The Detroit News is reporting this morning that the Granholm administration has jumped on the automobile savings bandwagon and has decided to strip cars from 109 state employees, saving taxpayers up to $182,000 a year!  Now, with the writing on the wall, the State Appeals Court, led by Chief Judge William Whitbeck is expected to give up their automobile privileges saving another $54,000.

And in the famous words of Rod Roddy... "but wait, there's more!"

FREEP reports this morning that even more money can be saved by adhering to the proper procedures for washing the state's automobile fleet.  Ladies and gentlemen, I couldn't make this up.  

Michigan had expected to spend about $700,000 on car washes this year, but that could be cut about $200,000 if a fuel card was used, said a Department of Management and Budget report released Monday. The authors said "significant departure from car wash guidelines" caused the higher costs.

So lets add it all together.  First the Supreme Court announces they'll give up their state cars.  They're not sure just how much money this will save yet so I'll opt out of including any estimates here.  But the next day the state comes up with $436,000 in savings from car washes and eliminating personal vehicle use for just over 100 employees.  But we've cut to the bone, right?  

This isn't rocket science.  That money was being wasted.  Taxpayer money.  Your money.  My money.  So every time one of these tax and spenders tells you there's no fat left to trim, just remind them how a single elected official, Cliff Taylor, put an end to a little bit of frivolous spending and it snowballed in the course of a day to nearly a half-million dollars.

Now, lets talk about MESSA, prison privatization and an elimination of the Office of the First Gentleman (I know... I shouldn't get greedy).