Admittedly, television shows like "Dancing With The Stars" aren't my cup of tea. Nevertheless, as Gov. Jennifer Granholm approaches her final year in that office, the idea of wearing an unbuttoned silk shirt and tight salsa pants, and shaking my behind to "Wild Thing" (a' la' Tom Delay), still sounds more attractive than "Dance with us in government."
Shortly before 10 a.m. this morning, I chatted with a couple of high school students from the Merrill Community Schools while outside the state Capitol. They were two of what appeared to be about 100 kids from this Saginaw-area district of 772 total pupils. The students had been brought to the Capitol for a rally sponsored by an organization calling itself "S.O.S.," which according to the group's website apparently stands for the far-reaching agenda "Save Our Students, Schools and State."
$6,876,303.90, to be exact. That's what the Michigan Department of State Police is charging for documents that I requested via the Freedom of Information Act regarding the state's handling of federal homeland security grant money from 2002 to present (see image at right). This is definitely a record for Mackinac Center FOIA requests. In fact, this may be a record for any FOIA request. Even the $3,438,151.95 down payment seems likely to be a speck above the average FOIA asking price.
The Mackinac Center's call to end tax subsidies for filmmakers is featured in The Detroit News today. The News asked several organizations and individuals for ideas to "fix" Michigan and is printing the top 50 in a continuing series. Center scholars have also contributed ideas including budget reforms, decreasing school employee costs, privatizing noninstructional school services and eliminating agricultural extension programs.
Assuming an average class size of 25 students, the $292 per-pupil cut currently debated in the Legislature means that each classroom in the state will have to make do with $7,300 less funding. This leads to images of classrooms without enough textbooks, pencils or chalk. The reality, though, is that comparatively, schools spend very little on classroom supplies such as these.
In the face of their failure to reverse an economic decline that's been underway this entire decade, Michigan politicians are perennially desperate for ways to show they're "doing something" to fix the problem. The approach they've mainly adopted is a massive expansion of discriminatory tax breaks and subsidies for particular firms selected by state bureaucrats or political appointees.
By Jack McHugh
The Nov. 6 edition of the Gongwer Michigan Report (subscription required) describes a new "bulletin" from the Michigan Department of Treasury defining which foods are considered "prepared" — and thus subject to the state sales tax — and which are not:
By Jack McHugh
A bipartisan package of bills in the Michigan Senate is poised to protect consumers from the tragedy of bad interior design. The legislation may or may not succeed in that, but it certainly will protect interior designers from the tragedy of more competition generating lower prices for consumers.
In a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, Shikha Dalmia cited the Mackinac Center's recent finding that Michigan's public-sector employees annually receive $5.7 billion more in benefits than their private-sector counterparts.
Property Rights Network Director Russ Harding was quoted in The Detroit News, opposing a bill mandating "green" driver's education courses. "Everyone, including me, is in favor of fuel efficiency and protecting the environment," Harding said. "But what bothers me is that this is another attempt by the government telling us how to live."
"Everything must be on the table."
"There must be shared sacrifice."
I keep hearing such pronouncements from voices both inside and outside of government who characterize themselves as "fiscally conservative." So why are many of them criticizing school spending cuts enacted by Gov. Jennifer Granholm through either line-item veto or executive order?
Even as Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the state Legislature struggle to produce a budget, the Congressional health care bill rushing towards passage in Washington this weekend threatens to blow an even bigger hole in Michigan's ledger. Much of Lansing's budget prescriptions have been short-term bandages (like using federal stimulus dollars to pay for government largesse) but these patches do nothing to fix long-term ills like Medicaid entitlement spending that now gobbles up 25 percent of the state's budget - up from just 5 percent 30 years ago.
Russ Harding, director of the Property Rights Network at the Mackinac Center, was a guest Thursday on WMKT in Traverse City. Harding discussed the Boardman River dam removal issue in Grand Traverse County, as well as the speech he will give at noon Monday to the Antrim County Republican Women's Club at Siren Hall, located at 151 River St. in Elk Rapids.
