The 3.0 Agenda: Friedman and Mandelbaum
I highly recommend reading That Use to Be Us by Thomas Friedman and Michael Madelbaum. It is a really good overview of what it will take for us as individuals as well as a country to compete in a continuously flattening world driven by globalization and technology. They lay out in compelling – and often […]
Its the bailout!
Michigan’s better than the nation economy for the last year or so is primarily the result of the federal government’s huge bailout of the domestic auto industry. End of story! As I wrote previously it is big government in action and working. While the Republican presidential candidates argued in the state’s primary that Michigan, the […]
The reality of transfer payments
As we explored in a previous post, transfer payments are highest in America’s small towns, not its big metros. The same is true of government employment earnings. And the reverse is true for private sector employment earnings. Each contrary to conventional wisdom, which views small town America as the home of the self reliant, and […]
Attracting talent: Challenge Detroit
More evidence that the business community is way ahead of both the public and policymakers from both parties on the essential role a vibrant city of Detroit must play if the region and state are to be successful economically. The latest terrific private sector initiative is Challenge Detroit from the Collaborative Group. Understanding that attracting […]
Dan Gilbert on Detroit
It was my pleasure to participate in the second annual Detroit Revitalization and Business conference organized by MBA students at the University of Michigan’s Ross School. (For background see Matthew Neagle’s post on the first conference.) That a group of MBA students at UM are so interested in exploring Detroit as a place to live […]
The good and the bad on higher education
Mixed news to say the least on making higher education a priority in Michigan. In a world where increasingly the most prosperous individuals and communities are characterized by college attainment, how we view our community colleges and universities matters a lot to the future economic success of Michiganders and Michigan. As we have written frequently […]
Big metros: where private sector employers spend most
I want to complete this series of posts on private sector employment earnings (both wages and employer paid benefits) per capita with a look at data by size of metro. In many ways this is the most interesting findings in our latest progress report. First a reminder from the earlier posts. Private sector employers pay […]
Where private sector employers spend the least
My last post looked at the top 10 states for private sector employment earnings (both wages and employer paid benefits) per capita. The component of per capita income that everyone wants and should be the goal of state and local economic development policy. In this post we look at the bottom 10 states on the […]
Where private sector employers spend the most
To their credit both Governor Snyder and Business Leaders for Michigan have set high per capita income as one of the state’s economic goals. Far too many political and business leaders are fine with lots of low paying jobs as the goal. I’m sure each would agree that the key to realizing that goal is […]
the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy
We are proud investors in the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy (JRLA). It is one of seven new open enrollment high schools our Michigan Future Schools initiative has chosen to make grants to from more than 40 applicants over the past three years. In large part because of his celebrity, Rose has generated lots of national […]