Yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the creation of the Michigan Economic Growth Authority, a business-tax credit and subsidy program designed to create new and keep existing jobs in the state. The Mackinac Center has published two rigorous analyses of MEGA: "MEGA: A Retrospective Assessment" in 2005, and "Michigan Economic Development Corporation: A Review and Analysis" in 2009.
Attracting residential and commercial expansion to the Detroit Region Aerotropolis — some 60,000 mostly vacant acres between the Detroit Metro and Willow Run airports — should occur using private money, according to one Mackinac Center analyst.
"Metro Detroit already has an 'aerotropolis,' and one that was born largely of the marketplace," Mike LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, told The Detroit News. "The area has many logistics businesses, a major international airport, customs brokerages and air freight forwarders. We'd love to see them grow, but at what cost will this come to Michigan taxpayers?"
Schools around Michigan are cutting services and reducing staff, yet teachers in more than half of the districts statewide pay nothing toward the cost of their own health insurance.
"But the MEA has a chance to be a little magnanimous here, to show some leadership in the vein of sacrifice. Instead of standing by watching school districts gut critical services to kids, why not offer at least to soften the blow by accepting more realistic health plans? In most districts, even a 5% or 10% contribution from teachers (still well below what private-sector folks are used to) could make a big difference," columnist Stephen Henderson points out in the Detroit Free Press.
Last Week Detroit News Editorial Page Editor Nolan Finley blogged about an article that Mackinac Center senior legislative analyst Jack McHugh wrote for Michigan Capitol Confidential about how government employee unions were using their political power to prevent the Legislature from passing modest pension and compensation reforms needed to address a $1.5 billion budget deficit. It cited, and Finley quoted, three examples from before the Legislature's recent two-week spring break. They were:
Every week MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and/or interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate. To find out who your state Senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state Representatives go here.
School districts that refuse to make available online their checkbook registers are being taken to task.
An editorial in The Grand Rapids Press said hold-out districts have the "wrong attitude" and should embrace transparency "at a time when citizens are rightfully vigilant about their money."
A state legislator recently praised the Mackinac Center for its efforts to "hold the MEDC accountable."
Sen. Nancy Cassis, R-Novi, in an Op-Ed in the Observer & Eccentric newspaper chain, praised the efforts of Center analysts to "remain focused on achieving meaningful reforms" for the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
Nearly every aspect of a teacher's job falls under the rules of a union contract. The following is an analysis of the current collective bargaining agreement for teachers and a few other employee groups in Farmington Public Schools. The district employs about 890 teachers and enrolls 11,900 students. Of its $158 million operating budget (excluding capital and debt services expenditures), about 67 percent goes towards paying employees covered by this contract.
Once upon a time a band named Pink Floyd was a fixture on the Billboard album chart. For 741 weeks, the band's "Dark Side of the Moon" reigned as one of the top-200 selling albums in the United States. The album's themes range from mortality to madness.
Today is April 15, the last day to file your 2009 tax return. Protests are happening around the state alleging rampant growth of government, overtaxation and overregulation.
Here are some facts about taxes in Michigan.
As of fiscal 2009, the State of Michigan received $23.3 billion in revenue from state taxes.
Teacher contracts are coming under greater scrutiny as Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the Michigan Legislature continue to create overspending crises that mean fewer dollars going to public schools.
"Most people probably don't have a good idea of what the pay and benefits of school employees are," Jack McHugh, senior legislative analyst, told WLNS-TV6 in Lansing.
A recent Macomb Daily editorial agrees with the point made a month ago by a Mackinac Center scholar regarding proposed legislation to cap teacher and superintendent salaries.
Mike Van Beek, director of education policy, wrote in March that benefits, not salaries, is where public school spending is most out of line compared to the private sector. Other areas where public schools could reduce overspending, Van Beek noted, include privatizing non-core support services, repealing the state's prevailing wage law that forces schools to spend an additional $250 million a year on construction, and embracing schools-of-choice.
A Wall Street Journal Op-Ed by Mackinac Center scholar Burton Folsom Jr. and his wife Anita was the most e-mailed commentary on the paper's Web site Monday.
