Blog

Nancy Crawley quotes Upjohn Institute economist George Erickcek in her column on Bissell. George, who is one of the best thinkers I know on economic development policy, says in the column "I for one am not willing, without a stronger fight, to say production simply can't be here.... To say simply we give up, we'll just keep the intellectual capital,…

Good Nancy Crawley column in the Grand Rapids Press on the fortunes on Bissell – the vacuum cleaner company in West Michigan. Crawley argues that they are a model for manufacturers succeeding in Michigan, rather than abandoning the state. I couldn't agree more. Its a Michigan example of the Apple model I wrote about in a recent blog. High value…

Once in a long while you read something that you could have written word for work. That is the case for me and today's Free Press editorial. Worth reading and take a look at the terrific charts as well. The editorial is titled: Graduate to a Smarter State. With a subtitle of Michigan's economic future depends on helping more residents…

Interesting article by Rick Haglund in Dome Magazine. Its a brief history of the state's economic development efforts from Milliken to Granholm. What struck me most in reading the article is how little we got for all the time and resources we spent trying to grow and diversify the state's economy. The pattern that the Michigan economy is driven by…

Interesting Business Week article on the just ended decade. Like everyone else they think it was awful. But point out that in terms of the economy maybe the brightest light was Apple. Hard to argue with that assessment. From what many believe was permanent decline at the start of the decade to iTunes, iPod, iPhone and reinvigoration of the iMac,…