The case for raising taxes

Talk about swimming upstream. That is what the Saginaw News has done in a terrific editorial where they argue the state needs to raise taxes to support higher education. The editorial is entitled: More college graduates would help Michigan grow,…

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A list you want to be on

Fascinating article on Yahoo Finance on the states with the highest proportion of households with incomes of $200,000 or more. There are now 4.5 million households in the country who earn more than $200,000, 3.8% of the population. The top…

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Straight Talk on the State Budget

Gary Olson, who is retiring as the head of the Senate Fiscal Agency, has some sound ideas on how to balance the state budget. He laid them out last week as reported by AnnArbor.com. Worth reading. According to the article…

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Choosing A Model for Michigan

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…

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The Real Minnesota Story

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…

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