I am a registered nurse at Genesys hospital near Flint, where the RNs and licensed practical nurses who do direct patient care are represented by the Teamsters. I believe the union-fostered attitude at our hospital works against teamwork. While Genesys is a great place to work, it would be even better if the union acted more professionally.
The Michigan Economic Growth Authority, the state's lead business incentive program, is primed for new amendments to raise the cap on the number of credits it can award this year. While there are some good transparency efforts in the bill, the state would be better served by eliminating the program and lowering taxes for every business.
The strong economy bore its fruits Tuesday as lawmakers happily allocated hundreds of millions for needs in the health and welfare budgets while passing out other money to cultural institutions around the state.
Few legislators sounded any objections to the $321.6 million general fund bill ($530.6 million from all sources) as it passed HB 4075 on an 89-13 vote, but there were some complaints about "pork-barrel" spending for pet projects.
This week, The Wall Street Journal published another critical examination of Michigan's political leadership, economy and budget. In a delicious irony, the online version posted a Michigan Economic Development Corp. advertisement (click on the image at right to enlarge) featuring actor Jeff Daniels alongside the piece.
A roundup of recent Mackinac Center media citations.
Paul Kersey, director of labor policy, was cited in the Detroit Free Press regarding a push in Oakland County to pass a prevailing wage ordinance. Kersey's 2007 study on the issue showed that Michigan's prevailing wage law increased costs needlessly, especially for public schools.
Forty-five percent of registered voters rated the economy as the most important issue in deciding their vote if the congressional election were held today, according to a news story in Politico; only 4 percent ranked climate change as the top issue. The poll conducted by Public Strategies Research Practice Group, a business advisory firm located in Austin, Texas, is consistent with other recent polling that shows global climate change low on the priority list of most Americans.
The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the City of Detroit has stopped collecting dues on behalf of 16 unions that have yet to reach new agreements with the city of Detroit. This is a provocative but much-needed step that serves to discipline city employee unions. While exact numbers of employees covered are not available, this action covers AFSCME, one of the largest unions in city government which covers several bargaining units, as well as the Amalgamated Transit Union representing city bush drivers. The city sent notice of its intentions back on October 9, giving the unions involved 10 days to agree to terms.
The Michigan "Legislative Commission on Government Efficiency" has released a draft of its final recommendations that fully meets the expectations raised by the "overarching conclusions" that were the subject of a post on this blog two days ago. (Short version: "Bureaucratic gobbledygook won't fix Michigan.")
The Bureau of Labor Statistics today released the September state-by-state unemployment rates. Michigan remains the highest in the country at 15.3 percent unemployment. This is the 43rd month in a row that Michigan has been the worst state for finding a job.
Cigarette smuggling and student achievement drew two recent media mentions for Mackinac Center scholars.
An Op-Ed on cigarette smuggling by Michael LaFaive, director of fiscal policy, and Todd Nesbit, a Penn State professor and adjunct scholar with the Center, appeared in the Providence (Rhode Island) Journal. The piece pointed out that states that raise or have high tobacco taxes also have higher rates of cigarette smuggling.
The Michigan "Legislative Commission on Government Efficiency" has come out with a set of "overarching conclusions" that includes this gem:
Cross-cutting and underlying principles are the foundation of our recommendations
— Look to optimize across all levels and units of government
— Address underlying structural issues
— Be holistic in the approach (look at all aspects of the budget and government operations)
— Create a roadmap to fiscal stability
— Be of sufficient magnitude to make a difference
Another home-based day care owner forced into a union has been highlighted by the media.
The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit in mid-September on behalf of two other day care operators who faced the same fate after the Michigan Department of Human Services and Mott Community College formed a "shell corporation" for the purpose of siphoning union dues from state child care subsidy checks meant to help low-income families. Some 40,000 home-based day care providers are affected, with about $3.7 million being redirected to the UAW and AFSCME.
Gov Jennifer Granholm has actually outdone the Mackinac Center with a cost saving measure enacted on Monday. Specifically, she line-item vetoed the so-called "Section 20(j)" appropriation in the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 K-12 School Aid Budget, which would have granted $54 million to 51 particular school districts that tend to be wealthier ones, with some exceptions.
