On Thursday, a bill to expand the statewide Education Achievement Authority passed the Michigan House, 57-53. This proposal, sponsored by Rep. Lisa Lyons, R-Alto, has drawn the ire of Michigan's educational establishment, as well as most Michigan Democrats.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
House Bill 4369, Codify “education achievement authority” for failed schools: Passed 57 to 53 in the House
To codify in statute the powers and structure of a state “education achievement authority” (already created by means of an administrative “interlocal agreement”), which is an office in the Department of Education tasked with managing, overseeing or contracting-out the operations of public schools deemed to have failed academically.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of The Beatles’ debut album, “Please Please Me.” Six years and 12 studio albums (United Kingdom figures) of mostly original material later, the group never again recorded as a unit after Aug. 20, 1969.
It’s now been 45 years since the Fab Four hung up their collective spurs, but the band’s legacy lives on through the careers of two surviving members, the advent of classic rock and oldies radio formats, Internet downloads, boxed sets, remastered reissues and used record, cassette and compact disc emporiums, estate sales, eBay and rummage sales. All this points out both the prescience and hindsight of the Beatles aptly titled 1964 album, “Beatles for Sale.”
The Michigan Film Office has chosen to give $20 million from the pockets of taxpayers to a movie franchise that has made more than $2 billion.
The Detroit Free Press reports that “Transformers 4” will get the subsidy to shoot its next installment in Michigan.
Public schools and universities that sign contract extensions aimed at circumventing Michigan’s new right-to-work law risk losing funding, according to The Detroit News.
“If the universities didn’t get anything in return, then this was just a favor to the unions,” Derk Wilcox, senior attorney for the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, told The News.
Government establishment interests are pulling out all the stops to promote an optional state Obamacare Medicaid expansion, not just in Michigan but around the country.
The lobbying of hospitals and other health care special interests has already been reported, but it’s not the only source.
It is unwise to give government money to people to demolish or "fix up" property they don't own just because they don't like the way it looks. Doing so practically invites projects that are hastily conceived and ill informed.
And yet, that is exactly what the state of Michigan did with some of the $97 million it received in a foreclosure lawsuit settlement. Approximately $25 million was given out to local government agencies and nonprofits for "blight elimination" activities, with $10 million of this going to Detroit and $15 million to agencies throughout the state.
Responding to Stephen Decatur’s dictum, “My country right or wrong,” G.K. Chesterton offered this corrective: “My country, right or wrong is like saying, my mother, drunk or sober.” For those Michigan natives who staunchly apply Decatur’s adage to the Motor City, Charlie LeDuff’s latest, “Detroit: An American Autopsy,” reminds them that Mother Detroit has been on a bender for nearly 50 years.
James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy, writes in The Detroit News today that Kevyn Orr, recently appointed emergency financial manager for Detroit, must first fix the city’s fiscal mismanagement practices in order to help it avoid insolvency.
A powerful new report from the Florida-based Foundation for Government Accountability suggests that cost projections relied on by Gov. Rick Snyder in recommending that Michigan go along with an optional-for-states Obamacare Medicaid expansion may be far too low.
A Wall Street Journal editorial last weekend described one of the rationalizations used to promote Obamacare’s massive expansion of the Medicaid health-welfare program to include childless adults and families with incomes up to 138 percent of the poverty level. Under the “Affordable Care Act” as written by Congress, the expansion was mandatory for states, but the Supreme Court’s rewriting of the law last June made it optional.
Your humble writer has been covering pop and high culture for a variety of publications since 1975. During this tumultuous tenure — particularly in the world of popular music — critical and journalistic attitudes within this particular industry have been decidedly polarized between pro-capitalism and downright redistributionist.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 96, Do NOT vote on right-to-work repeal "discharge motion": Passed 26 to 11 in the Senate on March 14
To NOT hold a vote on a motion to discharge from committee a bill repealing the Michigan right-to-work law passed last December, which if a approved would bring the bill directly to the full Senate for consideration. The motion to discharge was brought by Democratic Sen. Tupac Hunter of Detroit; the actual vote was on "postponing the motion for the day."