In the latest Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency Economic Indicators report, economist David Zin echoed an observation I made here last month on personal income: The recent increase in a key economic indicator — personal income growth — suggests the very opposite that Michigan has turned a corner.
Lawrence W. Reed, Mackinac Center president emeritus, is cited in a Detroit News column today about First Amendment concerns surrounding disagreements between President Obama and Fox News, while his popular monograph "Great Myths of the Great Depression" was cited yesterday by Investors Business Daily in an editorial about Tuesday's New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections.
On Tuesday, voters in Virginia and New Jersey sent a message to Washington out of fear of what America might become. In Michigan's largest city, Detroiters elected a mayor to deliver them from what their city has become.
Detroit is a progressive's dream - a living monument to decades years of Big Government statism. The city sports a living wage, the region's highest taxes, a commuter tax, government-run public services, government-run parks, government-run schools and a crippling 85 percent illegitimacy rate. These Great Society-inspired policy "successes" have led to a 30 percent unemployment rate, a 50 percent adult illiteracy rate and a city budget on the verge of bankruptcy.
Russ Harding, director of the Property Rights Network at the Mackinac Center, was a guest today on "The Norm Jones Show" on WTCM in Traverse City. Harding discussed the Boardman River dam removal issue in Grand Traverse County, as well as the speech he will give at noon Monday to the Antrim County Republican Women's Club at Siren Hall, located at 151 River St. in Elk Rapids.
An Op-Ed in today's Detroit News by Michael Van Beek, education policy director, outlines school reforms Michigan should make in order to qualify for a federal grant.
The Livingston Daily editorial today cites research by Mackinac Center scholars about the failure of the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
A new report out of Oregon alleges fraud and intentional deception on the part of state officials in their rush to use taxpayer money to lure green jobs to Oregon. The Oregonian reports that state officials deliberately underestimated the cost of tax payer subsidies for green energy projects, resulting in a cost 40 times greater than estimates provided to Oregon lawmakers before they voted on the tax breaks. Findings include:
A new client who is part of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation's lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Human Services is featured in The Flint Journal today.
Michigan voters should not be fooled by the latest effort of environmental groups, called "Mi Water," that purportedly would regulate mining in the state. The ballot proposal does not regulate mining as much as it effectively bans future mining in Michigan.
A column in Saturday's Kalamazoo Gazette references a recent Current Comment about school consolidation by Michael Van Beek, director of education policy, that details why school district consolidation isn't the answer to problems with Michigan's public education system.
A reporter with The Michigan Messenger contacted two college professors in response to an Op-Ed that Paul Kersey, labor policy director, wrote for The Detroit News.
Both professors agreed with Kersey who, in relating his recent study on the Michigan Public Employee Relations Act, said the refusal by unions to renegotiate contracts could force the city of Detroit to declare bankruptcy.
In his recent Oakland Press blog posting, capitol reporter Tim Skubick speculates that the recall weapon could be stolen from the anti-tax side and used by the "more money for government" crowd. Specifically, he's thinking about K-12 schools:
The schools now confront a whopping $292 cut for every school kid who walks through the door. The governor is urging the education lobby, see yesterday's blog, to get in the game and turn up the heat on republicans who are loathed to put up a green light on new revenue. Tossing the recall card on the table might up the ante.
A new report by the National Center for Education Statistics contains some bad news for Michigan schools. When compared to proficiency standards on national tests, Michigan's self-proclaimed "proficient" students score near the bottom in the country.
The NCES study compares state-defined proficiency with that of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. This process measures the strength of each state's standardized tests and cut scores. It addresses whether a student who is "proficient" by State A's standards would also be "proficient" by State B's standards. In most cases, it's much easier to be marked proficient in Michigan than almost any other state.
The U.S. House of Representatives has just posted on the Internet its health care overhaul bill, HR 3962, “To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, etc.” All 1990 impenetrable pages of it.
