Invest in education to live stream our digital future

It’s so disappointing when you put in the work and it all comes to naught.

It’s more galling when the failure is not your fault but lies with the president of the United States and his incessant talk about punishing tariffs, aka taxes.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says that kind of dog just won’t hunt.

Blabber-mouth politicians should keep a low profile when it comes to business. Call me old school, but government support of the education and training of people who need to work has been a winning, if not exciting, success strategy for African Americans, whose unemployment rate and drop-out rates are too high.

Big Gretch was bracing to haul in Sandisk Corp. as a manufacturer in Michigan of semiconductors for its flash drive and advanced memory technology. Sandisk is an international business headquartered in California, with 23 offices in Asia, including six in China.

Sandisk was considering a megasite of 1,000 acres in Mundy Township near Flint for a massive semiconductor plant. This new factory was to create 10,000 jobs.

Ten thousand jobs. In Flint. Which needs that kind of help.

The deal fell through, Whitmer told Trump, because of “threats of even higher tariffs.” The New York Times reported July 14 that he has targeted semiconductors for higher tariffs. Still, Whitmer told the Detroit Free Press, Trump promised on July 15 to bring Michigan a “better deal.”

We’ll see. But the lure of technology industry jobs may charm young people to go and stay in class. What is not getting jobs is GM’s announcement in June to invest $4 billion in its U.S. manufacturing plants. The Lake Orion plant is one. It’s going to make full-size SUVs and light duty pickup trucks powered by gas — but it will yield no new jobs.

Government should play its best hand, and that’s the people, not playing at business. 

It started with tax abatement. That’s where local governments forgive a business its taxes if the business locates in their area and create jobs.

Other arrangements can put local governments in legal business partnerships that result in not-very-good consequences for taxpayers.

One was here in Lansing Township. The township was on the hook for $250 million in financial liabilities over The Heights at Eastwood, a residential and commercial development built using public bonds. That fiasco was settled last year, City Pulse reported.

It’s simple. Business and government play different roles and do different things. Businesspeople keep mum about what they are doing. Their proprietary interests come first. For instance, when asked why it backed out of the plant in Michigan, Sandisk declined to comment.

Whitmer had to say something about the $10 million spent to show Sandisk what the state had to offer. Government must talk about what it’s doing. Taxpayers have a right to know.

But Donald Trump talks too much, too loudly about the wrong things. He uses his words as threats, bluff or fluff. At her debate with Trump in 2024, Kamala Harris told Americans as much: “He talks about everything but you.”

Business believes in profit. Socialists say profit is wrong, but profit pays taxes. Taxes educate and train people so they can work a decent job to house, feed, clothe and provide health care for their families. Those business deals are what government does best.

But the business mind in the White House is set to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. And “the big, beautiful bill” promises to amputate health care. All this within seven months of taking over.

Business doesn’t move that fast. Nor does it take such huge risks with the future, as the Sandisk situation shows. Government should not either.

Michigan needs to be ambitious, yes. Ambitious about computer science. Michigan House Bill 5649, sponsored by the Carol Glanville (D-Walker) calls for each and every public school to offer students at least one computer science course.  The bill does not require students to take the course, but aims to elevate students to more than computer consumers.

This modest change will put Michigan on the same footing as the majority of the country, sponsors reason. And offering at least one course will help understanding of computers and teach and sharpen critical thinking skills. 

Michigan waits with the rest of the nation to see if Trump’s threats and intimidation will work. In the meantime, the state treads its available paths to the future. This summer it announced three promising moves: 

— A funding commitment of over $107 million to build Michigan’s infrastructure workforce. It will train people to be electricians, plumbers, etc. That effort will create an estimated 5,000 jobs by 2030. On average, that’s 1,000 jobs a year.

— Ionetix Corp.’s $25.75 million commitment to Greater Lansing will create 53 new jobs. Ionetix is a cyclotron and technology company providing health diagnostics and therapies. 

— The Michigan Strategic Fund’s outlay of $18 million to support two companies, Torc Robotics in Ann Arbor in a project also backed by Daimler Truck, and skilled trades consultants Pro Services in Portage, will create 750 new jobs.

As ranked by CNBC, Michigan is in the top 10 best states for doing business, despite a weak showing in technology and innovation. Michigan’s continued presence on the list attracting business attention can be assured by continued investment in education and training.

(Dedria Humphries Barker is the author of “Mother of Orphans: The True and Curious Story of Irish Alice, A Colored Man’s Widow.” Her column appears monthly.)