The Reducing Chronic Unemployment Initiative
In May, 2001 the Hudson-Webber Foundation (HWF) launched the Reducing Chronic Unemployment Initiative (RCUI). It was undertaken because far too many Detroiters were unable to hold a job – no matter how strong the economy – and evidence that existing efforts to connect the chronically unemployed to stable employment were, by and large, unsuccessful. RCUI […]
What are we thinking?
Another great New York Times column from Paul Krugman on the importance of infrastructure. And our current hostility to providing funding for what has always been an important component of the country’s economic strategy and success. How we got to allowing our transportation, water and sewer systems to disintegrate and/or believing we have enough already […]
Bob Thompson Won
We and the country always frame stories about Detroit as nothing ever goes right. Even when they go right. This has got to stop! The latest example is a spate of stories about k-12 education in the city. All of which include the urban myth that Detroiters were stupid enough to turn down Bob Thompson’s […]
Videos
A couple of new videos on our work you might want to check out. The first from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation is an interview with me on our New Agenda work. It’s a good overview of our take on the path Michigan needs to take to regain prosperity, the importance of central cities and […]
Getting It!
A terrific editorial from Nolan Finley in the Sunday Detroit News. Entitled “The reason why we’re poorer”, Finley lays out, as well as we ever have, the connection between education attainment and per capita income. He clearly understands in an increasingly knowledge driven economy that states prosperity is linked to education attainment. As we have […]
What State Government Can’t Do
Insightful column from Nathan Bomey of annarbor.com. It’s a reaction to a California venture capitalist’s comments that Michigan is better in supporting innovative businesses than California. Yes you read that right. The case: Michigan state government provides higher subsidies for venture capital than California. What nonsense! How is it that we have come to believe […]
Higher Education: A Better Idea
Every time the state gets into financial difficulty there are calls for some kind of centralization of the state’s higher education system. Led by the business community and editorial writers. It’s a bad idea! Hard to figure out since both groups argue that markets are better than centralization of both the private sector and k-12 […]
New High Schools
Our Michigan Future Schools program, proudly announced yesterday grants of $2.8 million to open four innovative new high schools that will challenge and support Detroit students as they prepare them for college and careers. The schools will open to incoming freshmen in Fall 2011 and add a grade per year. Pretty exciting! The new schools […]
Lessons from Metro Pittsburgh
Many in Michigan seem to believe that the decline of the domestic auto industry and more generally the loss of so many high-wage factory jobs, means that the state will never again be prosperous. We disagree! The best evidence of the possibilities of making the transition to a new economy and back to prosperity probably […]
Choosing a Model for Michigan II
As I wrote in my last post, being a low tax and spending state and/or right to work state has little to do with how well a state’s economy performs. But they remain popular “answers” to reviving the Michigan economy. The Grand Rapids Press did a terrific article on Kia coming to Georgia. Their claim […]