Kansas’ failed tax cut experiment
Amazing Bloomberg column entitled Kansas Ends Bad Economic News by Not Reporting It. Its written by Barry Ritholtz, founder of Ritholtz Wealth Management and formerly chief executive and director of equity research at FusionIQ, a quantitative research firm. Turns out that Kansas has canceled its quarterly reports on the state’s economy. Why? As Ritholtz reports: “The problem was […]
Helping students beat the odds
These days, it seems nearly every high school serving low-income students can boast of a 100% college acceptance rate. Indeed, it’s a very low bar to clear. Because community colleges and some four-year schools are open-enrollment, achieving a 100% college acceptance rate simply means that you’re able to get everyone to fill out an application. […]
Kasich on economic realities
In an Business Insider interview Ohio Governor Johh Kasich did something almost no politician does today. He clearly states that we can’t go back to a factory-driven economy. Business Insiders writes: But the notion that states such as Ohio are dependent on manufacturing jobs returning is one with which he vehemently disagrees. “Manufacturing is still […]
Lessons from the ITT Tech collapse
CEO of the Michigan Association of State Universities Daniel Hurley’s blog The Closure of ITT Tech and the Crash-Landing of the For-Profit College Industry is worth checking out. It provides a good overview of what led to the closing and more broadly the systemic problems of for-profit colleges, particularly those which focus on occupation training in […]
What I want from my daughter’s school
My older daughter just started preschool. I’ll tell you what I was looking for in a school—for this year and Kindergarten, and probably at least a few years beyond (I can only see so far!). I want the focus to be on the development of her social skills, confidence, resilience, and self-awareness. I want her […]
Michigan charter schools: Ensuring success or replicating failure?
A couple weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of Education John King paid a visit to Detroit, during which time he offered some advice to Michigan education leaders in an interview with Chalkbeat: stop shuttering failing schools, because the schools we’re replacing them with are no better. He went on to question the effectiveness of charter schools […]
Talent, not low taxes, delivers prosperity
Terrific Inc. column by University of Michigan Ross Business School professor Jeff DeGraff entitled It’s the Talent Stupid. DeGraff makes the case that low tax states and regions do not have the best economies. Rather it is those who have the best talent. We are now living in an economy where talent is the asset that […]
Cars as a service
One of the new realities is that we are now a service-providing rather than a goods-producing dominant economy. And that high-paying work is now knowledge-based rather than factory-based. These are realities that politics/policy can’t change. Those individuals and communities that align with, rather than resist, will do best. Lyft co-founder John Zimmer in his Third […]
A Tale of Two Cities’ Transit: What Detroit can learn from Denver
A recent Politico article by Colin Woodard that describes how a first-rate transportation system has completely transformed metropolitan Denver has left me with a serious case of RTE – Regional Transit Envy. Woodard details how Denver business leaders joined forces with environmentalists, civil servants, and elected officials to convince voters to tax themselves to create […]
Can Michigan get corrections reform right?
In the future, the majority of jobs in the U.S. will not be high paid. Gone are the days when you could earn a family-supporting wage with a high school degree. At Michigan Future, we’re looking at what this great shift (which is not likely to reverse, despite what the candidates for President will tell […]