UPDATED 1:46am The government shutdown is effectively over. The Michigan House and Senate have passed continuation budgets - literally buying time while they sort things out. The governor's office says the governor will sign those bills and that state employees are to report to work later this morning. There's still a lot of work to do - the budget crisis continues. And lawmakers still have to work out how much - or how little money schools will get. But the big news is that after an hour and a half - Michigan's government shutdown of 2009 is over and state employees should report to work.

It doesn't make sense to raise taxes at this point. Not enough people are still working to make a tax hike feasible.