Published on Feb. 5, 2011 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Jan. 28, 2011 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Jan. 27, 2011 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Jan. 18, 2011 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Dec. 16, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Dec. 10, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Dec. 7, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Dec. 6, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Nov. 23, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Nov. 17, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Nov. 12, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Nov. 5, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Nov. 3, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Oct. 27, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Oct. 21, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Oct. 20, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Oct. 19, 2010
The headline of
a story today's Detroit Free Press characterizes Gov. Jennifer Granholm's understanding of the state film production subsidies' role like this: "Goal of film tax credit is jobs, not more revenue." This reminds one of the late economist Milton Friedman's question upon seeing a U.S. taxpayer-funded public works project in a poor country where thousands of men with shovels were moving dirt one spadeful at a time.
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Published on Oct. 11, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Oct. 5, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
On Thursday the plug was
officially pulled on a monumentally hyped film endeavor in Allen Park called "Unity Studios." There were no press releases from the Governor's office or the Michigan Economic Development Corp. announcing the evaporation of the mirage.
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Published on Oct. 1, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Oct. 1, 2010
Published on Sept. 29, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Sept. 26, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Sept. 22, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Sept. 21, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Sept. 20, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Sept. 2, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Aug. 31, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Aug. 29, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Aug. 26, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Aug. 25, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Alleged
plagiarism in a study by an MSU scholar matters more than just as a violation of academic standards. The
deeply flawed study wildly exaggerates the amount that could be saved by consolidating Michigan school districts, which will divert attention from the
real solution to funding problems in Michigan public schools — scaling back
outsized employee compensation and
benefits. This is the second time in the last year that a flawed study was produced by an MSU professor that
serves the interests of government employees and their unions.
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Published on Aug. 23, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Aug. 17, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Aug. 15, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Aug. 11, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Here's how important I think Angelo M. Codevilla's American Spectator article is: It makes me think of Thomas Paine's
Common Sense.
Excerpt: "Our ruling class's agenda is power for itself. While it stakes its claim through intellectual-moral pretense, it holds power by one of the oldest and most prosaic of means: patronage and promises thereof."
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Published on July 27, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Yesterday, President Barack Obama and Gov. Jennifer Granholm came to Holland bearing gifts: cash subsidies for an electric car battery plant owned by the Korean firm LG Chem. The federal contribution is $151 million in "stimulus" money, and Michigan taxpayers are kicking in another $100 million. This means that each of the plant's approximately 400 jobs will cost taxpayers $625,000. At this rate, it would cost $5
trillion to provide employment to the approximately 8 million Americans who lost have their jobs in the current downturn.
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Published on July 18, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on July 17, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on July 12, 2010
Published on July 2, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on June 29, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on June 22, 2010
Efforts to break the political stranglehold by rearranging the institutional furniture at best consumes energy better spent striking at the real root of our problems.
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Published on June 14, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on June 7, 2010
Published on May 10, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on May 10, 2010
Published on May 1, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Tax Day Tea Party rallies were held across the state and nation last week, with mixed results in turnout. Regardless of the exact attendance, the movement represents a potent new force on the American political landscape. Its leaders and members are currently focused on changing the composition of Congress in November, but their real challenge will be finding ways after the election to pressure the political class — especially Republicans — to stick to the fiscal restraint promises made in the heat of the campaign.
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Published on April 20, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
In 1992, incumbent Republican Congressman
Bob Davis chose not to run for re-election in the Michigan 1st District because he was one of the top five politicians implicated in the House “
check kiting“ scandal. Davis had represented the district covering the northern Lower Peninsula and the entire Upper Peninsula since 1978. Poor decisions made then by a state Republican establishment alienated many grass roots “true believers” in the district, opening the door for a former one-term Democrat state Representative, who won and went on to an 18-year Congressional career.
Fast forward to 2010: The 1st District seat has once again become open due to a misstep by the incumbent, that once little-known Democrat who won the seat in 1992. His name, of course, is Bart Stupak, and the misstep was his vote in favor of President Barack Obama’s health care bill. And once again, members of the Republican establishment are making moves that could diminish grass roots support for the party’s eventual candidate in the November general election, potentially leading to the ascension of yet another Democrat “dynasty” in the 1st District.
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Published on April 15, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
The Legislature returns today after a two-week break to take up perhaps the greatest challenge facing state government since 1983: an estimated $1.5 billion budget shortfall. Making this all the more difficult is the apparent inability of lawmakers to adopt what most struggling private-sector
workers and small-business
owners view as modest reductions in state employee pay and benefits. That failure was highlighted in three separate events just before the break.
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Published on April 13, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on March 24, 2010
Published on March 3, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Feb. 28, 2010 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Dec. 18, 2009
On Aug. 5, 2009, Sen. Jason Allen, R-Traverse City, introduced
Senate Bill 731, which would give statutory cover to a scheme transferring approximately $6.6 million in taxpayer money annually to the SEIU government employee union, one of the parents of ACORN. Wendy Day of
Common Sense in Government has reported on Facebook that Allen was the recipient of a
$2,000 campaign contribution from the SEIU on June 22, six weeks before SB 731 was introduced. In another post she hints that the bill was related to SEIU support of former state representative Mike Nofs in a November 2009 special election. The SEIU endorsed Nofs on August 22nd, two weeks after SB 731 was introduced, and sent four full-time workers to help on his campaign.
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Published on Dec. 15, 2009 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
A review and analysis of important state legislative policy issues that do not always receive attention from the general media. Michigan Capitol Confidential will make it easier to keep tabs on your elected representatives in Lansing.
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Published on Oct. 27, 2009 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Oct. 5, 2009 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
The root of Michigan's ongoing budget debacle is government employee unions.
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Published on Oct. 1, 2009
Published on Aug. 4, 2009 – Michigan Education Report
Published on July 27, 2009
Published on June 22, 2009 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on June 9, 2009
Published on June 8, 2009 – News Release
Published on June 8, 2009 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on May 22, 2009
Published on May 15, 2009
Published on May 5, 2009 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on May 4, 2009 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on May 4, 2009 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on April 7, 2009
Published on April 2, 2009
Published on March 27, 2009
Published on March 23, 2009
Published on March 17, 2009 – Michigan Education Report
Published on March 16, 2009
Published on Feb. 26, 2009 – Michigan Capitol Confidential
Published on Jan. 27, 2009
Published on Jan. 5, 2009 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on Dec. 16, 2008
Published on Dec. 8, 2008
Published on Nov. 27, 2008
Published on Nov. 26, 2008
Published on Nov. 24, 2008 – Michigan Education Report
Published on Nov. 20, 2008
Published on Nov. 7, 2008
Published on Oct. 21, 2008
Published on Oct. 15, 2008
Published on July 28, 2008
Michigan’s political establishment has a proven ability to postpone the hard work of truly reforming and downsizing state government.
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Published on July 7, 2008 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
These failed policies will see Michigan taxpayers actually writing huge checks to politically “sexy” enterprises favored by political elites.
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Published on June 9, 2008 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on May 23, 2008
The competitors who are eating Michigan’s lunch aren’t Mexico or Canada, but other states where investors and entrepreneurs enjoy lower tax rates, better labor climates and fewer excessive and unreasonable regulations.
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Published on May 5, 2008 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on April 10, 2008
Clearly, if one is looking for the cause of economic growth or decline, the relative number of bachelor’s degrees in a state is a weak indicator at best..
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Published on April 7, 2008 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on March 14, 2008
Published on Feb. 6, 2008