michigan. In Sen. Kahn's defense, the United States Supreme Court just issued a ruling saying in effect that medical device manufactures cannot be sued because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for the approval of such devices (and drugs) used on the public. Sen. Kahn, and his fellow Republicans in the Senate, have used this same reasoning in their defense of pharmaceutical companies.
I attended Saginaw's State of the County and City speeches last Friday, delivered respectively by Cheryl Hadsall, Democrat chairwoman for the Saginaw County Commissioners, and Mayor Joyce Seals. While Ms. Seals remarks were upbeat about the future of the City of Saginaw, Commissioner Hadsall's remarks were just plain weird. She actually questioned whether our latitude is to blame for our economic struggles. Using 10 other Michigan counties as comparables, she noted that the other counties' economies were doing better, because "they are closer to the rest of the United States." "Is our location an issue, being the farthest north?" she asked. Perhaps she's on to something. Was Russia's collapse due to the weight of communism or the snow?
