Publisher speaks to business group

Mike Killbreath, publisher of Fame Newspapers and president of the Flint Area Chamber of Commerce, talked about creating new businesses and jobs at the East Side Business Association meeting March 9.

He commented on the part business plays in society.

"Businesses create jobs, not government. I'm calling for the business community to step up to the plate. Our true heroes have to be business people. It's difficult to create jobs in Flint when your public safety system is failing. How to we get politicians to listen to the business community?" he said.

Killbreath commented on the recent national unemployment numbers that reportedly dropped from 16.9 percent to 11.3 percent.

"But, in the Flint area," Killbreath said, "unemployment today is 20.7 percent."

Killbreath cited the web site, Michigan Talent Bank, as posting 36,706 jobs in Michigan with 14,000 of them in the Flint area.

"Lots of jobs go begging. Our unemployment system is broken. It's too easy to move from the unemployment line to the welfare line," Killbreath said. "Why should you want to get a job when you can get $400 a week in unemployment or welfare? Our real problem is how to get people to work. We need to return to our original work ethic.

"There's something called the 'poison of Flint,' that goes like this. 'I'm proud of how much money I made for doing so little work.' This has to stop," he said.

Killbreath said changing attitudes starts with the family.

"I came from a family that taught me my work ethic," he said.

Besides a reinvigorated work ethic, Killbreath recommended Flint consider getting a minor league baseball or hockey team which would spawn other new businesses.

The Crim is inconsequential compared to the people a minor league baseball team would bring into the city, Killbreath claimed.

Two members of the group disagreed with Killbreath's presentation saying they felt a "more positive approach" to Flint's problems was needed.

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