Published on May 25, 2001 – Non-MCPP Content
President Bush is right to recognize the fruitful role of America's private charities. But placing them on the federal dole risks undermining the independence that makes them so effective in the first place.
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Published on May 22, 2001
Was there some value in the gold standard that has been lost, and would there be any merit in re-establishing it in some way?
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Published on May 17, 2001 – Ask The Economist
How much thought should go into starting and operating a successful free market think tank?
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Published on May 15, 2001
Most economists now seem to agree that socialism as an economic theory is seriously flawed. So how do you explain the continuing embrace, by both major American political parties, of some form of socialism?
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Published on May 8, 2001 – Ask The Economist
Published on April 27, 2001 – Ask The Economist
To make progress in creating and sustaining a free and prosperous society, reformers must first correct many deeply rooted problems in labor law and in our education system.
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Published on April 20, 2001
Mackinac Center President Lawrence Reed responds to a high-school debate student's questions about the Electoral College and the nature of American government.
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Published on April 18, 2001
Published on April 10, 2001
The primary stimulus of a tax cut comes from the incentive effects with regard to work, thrift, and investment.
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Published on April 9, 2001
As the economy slows, many lawmakers and pundits want to scale back the size of President Bush's proposed tax cuts and "moderate" the cuts already enacted by Gov. Engler and the Michigan Legislature. But politicians happily engaged in budget surplus spending binges ought to remember that those tax dollars rightfully belong back with the people who earned them.
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Published on April 2, 2001 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
As price controls come off this month, Michigan consumers will begin paying the higher, market-level rates for natural gas that the rest of the country has already been paying. State legislators have wisely resisted calls to re-impose economically harmful, California-style price controls, and instead are wisely proposing tax credits and other market-friendly solutions.
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Published on March 30, 2001 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on March 28, 2001
Decades after the Prohibition Era ended, 29 states still prosecute a kind of mini-Prohibition of their own. But Michigan's liquor laws only choke off out-of-state competition and limit responsible consumers' choices.
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Published on March 9, 2001 – Michigan Privatization Report
Published on March 7, 2001
Published on March 6, 2001
California officials remain in the dark about how to properly deregulate electricity, but Michigan's plan proceeds more smoothly.
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Published on March 3, 2001 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Michigan Sen. James Couzens opposed President Coolidge's growth-promoting tax cuts in the 1920s. Proven wrong, he lost the support of citizens and his party. Will Michigan's senators make the same mistake today?
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Published on March 2, 2001 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
It's time to repeal an outdated state liquor law that does nothing but give monopoly status to in-state producers, raise prices, and limit choices for responsible Michigan consumers.
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Published on Feb. 2, 2001 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Here are seven New Year's resolutions Michigan's new Legislature can make to ensure greater prosperity and opportunity for all citizens.
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Published on Jan. 9, 2001 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Contrary to what some observers are arguing, it is far too soon to declare Michigan's experience with term limits for public officials a failure.
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Published on Dec. 8, 2000 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on Nov. 15, 2000
Promoting ethical values such as honesty, respect, and personal responsibility ought to be a top priority for freedom-loving Americans. The alternative is a nanny state that passes ever more laws to restrain citizens' poor behavior.
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Published on Nov. 7, 2000 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
"Free people are not equal and equal people are not free" is a profound truth that politicians forget when they try to force economic equality through punitive taxes and regulations.
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Published on Nov. 7, 2000 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
A proposed amendment to the state constitution, billed as a way to limit state interference in local affairs, would actually lead to costly litigation and greater government intrusion in the lives and businesses of Michigan citizens.
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Published on Oct. 2, 2000 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
People respond in powerful ways to economic incentives and disincentives. Public officials must keep this in mind when crafting or revising tax, welfare and other policies that either reward or punish responsible behavior.
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Published on Aug. 7, 2000 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is the proper response to those who wish to change the way Michigan Supreme Court justices are selected.
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Published on Aug. 7, 2000 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on June 13, 2000 – Michigan Privatization Report
Those who argue that price controls will make prescription drugs more affordable ignore lessons from Canada and other countries, where such measures have led to poorer quality health care.
