Still addicted to tax cuts
In a previous post I explored the nearly two decade bipartisan addiction Michigan policy makers have to cutting taxes. The latest evidence of the continuation of the addiction is the near unanimous vote by both houses of the Michigan legislature to impose the sales tax on the difference between the sale price and trade in […]
Manufacturing a liability?
Michigan political leaders, on a bi-partisan basis, have made manufacturing the lynchpin of their plans for restoring Michigan to prosperity. No question manufacturing––high paid factory jobs––was the key ingredient to Michigan being one of the most prosperous places on the planet for most of the Twentieth Century. The question is “can it be the driver […]
Best practice education policy
For decades there has been widespread concern on a bi-partisan basis about how lousy American kids perform on international math and science tests. Those test results have been the basis for much of the critique of American public k-12 education. There is real concern that the lack of math and science competency is a real […]
Michigan’s recovery in context
In my Detroit Free Press op ed comparing the Michigan economy during Governor Blanchard’s first term to the Michigan economy so far under Governor Snyder I wrote mainly about metrics other than the unemployment rate. As I have written previously we don’t think it is a great barometer of economic well being. But it is […]
Minnesota and Michigan II
Don Grimes and I are putting the finishing touches on our new report. The topic is the transformation of the American economy over two decades: from 1990 to 2011. Taking that long term view reveals patterns clearly. And the differences that Minnesota and Michigan have traveled is both stark and revealing of what we have […]