In a March 2011 I wrote a post about how the Tax Foundation's rankings compare to state economic well being. I did something similar in a column for Dome in 2009. Both presented data that doing well in business climate…
Governor Snyder’s special message on talent is quite remarkable. The fact that there was a special message – reserved for only the state’s top priorities – on talent is noteworthy in and of itself. Believe me talent never before has…
As I wrote in my last post, being a low tax and spending state and/or right to work state has little to do with how well a state's economy performs. But they remain popular "answers" to reviving the Michigan economy.…
I started a presentation at the West Michigan Policy Forum with a thought experiment. Which of two state economies would you prefer for Michigan? State A per capita income $43,000, unemployment rate of 6.8%, poverty rate of 9.6% or State…
High praise for LivingstonDaily.com for a story destroying the claim by a Republican State Senate candidate that Minnesota is a low tax state. Finally someone in the media is willing to check the facts on all the claims that low…
Why spend so much time on Mississippi? Because Michigan needs to get on a new path. And one of the ways of identifying that path is to look at states that are doing well now and/or positioned to do well…
In my last post I asked the question "do higher growth rates predict that Mississippi will have higher per capita income than Minnesota?" I picked the two states because the Mackinac Center argues that, due to higher growth rates, Mississippi…
In a series of columns the Mackinac Center asserts that Mississippi is a state that Michigan should use as model. One criticized a recent post I wrote in which I restated the core Michigan Future belief that what made Michigan…
One of the key questions I think we should ask every 2010 candidate is "if your economic development strategy works, what state would Michigan look like?" We need to know what kind of future economy they envision for the state.…