California growing
I wrote a post in November 2009 entitled “California Ascendant?” Using a Time Magazine article on the future of California as a jumping off point, I wrote that California was not as conventional wisdom had it then (and now) a state in irreversible decline, rather it was a state that likely would be a national […]
Lansing and General Motors
Good news! General Motors is expanding its manufacturing presence in metro Lansing. As the Lansing State Journal reports: “General Motors Co. will bring more jobs to Lansing with plans to build a $162 million stamping plant here, the latest investment the carmaker is pumping into its mid-Michigan factories. Local economic development officials Thursday said the Detroit […]
Welcoming matters
Terrific Bridge article by Chris Andrews on the importance of being welcoming. Highly recommended! Its entitled “Are Michigan’s restrictions on gay and abortion rights holding state back?” Andrews writes: “A number of experts on economic and community development say Michigan policies on gay rights and women’s access to abortion are creating barriers to growth and […]
Stuck in the past
My biggest concern for the state and its regions––particularly metro Detroit–is that we have a vision of what we want the future to look like and a public policy agenda, from across the political spectrum, that are grounded in the past––which we can’t go back to–-rather than the future. So we end up not having […]
Michigan’s Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Fifth Annual Progress Report
Michigan continues to have difficulty transitioning to a knowledge-based economy. In Michigan Future’s fifth annual report on Michigan’s transition, Lou Glazer details what states and metropolitan areas are doing the best and why.
Unlimited charter schools: still not smart
Every time I write about charter schools I feel a need to start with the reality that Michigan Future has been from the beginning a big supporter of charter schools. Currently our Michigan Future Schools initiative has funded and is working with nine new college prep high schools in Detroit. One is a DPS school, […]
College educated Millennials winning
The Pew Research Center has just released a terrific new report entitled “The Rising Cost of Not Going to College”. If you care about understanding the reality of today’s economy for young adults this is a must read report. Using data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS) it makes clear that in terms […]
Talent trumps low taxes again
Richard Florida in a recent Atlantic Cities article writes about a new study on what matters most in attracting entrepreneurs. The study done by Endeavor Insight can be found here. As Florida writes what attracts entrepreneurs is “…talented workers, and the quality of life that the educated and ambitious have come to expect – not […]
Not time for a celebration III
The Census Bureau released in September a report on poverty in American from 2000-2012. Not good news for the country. The poverty rate since 2000 has risen from 12.2 percent to 15.9 percent. The number of people living in poverty has increased from 33.3 to 48.8 million. The trends are worse in Michigan. The poverty […]
Not just STEM
I do a monthly post for the Grand Rapids Business Journal. Last month I wrote about the occupations and industries their latest 40 Under Forty worked in. Turns out these future leaders in West Michigan overwhelmingly don’t work for manufacturers or are in STEM based occupations. In fact, the nearly 150 nominees, at the undergraduate […]