Why Economic Paralysis is Killing Northern Michigan

Have you visited Northern Michigan? If you are like many people, you have not. For the last several years, Michigan has been in an economic downturn that appears to be without end. While this downturn has been caused in large part due to the failure of the Big 2 ½ Automakers, there are several other factors making things worse. Hardest hit, Northern Michigan. With temperatures in the mid-to-upper 40s in late December and early January, the peak of Michigan's winter tourist season, and no snow and colder temperatures in sight, the snowmobile and skiing industries that help sustain the Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan economies is punishing an already vulnerable economy. It will take blizzards the size of what occurred in Colorado in order to begin getting the already short season back on track.

You may ask yourself, what is the harm in one lousy winter tourist season? That's exactly the problem: this latest economic setback is hurting hardest the communities that are most ill equipped to deal with it. It comes on the back of poor tourism in general due to all of the issues facing the auto industry, which for better or worse, still dominates this state's economy. For example, in the past, it was common for the families of auto industry employees to travel "Up North" during summer weekends, as well as the extended holiday season in the winter in order to get out of the cities.