In our last post we detailed that states with employment most concentrated in production––front-line factory––jobs are all structurally low-prosperity states, with per capita income substantially below the nation's. Those states include Michigan and Tennessee, both with per capita income twelve…
The first post I wrote for this blog was 13 years ago. It was entitled the Need For a New Michigan and made the case that what made us prosperous in the past, won't in the future. That if we…
A year ago Rivian, often described as the Tesla of trucks, announced that they were moving their headquarters from suburban Detroit to Irvine California. The announcement received hardly any Michigan press coverage. And, even more concerning, no reaction from Michigan's…
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made clear in recent Congressional testimony that a strong safety net is the not the cause of the decline in labor force participation. In a terrific article about Powell's testimony, the Washington Post writes: U.S.…
Dug Song, co-founder and general manager of Duo Security, in an interview with Crain's Detroit Business, makes the case for higher Michigan taxes. Higher Michigan taxes to invest in education and transit. The two assets that Song believes Michigan needs…
When its comes to wages and benefits Michigan used to be among the top states. No more. The state has fallen from 8th in 1990 to 21st in 2018. Michigan has gone from $3,743 above the nation on average compensation…
In an article for the Atlantic Seattle entrepreneur and venture capitalist Nick Hanauer writes: "Like many rich Americans, I used to think educational investment could heal the country’s ills—but I was wrong. Fighting inequality must come first." Hanauer, as we…
Wow! Governor Whitmer's first budget is a bold new playbook for improving the quality of life and standard of living of Michiganders. At its core it rejects the notion that the lever that matters most to improving the well being…
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans' column for The PuLSE Institute entitled Michigan needs long-term poverty policy is worth reading. Both in its call for making attacking poverty a priority and for taking on the conventional wisdom about the causes of…
2017 per capita income data for states has been published. What the data make clear for Michigan is that we are now structurally a low-prosperity state. No matter whether the state's and the nation's economy is growing or declining Michigan's…