New federal statistics call into question the long-held claim that agriculture is Michigan’s second-largest industry.
“Agriculture is nowhere near as big as most Michigan industries,” James Hohman, the Center’s fiscal policy analyst, told The Detroit News. “You drive through the state, you see a lot of agriculture. But when you start adding it up, it doesn’t account for as much as you might expect.”
It’s like clockwork: Whenever a natural disaster strikes, certain economists praise the “silver lining” of this “stimulated demand” and the positive economic effects that are sure to come from this calamity. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami are no exception.
Michigan has extensive forest land totaling nearly 4 million acres in state ownership. There is more federal and state owned land in Michigan than any other state east of the Mississippi River. Forest-related jobs are especially important to the local economies of the northern Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula — areas with chronically high unemployment. The Department of Natural Resources manages state forest land for recreation and timber production, but more intensive management of state forests by DNR would lead to the creation of badly needed jobs in northern Michigan.
A recent editorial in the Detroit Free Press on Gov. Rick Snyder’s executive budget cites a 2007 study by Andrew Coulson, an adjunct fellow with the Mackinac Center, titled “School District Consolidation, Size and Spending: An Evaluation.”
“There are more potential savings by breaking up large districts than by consolidating smaller ones,” Michael Van Beek, director of education policy for the Center, told the Free Press. Coulson’s study found that the optimal size for a school district is 2,900 students. Gov. Snyder has said school districts can make up the cuts in per-pupil funding by looking at economies of scale. Center analysts have also found that school can save millions of dollars by privatizing noninstructional services.
Politicians claim job creation is a top priority, but political rhetoric does not always reflect reality. Often government actions kill jobs. Nowhere is the negative impact of government regulation on job creation more evident than in the energy sector. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has released a study titled: “Progress Denied: A Study on the Potential Economic Impact of Permitting Challenges Facing Proposed Energy Projects.” The study indicates that stalled energy projects are costing the American economy $1.1 trillion and nearly 2 million jobs.
It was always hard to imagine how this could end well for Wisconsin’s public-sector labor unions. When the senate Democrats there left for Illinois, it was obvious they were stalling, but they were never able to come up with a way to use the time that they bought. They had no ideas or counter-proposals. It is obvious they will have to return to Madison eventually to deal with state business, and when they do the state’s budget deficit and labor union contracts will be waiting for them.
One cannot fault the author of a new proposed amendment to the state constitution that would abolish the state’s civil service commission. The CSC has acted foolishly, ignoring the sensibilities of a solid majority of Michiganders and heaping new burdens on already much-weighed-down taxpayers. By extending benefits to “domestic partners” of state employees, the CSC thumbed its nose at Michiganders who have rejected gay marriage, as well as added to the cost of government. Further, the CSC cancelled a 3 percent employee contribution to health care benefits that was slated to take effect for non-exclusively represented employees.
With the proliferation of laws and regulations passed by federal, state and local governments every year, it is nearly impossible for the average citizen to know if they are in compliance with the law. This regrettable situation is made worse by the recent trend of criminalizing non-compliance with statutes.
The amount of film subsidies given away in Michigan was under-reported by $72 million in 2008 and 2009, according to WDIV-TV4 in Detroit.
The discrepancy was discovered by Fiscal Policy Analyst James Hohman and broken by Michigan Capitol Confidential.
Union officials continue to complain about losing millions of dollars in “dues” money that was illegally taken from small-business owners over the past few years.
The Michigan Department of Human Services decided last week to end the stealth unionization of home-based day care providers.
A New York Daily News columnist cites Michael LaFaive, director of the Center’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, in a column today calling for an end to corporate welfare.
“It’s the illusion of job creation,” LaFaive told Bill Hammond. “That’s why politicians like it. Illusion trumps reality in their industry.”
Legislation has been introduced to repeal the state’s prevailing wage law, according to The Saginaw News.
Paul Kersey, director of labor policy, testified before the Michigan Legislature recently that the state’s prevailing wage law costs taxpayers an additional $200 million to $250 million a year because the law requires union-scale wages be paid on all construction projects involving public money — even if the lowest bidder is not a unionized company.