James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy, was a guest recently on “The Frank Beckmann Show” on WJR AM760, discussing the $40 million subsidy Michigan took from taxpayers and gave to the production of “Oz: The Great and Powerful.”
The Oakland Press also reported on the corporate welfare, relying heavily on Michigan Capitol Confidential and the Mackinac Center’s blog for background information and analysis.
The biggest event of the current news cycle is the election of Pope Francis as the successor to Benedict XVI. Seemingly this would be inside baseball, applicable only to the world’s 1.2 billion or so Roman Catholics. In other words, the inner workings of the Vatican deal more with spiritual matters and social issues than economic freedoms. But it should be noted that the papacy over the past century has contributed much ammunition to the same free-market battles fought by the Mackinac Center and its fellow think tanks throughout the world.
National Review Online today takes a look at the lawsuit filed by the Mackinac Center Legal on behalf of three teachers in the Taylor School District against the Taylor Federation of Teachers.
The union and district agreed to a new contract, after being without one since 2010, which includes a 10 percent pay cut for teachers. A separate, 10-year agreement locks teachers into paying dues and prevents teachers from exercising their freedom under Michigan’s right-to-work law.
Last week, the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation released a report on the cost to each state of expanding Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The study begins by stating:
The Medicaid expansion is touted by proponents of Obamacare as a “no-brainer.” While it is true that some states may see projected savings, it is erroneous to claim that this experience applies to every state.
The Michigan film subsidy program is a perfect example of how the traditional media can play into the hands of the government and elected politicians.
While virtually no economist or researcher who has looked at the program finds a net benefit for citizens, the media rolls out story after story of positive parts of the program while almost never mentioning the costs.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 94, Prohibit Michigan National Guard executing federal “indefinite detention”: Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate
To prohibit members of the Michigan National Guard or other state and local government employees from participating in the investigation, prosecution, or detention of any person under a recent federal law giving the current or a future President the power to order the indefinite detention of persons arrested on U.S. soil, without charge or trial (“Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Year 2012”).
Josh Pugh of Progress Michigan writes that Rep. Lisa Lyons, R-Alto, is having "issues with integrity," alleging that Rep. Lyons' bill to expand the state Education Achievement Authority has a clause that would exempt Grand Rapids Public Schools.
This is a rumor I first heard when attending a meeting held by Oakland Schools Superintendent Vicki Markavtich. But it's not true.
As reported recently in Michigan Capitol Confidential, Michigan taxpayers shelled out a cool $40 million in tax credits to the House of Mouse for the perceived benefits of filming the movie "Oz: The Great and Powerful" in our state.
As noted by several Mackinac Center analysts, there are reasons aplenty for opposing film subsidies given to any movie.
Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek testified Wednesday on a proposed $65 million expansion of the Great Start preschool program before the House Education Committee, according to Gongwer.
The matter at hand was delayed, however, when Rep. Ellen Lipton, D-Huntington Woods, took the focus off of the hearing and instead chose to question Van Beek’s qualifications, Gongwer reported. That earned Rep. Lipton “some chastising” from other committee members “for having to resort to personal attacks.” Van Beek responded that he was qualified to testify because of his research on the issue and because he was invited to do so.
The Disney blockbuster, "Oz: The Great and Powerful," opens today. The film cost the studio about $200 million to make, but Michigan taxpayers chipped in substantially for the production through the state’s generous film subsidy program.
In fact, the state paid more per taxpayer than the average price of a movie ticket — Michigan residents should be seeing the film for free.
Harry Veryser Jr., a professor of economics at the University of Detroit-Mercy and a member of the Center’s Board of Scholars, was a guest on “The Frank Beckmann Show” on WJR AM760 Wednesday, discussing fluctuations in the stock market.
He also discussed his recent book, “It Didn’t Have to Be This Way,” which outlines why boom and bust cycles are unnecessary and how adhering to the Austrian school of economics can break that pattern.
Patrick J. Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, was a guest on “The Tony Conley Show” on WILS AM1320 in Lansing this morning, discussing the end of the SEIU dues skim.
The union’s scheme funneled some $34 million from home-based caregivers over the past six years, trapping people who care for loved ones and family members in the union.
