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Mackinac Center: Tell us about your family.
Mike Rowley: My great-grandfather and his new bride came to the United States for opportunity to work and a desire to purchase a home in the United States. They came for opportunity, not for any entitlements. He was a coal miner in England, but decided to relocate. It’s a shame that many in our country now believe in entitlement rather than opportunity. Our social safety net should be a trampoline instead of a hammock.
Workers were being hired in Ohio for coal mining, so that’s where my great grandfather relocated. But eventually, that went soft. Jobs came to the Great Lakes Bay region, so he moved his family with five children to Bay City. This was the early 1900s, and he hopped a train to get to work.
My grandfather Arthur was the youngest of those five kids who moved to Michigan. He decided that coal mining was not for him. Automobiles were the future. He took out a loan and began patching inner tubes in his parents’ basement at 20 years old in 1921. He worked until he was 99 years old. He maintained inventory the same old-fashioned way that he has always done it. We didn’t have the heart to tell him we were computerized. He passed away at 100 years old in 2001.
He believed in keeping your brain moving.
My father, Paul, is 87 years old. He works every day keeping his brain engaged.
A solid work ethic was passed down from generation to generation. I learned it from my grandfather and father. We were expected to use our time productively. I was told that if you can think it and dream it, you can do it. It’s not whether it can be done, but how!
MCPP: What do you think is the best advice you have been given and try to practice?
Rowley: From an early age, I learned from my dad that failure is a necessary ingredient to succeeding. We’re 100 percent aware that if you don’t try anything new that you will fail. Trying new things will allow you to change and adapt with the times. My grandfather Arthur did not go into coal mining because he knew it was on the way down. Auto was on the way up. After-market auto sales were trending. He sold lubricants, tires and filters.
MCPP: How do you believe government has helped or hurt people recently?
Rowley: Unfortunately, we’re seeing government trying to do something good, but the unintended consequences make things worse. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has made insurance less affordable. The government is trying to make insurance an entitlement market rather than a free market.
It’s impacted our business. We have a wholesale business and a retail business. Because of federal rules, we had to choose between lowering our benefits in one company or have serious financial repercussions. The government said we could not pay 100 percent in one and not another. Or we could lower our investment so the rule does not apply to us. We’re slowly seeing the death of common sense. The more bloated the rules get, the less our policymakers can use common sense. We’re not allowed to apply common sense to comply with policy.
Prior to ACA, we paid 100 percent of employees’ medical insurance. Now it’s less affordable.
As a country, we need to be able to afford what we are buying. I wish we had the wisdom of my grandfather who started out patching tires in his parents’ basement, then made enough money to purchase two gas stations, then started distributing tires. That led to a tire and auto service center. Now there are two locations, one in Bay City and one in Lapeer.
MCPP: What got you introduced to the Mackinac Center?
Rowley: Both my father and I got introduced by articles that were well thought out. We learned a lot through printed materials from the Mackinac Center. It has a depth and breadth of knowledge.
MCPP: What else do you do?
Rowley: I just completed eight years on the K12 school board, and I’m also a Delta College trustee.
My family believes in volunteering in the community. My mother worked on the Bay City Riverwalk and founded the Bay Music Foundation. She was also involved in the Bay Arts Council, Bay Area Community Foundation and Infinity Skate Park.
MCPP: Why have you stayed in Michigan?
Rowley: Our customers are in Michigan, and our wholesale business is growing. Right now, we have locations in Bay City, Southgate and Medina, Ohio, outside Cleveland.
MCPP: What policies would you change if you could?
Rowley: Continue to get government out of the business of picking winners and losers and leave it up to the free market. We should not be funding film credits. We should not sacrifice long-term policy for short-term gains. Michigan is wasting its time on incentives that do not create good long-term public policy.
We should avoid policies that try to distinguish between small and large businesses. That creates a bad environment for one or the other. When you treat things differently, you hurt one.
