Despite its myriad problems, Michigan is a place of "opportunity," David Littmann, the Center's senior economist, tells The Washington Examiner today.
J.P. Freire, associate editorial page editor at the paper, references in his column several of the problems Michigan faces that the Center has been commenting on for years, including high-cost government employee benefits, high unemployment, population loss and increased taxes.
It's often repeated in the halls of government and the state-focused media that Michigan "underinvests" in higher education. The facts suggest otherwise.
In 2003, Michigan had the seventh highest spending among the states on public universities. Appropriations here have been fairly level since then, but we were still the 10th-biggest higher ed spender in 2008. Even with sideways revenues for half the decade, Michigan has been surpassed only by Ohio, Pennsylvania and Georgia in total dollars devoted to higher education.
According to the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, at least 58 separate types of "economic development" entities or programs are currently operating in Michigan.[*] The scope of this activity is broad and includes grants; discriminatory tax breaks; direct and indirect subsidies; subsidized loans and loan guarantees; financing authorities; "enterprise zones" and "incubators"; job training programs; and more. Probably a majority of Michigan's 1,859 local governments participate to some degree, plus most or all state universities and community colleges.
Carbon dioxide became public enemy No. 1 Monday when the Environmental Protection Agency made an endangerment finding declaring that CO2 is a harmful pollutant that must be regulated under the Clean Air Act. This is the EPA's Christmas present to President Barack Obama as he prepares to jet to Copenhagen with a mostly empty toy bag to discuss climate change. The president had hoped to bring with him to Copenhagen a signed cap-and-trade bill; the prospect of that happening in the near future looks increasingly dim. The more the American people learn about the high costs of such legislation and the near zero environmental gain, the less support there is for the seriously flawed policy.
The Michigan Legislature is once again considering an attack on private property rights in the form of a workplace smoking ban, according to the Associated Press.
Russ Harding, director of the Center's Property Rights Network, addressed the issue a year ago when the Michigan House and Senate passed separate bills but failed to reach an agreement on how intrusive to make the proposed legislation:
David Littmann, the Mackinac Center's senior economist, is sticking by his prediction that Michigan's unemployment rate will hit 17 to 20 percent, according to Reporting Michigan.
Littmann originally said in May that the state jobless rate would go that high by the end of the calendar year. Michigan's unemployment now stands at just over 15 percent, with final figures yet to be reported. Reporting Michigan said that Gov. Jennifer Granholm claimed the state's unemployment rate would go no higher than just over 13 percent in 2009, based on predictions by University of Michigan economists.
Two Op-Eds by Center scholars recently appeared in the Dearborn Times-Herald.
Russ Harding, senior environmental analyst, wrote about problems with biofuels, such as ethanol, and why the federal government should end subsidies for them. Harding pointed out three specific problems with the push for ethanol, including the problems the blend causes in engines, the environmental impact of ethanol production and the increased food prices it causes among the world's poorest people. Harding's piece originally appeared in The New York Times.
Michigan is not officially part of the two-week United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which the New York Post says aims to "save the Earth from certain doom." While the Great Lakes state will miss out on hobnobbing with notable personalities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Daryl Hannah, Helena Christensen, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Prince Charles, Michigan seems poised to do its part by legislatively chipping away at 54 policy recommendations to "reduce greenhouse gases" as spelled out by the Michigan Climate Action Council in the 125-page Michigan Climate Action Plan and its 471-page appendix.
One can’t help but feel a little bit of sympathy for Detroit public school teachers as they contemplate a contract in which they will be effectively loaning the DPS up to $10,000 apiece next year in the form of $500 monthly reductions in their pay. The plan is for the district to use these funds to pay off $219 million in debts. Hopefully the funds will be repaid (without interest) once the financial crisis subsides.
(Editor's note: This was originally posted by Andrew Coulson, a Mackinac Center adjunct scholar, on The Cato Institute Web site.)
Michigan is facing a projected $2.8 billion state budget shortfall. As a result, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has cut $212 million from public school spending — rousing the ire of parents and education officials around the state. But if Michigan merely converted all its conventional public schools to charter public schools, without altering current funding formulas, it would save $3.5 billion.
Two Op-Eds by Mackinac Center scholars appeared in The Oakland Press Sunday as part of a feature the paper calls "Michigan Made Better."
"Political Anatomy 101 - The Spine and the Mouth," by President Joseph G. Lehman, which first appeared in Michigan Capitol Confidential, discusses the need for politicians to not just talk about doing the right thing, but to have the backbone to actually do the right thing.
