This article originally appeared November 26, 2024.
Last year, I saw Larry and Sue at my father’s funeral.
My parents had been friends with them for decades. Their children were some of my best friends growing up. It had been 20 years since we had seen each other.
Union membership has been declining for decades, but organized labor in Michigan has a new tool to keep dues money flowing from some of the state’s most vulnerable workers: homecare providers.
With the enactment of Senate bills 790 and 791 in October, Michigan homecare providers are classified as public employees. These are individuals, many of whom care for elderly or disabled family members, who receive a stipend from government programs for their work and sacrifice. The state law sets up homecare workers to be pressured into union membership and made to pay dues to the Service Employees International Union.
After the 2022 election, labor unions pushed Michigan Democrats to repeal the state’s right-to-work law. They succeeded, and the Legislature voted in March 2023 to scrap the 10-year-old law. The Mackinac Center attempted to testify before a legislative committee in opposition but was not permitted to do so.
Addiction treatment in America has long been shaped by a narrow focus that stigmatizes drug users. On the Overton Window podcast, Layal Bou Harfouch, drug policy analyst at the Reason Foundation, seeks to challenge this perspective.
Historically, addiction treatment authorities in the U.S. have measured progress only by the person’s completely abstaining from controlled substances. Bou Harfouch points out that this “all-or-nothing” mentality overlooks the significance of incremental changes in recovery.
The winding down of 2024 brought another effort to distribute state taxpayer money on yet another Detroit-specific building project. This one involves the famed Renaissance Center and its owner, General Motors, as well as Bedrock, a real estate firm owned by local business executive Dan Gilbert. But the state should not offer a dime of taxpayer support. Subsidies such as this one are expensive, unfair and ineffective.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News November 12, 2024.
Many professional pollsters and television pundits made poor predictions just before last week’s election, but I am willing to make a prediction about an election four years from now:
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News November 18, 2024.
A few weeks ago, I sent my wife a self-deprecating meme: “If I tell you I’ll do something, that means I’ll do it. You don’t have to remind me every six months.” The whiteboard in our kitchen with its list of unfinished projects condemns me.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News November 5, 2024.
Years ago, I learned an important lesson while litigating a public records case in Washington state.
Christine Gregoire, then-governor of Washington, claimed “executive privilege” when rejecting requests for records in her office. Unlike Michigan, this state has a public records law that applies to the governor.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News October 30, 2024.
“This event is a whirlwind of innovation and imagination,” said Desi, “like being in a sci-fi novel.”
Desi appeared to be in her early 20s. She had bangs and long hair, half of it dyed platinum blonde and the other half purple. She wore a "Vampire Diaries" T-shirt and a purple skirt.
By Derk Wilcox
Eight states across the country just passed measures to limit property taxes. Georgia and Florida capped the rates at which property taxes could go up. Michigan already has such a limitation, but its protections have been gradually eroded with the acquiescence of the courts.
A federal law requires manufacturers to sell drugs to nonprofit hospitals at a steep discount. The theory is that hospitals will then sell the drugs at a lower cost to the low-income people they serve. But there’s no requirement that they pass along those savings, so in reality, hospitals pocket the profits.
A new Michigan Supreme Court decision means that controversial pandemic-era emergency policies may never face a proper judicial review, and that government officials who issued them will escape accountability.
The court on Nov. 1 dismissed two important cases about the government’s use of emergency powers in response to Covid-19. The majority on the court declared these cases moot because the mandates in question — making children wear masks at school and forcing restaurants to close — are no longer in effect.
Policy changes do not take place unless they are supported by persuasive presentation. Bob Ewing, an expert in transforming scholars into leaders, breaks down the best practices for effective communication on the Overton Window podcast.
Ewing, the founder and president of the Ewing School — a speaking, listening and leading consultancy — believes in the power of speech. He defines a good speech as “a speech that resonates and connects with the audience,” emphasizing that the goal of public speaking is not just to deliver information, but to forge a connection with listeners.
By Jason Hayes
In late July, Michigan House Rep. Abraham Aiyash introduced House Bill 5902, which proposes sweeping mandates on packaging reduction and recycling. At first blush, expanding recycling might sound noble. However, a closer look shows the bill would hurt the state’s economy and grow a bureaucracy to enforce arbitrary targets while providing little (if any) environmental benefit.
Brendan Carr has been named as President-elect Trump’s choice for chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Because Carr has already been confirmed by the Senate as an FCC commissioner, President Trump will be able to appoint Carr as chairman without any additional approval from the Senate.
Rep. Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, drafted a plan to spend more money on roads. He would redirect the state’s corporate income tax revenue to transportation and away from corporate handouts. He would also replace the sales tax levied on fuel with a fuel tax that goes to roads. His proposal would put a lot more into roads without raising taxes.
Michigan House Democrats introduced House Bill 6051 in the lame-duck legislative session to require prevailing wage and fringe benefits be paid to workers on broadband infrastructure projects in Michigan. The proposed prevailing wage requirements would apply to “new construction, improvement, maintenance, expansion, alteration, or demolition of lines, cables, or other hardware of a broadband service that is performed by a broadband developer.”
By Molly Macek
Lawmakers are attacking charter schools for hiding their finances from public scrutiny. But these claims are not true. Charter schools publicly report ample financial data, in accordance with state law.
Like other public schools, charter schools are required to produce annual budget transparency reports and post them on their public websites. This requirement exists whether the charter school is independently operated or managed by a private education management organization.
Policy changes would not be possible if no one spread the word. Dave Bondy, digital and video manager for the Mackinac Center, makes it his business to inform the public. On the Overton Window podcast, Bondy discusses how the Mackinac Center reaches people looking to learn more about impactful policy.
Michigan lawmakers are debating bills to give out more money in corporate handouts. It’s a bad idea. Selective business subsidies are ineffective at creating jobs, unfair to the taxpayers who foot the bill, and expensive to the state budget. They also fail to accomplish what their supporters promise. When lawmakers give out more subsidies, they say what they want them to do. And corporate handouts fail to live up to the standards their supporters’ claim.
The entirety of Ford’s normal vehicle profits was undone by its losses on electric vehicles.
Ford’s 2024 Q3 Earnings Presentation delivers the details: The year-to-date losses on Ford’s EV business (what the company calls “Ford Model e”) totaled $3.7 billion. Profits from Ford’s “Model Blue” division, which sells traditional internal combustion vehicles, also happened to be $3.7 billion.
By Molly Macek
A Senate bill package would hurt some of the top-performing schools in the state. Under the guise of transparency and equality, the bills hold charter schools to unequal standards and jeopardize their ability to serve students effectively.
Senate Bills 943, 944, 946 and 947 mostly impact charter schools that contract with a private education management organization. While charter schools are public entities, many of them contract with EMOs to operate certain services such as hiring employees, providing professional development and managing custodial and food services.
Politicians can’t buy more auto jobs. They’ve tried. They’ve tried very hard.
Lawmakers have authorized $22.7 billion in business subsidies since 2000, mostly aimed at bolstering the auto industry. With that money, they could have run the state government without income taxes for two years during this period.
