When $14 million is worth more than $1.3 billion
Two important recent announcements of auto industry investment in the U.S. One from Toyota that they are investing $1.3 billion dollars in updating their Georgetown Kentucky assembly plant. The other from General Motors that they are investing $14 million in a new research and development facility for its San Francisco-based self-driving technology company. Seems like the Toyota […]
A Michigan economy not working for far too many
The new Michigan Association of United Ways ALICE report (for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), makes clear that Michigan is facing severe structural economic challenges. In the seventh year of a national economic expansion––and an even stronger rebound from near bankruptcy of the domestic auto industry––too many Michigan households are struggling. Forty percent of Michigan […]
The ongoing transformation of how we earn a living
We continue to work on Michigan Future’s first ever state policy agenda. The goal is to recommend state policies that will help all Michiganders do better economically in the context of today’s and tomorrow’s realities. Not to try to use policy to turn the clock back. What has become clear to us in doing the […]
Why do we want to be like those states?
In my last post we looked at evidence that the most prosperous non-energy states were those with the highest college attainment, not the lowest taxes. In this post I want to look at the states the tax cutters in Lansing are telling us we need to emulate. The argument of many advocating for an elimination […]
College attainment drives state per capita income
We are constantly barraged with those claiming that low tax states have the best economies. And only slightly less so that getting a four year degree is no longer a path to prosperity, at least for those without a STEM degree. Neither are accurate. When it comes to determining which states are prosperous four year […]
How much do people with two-year or four-year degrees earn? Here are the facts.
We hear frequently from employers and their political allies that many/most kids would be better off pursuing an occupational certificate or two year degree with an occupational major than getting a four year degree. Some version of students with a four year degree are earning low wages with lots of debt, while students going into […]
Are low wages causing the skilled trades shortages?
The Grand Rapids Business Journal recently published an op-ed and comment that lays out the two most likely reasons for more demand by employers for skilled trades workers in manufacturing and construction than there are qualified applicants for those jobs. Which of the two explanations is accurate has profound implications for public policy, particularly for […]
Senator Sasse on the nature of future work
In a previous post I wrote about US Senator Ben Sasse’s (Republican from Nebraska) views on manufacturing jobs not coming back no matter what pressure President Trump puts on companies not to move jobs overseas or to whatever barriers we erect to trade because of automation. We recommended––and do so again––that you watch from about the 32 […]
Egads! Michigan wants to be like Kansas
As we have explored previously (see here, here and here), Kansas tried and failed to grow their economy through big tax cuts. In fact what they got was the exact opposite, arguably the worst state economic performance since the end of the Great Recession. Despite the overwhelming evidence that cutting taxes doesn’t grow state economies, […]
The $10 million winning Grand Rapids high school
I recently had a chance to visit the Grand Rapids Public Museum School. Quite impressive. Clearly the folks at the XQ: The Super School Project thought so too. They chose the school as one of ten winners of $10 million. XQ’s mission is “to remake America’s high schools for today”. Both websites are worth exploring. […]