Government entities in Genesee County have increased spending on lobbyists 76 percent, according to an analysis by The Flint Journal.
Jack McHugh, the Center's senior legislative analyst, told The Journal that the process is a vicious cycle, with tax-funded lobbying for more tax dollars leading to "spending more than government has available."
Another Michigan Economic Development Corp. tax subsidy has come under fire.
North American Bancard, based in Troy, was granted a $21.5 million subsidy and says it will create close to 1,900 jobs, according to Capital News Service. So far, the firm says it has created 50 jobs. Michael LaFaive, director of the Mackinac Center's Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, tells CNS that such pronouncements are primarily a public relations tool for politicians "to create the illusion that they are doing something to create jobs."
A recent rally at West Bloomfield High School was apparently arranged by "madder than hell" parents, who are responding to contacts from school employees requesting their support in opposing reductions to state funding. Since all school districts are experiencing cuts, it's rather surprising that such a rally would come from one of Michigan's most luxuriously funded districts.
Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith, D-Salem, has proposed imposing a graduated income tax on Michigan residents and also extending the sales tax to services. She expects these hikes to extract an additional $6.5 billion a year from families and businesses here.
Rep. Smith and others seeking tax hikes (on both sides of the aisle) often claim that because of changes in the state's economy, Michigan's tax system extracts fewer dollars per unit of economic activity than it did in an earlier era.
The already problematic relationship between the State of Michigan and the Service Employees International Union is becoming more and more troubling, as SEIU Local 517M, which represents around 4,400 state employees in the human services, scientific and engineering, and technical bargaining units, reached terms for changes to their contract with the state of Michigan. (Another SEIU local, #526M, represents about 8,200 corrections staff.) As we have reported on this blog, another SEIU subsidiary, the Member Action Services Center, received $2 million in refundable Michigan Economic Growth Authority tax credits last month.
Michigan had the best job creation it has had since the boom 1990s last month. The state added 38,600 jobs in a single month, a gain of 1.0 percent. The last time the state added more than 1 percent in a single month was in August 1998 when GM workers returned to work after a month-long strike.
According to a recent poll, 60 percent of 600 Michigan voters believe schools are underfunded and another 83 percent think teacher pay is about right or too low.
As much as anything, polls like this measure respondents' knowledge of the particular issue. Studies show that when respondents know the facts, their opinions on public education issues change significantly.
For a business trip two years ago, I took a connecting flight from the Lansing airport to Detroit so as to catch another plane to my destination. It was a near-perfect fall morning with all the trees at full color, and I had a window seat. The pilot rewarded me further by plotting his route over the "Lakes Area" of western Oakland County, and for the first time ever I was given a "God's eye" view of the community where I spent most of the first 34 years of my life. It was breathtaking to pass above the dozens of beautiful lakes, parks, winding roads and much else that provided an idyllic place to grow up. The amazing part is how typical this is — just about anybody from Michigan could have these thoughts if they flew over their hometown. I was lost in pleasant memories that flooded back as fast as the plane was moving while we zipped by one body of water after another.
The Detroit Free Press reports that Gov. Jennifer Granholm is calling for legal action to block the shipping route between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River in an attempt to prevent Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes system.
Asian carp is a non-native, invasive species that could threaten the ecological balance of the Great Lakes.
Russ Harding, director of the Center's Property Rights Network, is cited in a Detroit News editorial today about proposed legislation that would place all groundwater in Michigan in a "public trust."
The News cites this Viewpoint by Harding, which explains how Michigan for well over a century has used riparian water rights to guide public policy on the matter. Such as approach, Harding explains, is used by most states east of the Mississippi, and gives property owners rights to reasonable use of the water under the land they own. This approach has served Michigan well, Harding says, because Michigan has an abundance of groundwater. "If Michigan has a water shortage," Harding has been known to ask, "then why do so many homes require sump pumps?" House Bill 5319, however, would put that water in a public trust and require property owners to obtain a permit from the state to use the water.
Imagine you've found out that your job was just eliminated by your employer — an experience Michigan residents have faced at an increasing rate in the last decade. Now imagine your co-workers, out of pure goodwill, decide to collectively take pay cuts so that you can keep your job and your employer can stay afloat. What a remarkable act of kindness this would be!
The state archeologist office, which traces the remains of human civilization and industry, is now found in the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
Today, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in an important property rights case, Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which may have an impact on beach walking along Michigan's Great Lakes shoreline.
As a public service, we are making available a copy of the MEA's LM-2 report for 2008-2009, which you can download here.
Satisfy your curiosity! Or just get a sense of how big the MEA really is!