Titled "Did FDR End the Depression?" the piece takes from Folsom's recent book, "New Deal or Raw Deal: How FDR's Economic Legacy Has Damaged America," and corrects the commonly held myth that President Roosevelt's policies brought an end to the Great Depression.
More home-based day care providers are speaking out about being forced into a union they didn't know existed and did not vote for, according to The Oakland Press.
The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation's lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Human Services over the illegal unionization of about 40,000 day care owners has moved to the Michigan Supreme Court, while the National Federation of Independent Business has filed an amicus brief in support of the Center's case. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has filed a separate class action suit in the matter against Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
The odds of a local municipality in Michigan passing a tax increase in the current economic climate are fairly low, according to Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative.
"This is the wrong time to reach deeper into American pockets," he told The Bay City Times. "It will only remind voters of the new class warfare - government employees vs. those who pay their bills."
MichiganVotes.org sends a weekly report to newspapers and TV stations around the state showing how state legislators in their service area voted on the most important or interesting bills of the past week. Because the legislature did not meet this week, rather than roll call vote results this report presents a sampling of recently proposed state laws.
The recent death of Alex Chilton apparently wasn't as much from a heart attack as it was a lack of nationalized health insurance, if one is to believe Facebook comments prompted by a recent article by Keith Spera of The Times-Picayune. "Cause, meet effect," wrote a prominent music critic friend of mine. In response, another wrote: "This is so sad, and makes me so angry... that someone would end up dying because they don't have insurance."
Charlie Owens, Michigan state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, was a guest on "The Frank Beckmann Show" on WJR this morning discussing a friend of the court brief the NFIB has filed in the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation's Loar v. DHS lawsuit challenging the forced unionization of some 40,000 small-business owners and private contractors in Michigan.
It would be a huge stretch to say that the UAW’s decision to sue GM over the company’s failure to make payments into union-controlled pension funds signals the beginning of the end for the automaker. But the lawsuit does serve as a reminder of the one important truth about the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies: the Detroit-based auto companies still have a lot of problems that went unaddressed in the rushed and politicized process to which they were subjected.
Nearly every aspect of a teacher's job falls under the rules of a union contract. The following is an analysis of the current collective bargaining agreement for teachers and a few other employee groups in the East Lansing School District. The district employs about 220 teachers and enrolls 3,400 students. Of its $34 million operating budget (excluding capital and debt services expenditures), about 70 percent goes towards paying employees covered by this contract.
Bold strokes, such as cutting taxes and reducing the cost of public-employee benefits, are needed to help Michigan rebound, Mackinac Center President Joseph G. Lehman said Tuesday as part of a panel discussion at Wayne State University.
The forum, covered by The Detroit News, featured several speakers discussing Michigan's economy and how best to revive it.
The illegal shanghaiing of home-based day care providers into a government employees union has attracted the attention of the Small Business Legal Center at the National Federation of Independent Business. It filed an amicus brief with the Michigan Supreme Court requesting that the Court grant the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation's appeal in the Loar v. DHS lawsuit challenging the forced unionization.
The Detroit Free Press reports that the City of Detroit began demolition of buildings without testing for asbestos. Asbestos, a carcinogen, was used extensively as a building material and is present in many older buildings. During demolition, small particles of asbestos can become airborne unless safety precautions are followed as prescribed by federal law. According to Robert McCann, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment, "The city also failed to notify the state of its demolition plans as required by federal law, which is another serious violation." In light of the serious nature of the alleged violation of state and federal asbestos laws, it is remarkable that McCann goes on to say he thinks the DNRE and the City of Detroit can work things out without penalties. His statement smacks of a double standard. If these serious violations were perpetrated by a private business, it is highly unlikely that DNRE officials would be so lenient.
Radio and television host Glenn Beck's new book will be titled based on a theory established by the Center's late vice president, Joseph Overton, according to The Washington Post.
Beck's book, due out in June, will be titled "We Are Americans: The Overton Window." Beck first expressed an interest in the theory on his Fox News Channel television show last November. Center President Joseph G. Lehman explains the Overton Window here.
MichiganVotes.org sends a weekly report to newspapers and TV stations around the state showing how state legislators in their service area voted on the most important or interesting bills of the past week. The Legislature did not meet this week, so instead of votes this week's report contains several newly introduced bills of interest.