Both the Holland Sentinel and Lansing State Journal editorialized in favor of the decision by the Michigan Department of Human Services last week to stop taking illegal “union dues” money out of subsidy checks that home-based day care owners receive on behalf of low-income families.
If there is any doubt about what the real motivation was behind the creation of Child Care Providers Together Michigan, the very first page of the first issue of their newsletter pretty much gave the game away. Right underneath their “welcome new members” blurb is the headline “Dues Payment” and an article explaining how [a]ll providers covered by the contract are to have dues/fair share fees deducted directly from State payments to pay for the cost of representation. We are happy to report that we have made significant progress in our efforts to proceed with dues collection.”
UAW President Bob King has a unique perspective on day care worker “pay cuts.” During a press conference yesterday, King denounced Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration for ending the Department of Human Service’s practice of taking “dues” out of government subsidy payments that low-income families use to pay home-based day care providers. According to the Detroit Free Press, King described the governor’s action as part of an agenda “to destroy the middle class.”
Predictably, as gas prices are escalating due to rising world demand and recent political instability in the Middle East, some politicians in Washington are calling for a release of oil from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve. According to The New York Times, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has joined others this week in calling for a significant sale of oil from the reserve. The response from some politicians to release oil from the strategic petroleum reserve with the hopes of lowering prices (a questionable outcome) points to the fallacy of making U.S. energy policy based on short-term political considerations rather than a long-term balanced energy policy that is in the best interest of the nation.
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report on interesting votes and bills in the Michigan Legislature, and includes how each legislator voted. To find out who your state senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state representatives go here.
Gov. Rick Snyder has stated that “Michigan is not Wisconsin,” and that he doesn’t want to pick a fight with unions. Yet when it comes to the costs of school employee benefits, Michigan is eerily similar to Wisconsin, and in both states the root cause is also the same: government employee union collective bargaining privileges.
Yesterday the Michigan House voiced its opposition to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to side-stepping Congress by promulgating rules that regulate greenhouse gas emissions. House Resolution 19 was introduced by Rep. Aric Nesbitt and passed by a 65-44 vote. Resolution 19 asks Congress to ban the EPA from unilaterally imposing greenhouse gas emission regulations, strip the agency's funding for this, and impose a two-year moratorium on new air, water and waste management regulations except for in emergencies.
Economist Thomas Sowell once characterized minimum wage laws as a disconnected third party (the government) preventing those directly affected (a potential employer and employee) from doing what they have both agreed upon.
Legislation has been introduced in Congress to increase the wage below which restaurant servers and other tipped workers are prohibited from working. This sub-minimum wage would rise from $2.13 to $3.75 this year, and to $5.50 by 2013. In Michigan, these workers may not work for less than $2.65 per hour before tips.
Home-based day care providers around Michigan are reacting with joy to the news that the Michigan Department of Human Services will stop illegal “union dues” withdrawals from the subsidy checks the small-business owners receive from the state for watching children of low-income parents.
WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids reports that although a Kent County Circuit Court judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation against 10 school districts over illegal contract language, “Judge James Redford stated in his opinion his ruling is not an approval of the policy” and he is “concerned it was even included in the collective bargaining agreements.”
National and statewide media are reporting on the decision by the Michigan Department of Human Services to stop taking illegal “union dues” out of subsidy checks sent to home-based day care providers on behalf of low-income families.
The Washington Post, Boston Globe, Forbes, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press all covered the announcement. The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed suit against the DHS on behalf of three day care providers in September 2009 to end the practice.
Many school boards around the state are attempting to renegotiate current contracts or negotiate new ones with their local teachers unions to contain costs. Here's a brief recap of some of the new contracts agreed to recently.
Hudsonville
The teachers union has signed on to a new one-year extension of its collective bargaining contract with the district. Salaries will increase across-the-board by 1.25 percent in the next school year, after going up 2.5 percent this year. On top of these pay hikes, individual teachers will also get annual “step” raises averaging 4 to 5 percent. The average salary in the district in 2009 was $59,410.
Governments at all levels have enthusiastically jumped on the green bandwagon. Government intervention done in the name of saving the planet from environmental destruction usually comes in the form of product bans or mandates that place restrictions on the purchase or use of products commonly used by consumers on a daily basis.
