Read this! Its Jim Duderstadt”s (the former U of M President) recent interview in Crain’s Detroit Business. Its terrific. As always Jim is direct, no holding back. Boy do we need more of that here!
His basic message: the knowledge-based economy is the only path back to economic success in Michigan. We need to give up on the notion that things like factory jobs in alternative energy, casinos and film making are important to future economic growth. And to build a knowledge-based economy you need public investments which means more taxes.
As always, he gets to the heart of the issue. We need, first and foremost to let go of the idea that we can become prosperous again without making the hard transition to a knowledge-based economy. Most Michiganians are not there yet. They have not accepted that they will have to change – get better educated and more entrepreneurial – to do well in the future. There are no quick fixes! And that to get there requires public investments in things like education and creating quality of place that is attractive to increasingly mobile talent – including our own college educated kids. And that those public investments require taxes.
If you want to read more on Jim’s views of where we need to head, download his Roadmap report here. It too is terrific!
