Michigan impoverished
Two terrific editorials from West Michigan publications. Both highly recommended! The first from Carole Valade, editor of the Grand Rapids Business Journal, entitled Michigan: a state of impoverishment. Citing data from (1) the Gallup-Healthways’ latest State of American Well-Being report that ranks Michigan in the bottom 10, (2) the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget’s Winter 2015 Michigan […]
Minnesota surging
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Minnesota now has a $1.9 billion state budget surplus. This comes after the state in 2013 raised its top income tax rate to 9.85 percent from 7.85 percent for families with incomes over $250,000. At the time of the tax increase the state had a budget deficit of $2.1 […]
Central cities surging
In our 2006 A New Agenda for a New Michigan report we wrote: “The most successful regions across the country are those where both the suburbs and central cities are prospering.” That is even more true today. The widespread belief among far too many Michiganders that central cities are part of the past and are now […]
Minneapolis surging
As readers of Michigan Future’s work know, we have suggested for years that Michigan should look to Minnesota as a model for how to create a prosperous state economy. On every measure of economic well being it is the best in the Great Lakes. For the details check out our two latest reports: State Policies Matter […]
New York City surging
The New York Times reports that New York City has added more jobs over the last five years than during any five year period in the last half century. 425,000 new jobs since the end of 2009. Amazing! By contrast, since the end of 2009 the state of Michigan has added 268,000 jobs. You read […]
Not your father’s middle class
The Upshot section of the New Year Times published a terrific infographic and article on today’s middle class jobs compared to those in 1980. Those that pay between $40,000 and $80,000. Both are highly recommended, especially the infographic. The bottom line is clear: today’s middle class is no longer centered in manufacturing or construction as […]
John Austin and Jim Townsend
What worries most about Michigan politics is that we have two parties who by and large are trying to make the 20th Century work again. A factory-based economy supported by farming and tourism. As we have documented in our reports, a factory-based economy has led Michigan to fall from one of the most prosperous states […]
Louisiana as an education model?
Ever since hurricane Katrina the press, policy makers and other opinion leaders have pointed to Louisiana as a place to look for reforming public education. Primarily because in New Orleans they did away with teachers unions and largely went to providing education by charter schools, rather than a traditional public school district. Michigan has been […]
Lessons from the 21 mile walker
Clearly the plight of James Robertson touched the hearts of Michiganders and the nation. Robertson story of walking 21 miles every day to get to work from Detroit to northern Oakland County was revealed in a wonderful Detroit Free Press article. As heartbreaking as Robertson’s story is, unfortunately he is not unique. Metro Detroit is […]
Skills employers want
Interesting article from Bloomberg Businessweek on the skills employers hire for. The magazine polled more than 1,300 corporate recruiters of business school graduates on what were the skills that they most looked for in hiring. The bottom line: “The most commonly named asset was good communication, which 68 percent of recruiters sought, followed by analytical […]