Last friday I received the following email message from the Detroit Tigers:
TIGERS NEWS ALERT
October 16, 2009
VOICE YOUR OPINION ABOUT THE TICKET TAX
Dear Tigers fans,
As you may have heard by now, the Governor and the Michigan Legislature are seriously considering charging sports fans a 6-percent luxury tax on all professional and college sports tickets sold in Michigan.
A new study by the Center's Michael LaFaive, director of fiscal policy, and James Hohman, fiscal research analyst, figured prominently in media coverage across Michigan Sunday and today highlighting Michigan's inability to create jobs, despite various programs, subsidies and other give-aways.
Among the forms of posturing by the political class is for its members to wrap themselves in a mantle of virtue by imposing the tenets of the latest trendy or politically correct social movement on students and others.* Nowhere is the sanctimony more evident than in propagating "green" orthodoxy. Sometimes this carries real economic consequences, such as recent laws imposing new recycling fees on computer makers, permit requirements for groundwater use and higher electricity rates to pay for mandated levels of "renewable" energy generation.
Reporting Michigan and other Lansing-based newsletters reported last week that while scolding the legislature for not raising taxes Gov. Jennifer Granholm took a gratuitous swipe at the state of Mississippi. The comment raised the eyebrows of economists who actually follow and care about statistical reality and truth. Some Mississippi legislators and bloggers also took umbrage at the sneer, and rightfully so.
Hundreds and maybe even thousands of young people in Detroit apparently had to stand in lines and in the rain for up to four hours to receive paychecks for their summer jobs. Others did not know where to find their checks. Still others didn't get their paychecks at all. And on several occasions, police were called in for crowd control.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis released 2nd quarter personal income growth data. The figures include revenue from all wages, dividends, benefits and transfer payments, and shows which states are growing the most.
Michigan grew to a remarkable 7th among the states — positive news considering the state's long economic decline. At .7 percent, it wasn't much growth, but the US average was .2 percent.
A recently released Mackinac Center study about the ineffectiveness of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. is receiving state and national media attention.
The Michigan Senate voted to allow the MEDC to award more special favors and subsidies to hand-picked companies — rather than reforming the state's tax, regulatory and labor climate in a way that would benefit all businesses — despite the fact that Center research shows fewer than one-third of the jobs promised by the MEDC come to fruition. The study also found that every $1 million in manufacturing tax credits given in a particular Michigan county is associated with the loss of 95 manufacturing jobs in that county. The Senate approved the additional money despite the fact the MEDC used up its allotment of tax credits for 2009 several months ago.
By Jack McHugh
Although many of these ideas aren't new, this is the first time public policy leaders from across the country have come together to propose a unified alternative plan to what has been termed "ObamaCare."
The premise of patient-centered health reform is simple: It empowers people to make their own health care decisions.
Revamping or eliminating Michigan's law that covers public-sector union employees could help the city of Detroit avoid bankruptcy, according to an Op-Ed by Paul Kersey in today's Detroit News.
Kersey, director of labor policy, recently released a study detailing the consequences of Michigan's Public Employee Relations Act showing that the incentives created by the law favor tax hikes over spending cuts and places collective bargaining over local ordinances and the power of elected officials.
Yesterday, the Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth announced that its “No Worker Left Behind” program had achieved its goal of enrolling 100,000 participants almost a year early. The program pays community college tuition for displaced workers.
Environmental laws often have unintended consequences. The Michigan Legislature passed a bill that became law in 1995, requiring landfills to compost yard waste. Elected officials decided this was necessary to preserve landfill space - even though Michigan has plenty of landfill capacity for the foreseeable future. Composting produces dirt with high organic content, which is popular for gardens and landscaping (however more dirt is being produced than can be sold, resulting in the material being stockpiled at many landfills). Another problem is producing dirt comes at the expense of producing clean alternative energy.
As America moves closer to a government-controlled health care system, anxious Canadians want to set the record straight about life under their country's "universal" system.
Join the Mackinac Center as it journeys across Canada, documenting harrowing stories from real Canadians of long waits, physician shortages, doctor lotteries, special treatment for insiders and being forced to travel abroad for basic medical care.