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Published on May 31, 2000 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
(The Mackinac Center first published a version of this commentary in July 1996. As the 2000 presidential election approaches, its re-issuance is especially timely.) … more
Published on April 30, 2000 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on March 31, 2000 – News Release
A plan supported by Governor John Engler would invade consumers' privacy and severely hamper the fledgling Internet economy that is leading the way to growth and prosperity.
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Published on March 31, 2000 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
The U.S. constitution requires the federal government to conduct a national head count every 10 years, but many Americans are wondering why census officials ask so many nosy questions.
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Published on March 31, 2000 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Has the growth of tax-free Internet sales hurt state revenues or education funding? Is it "unfair" for sales over the Internet not to be taxed while other sales are taxed? Would imposing new taxes on the Internet do serious damage to the ability of this new form of commerce to thrive? Does the growth of tax-free online shopping pose a threat to traditional "bricks-and-mortar" retailers?
This study addresses these and other questions in order to provide state, local, and federal policy-makers with the intellectual and empirical ammunition they need to keep the taxman at bay.
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Published on March 31, 2000 – Study
Canada's socialized health-care system ensures that everything-including hospital food-becomes fodder for political battles. U. S. policy makers should resist calls to further socialize America's market-oriented health system.
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Published on Feb. 23, 2000 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Freedom brings the greatest human happiness and prosperity, as the bloody history of Russia, Cambodia, and other centrally planned societies shows.
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Published on Feb. 7, 2000 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
With the introduction of his Kodak Brownie camera in 1900, entrepreneurial genius George Eastman put photography within reach of average Americans for the first time.
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Published on Feb. 7, 2000 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on Feb. 1, 2000 – Michigan Privatization Report
The original meaning of the word emphasizes personal involvement with the needy, not impersonal and ineffective government programs.
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Published on Jan. 10, 2000 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on Jan. 6, 2000 – Ask The Economist
Published on Nov. 17, 1999 – Michigan Privatization Report
Detroit and other cities that outlawed "jitneys"-low-fare transportation service providers-at the urging of higher-priced taxi and bus companies should repeal their bans and let jitneys legally serve poor citizens who need a ride.
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Published on Nov. 1, 1999 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on Oct. 18, 1999
The 1929 stock market crash and subsequent Great Depression caused widespread suffering in Michigan. Could such economic disaster happen again today? Only if government pursues the disastrous policies of the 1920s and 1930s.
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Published on Oct. 4, 1999 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Does it make sense for Michigan taxpayers to subsidize a Wisconsin-based Lake Michigan ferry business so that it can unfairly compete with an unsubsidized, Michigan-based, ferry service?
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Published on Sept. 7, 1999 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
A recent report ranked the 50 states according to how much economic freedom each government allows its citizens to enjoy. How free are Michigan citizens?
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Published on Sept. 7, 1999 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Detroit should join Chicago, Philadelphia, and other big-city school districts to contract with private firms to save money and improve the quality of such support functions as busing, custodial, and food service.
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Published on June 7, 1999 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
A review of the 16 most-used high school economics textbooks in Michigan reveals that many contain gross errors and dangerous myths about the market economy and the proper role of government.
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Published on June 7, 1999 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
The Clinton administration that is contemplating a new lawsuit against tobacco companies is the same administration that has denied veterans' requests for coverage of diseases thought to be related to smoking.
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Published on May 3, 1999 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
The people who push these cockamamie ideas never seem to ask why any employer would hire someone at $8.23 if that person's services are only valued in the marketplace at, say, $5.00.
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Published on May 3, 1999 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
The Michigan Supreme Court affirmed that the voters intended to place limits on taxes and governmental expansion.
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Published on April 5, 1999 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on Jan. 18, 1999 – Michigan Education Report
Investing in ideas – the
right ones, not just
any ideas – is a long-term investment, but one that has a
return every bit as tangible as the purchase of stock. The return on that investment – a stronger, freer society – is the one yield that
won't raise your tax bill and
will go a long way to assure that your children live as free and prosperous citizens.
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Published on Jan. 1, 1999 – Special Items
The close of the twentieth century finds Michigan in a position that seemed impossible
barely a decade ago: record low unemployment, a thriving economy, growing educational
opportunities, and a sense of accomplishment and high spirits. But much can be done to
make Michigan an even better place to live and work.
This report's five sections offer the Governor and the Legislature 41 specific
recommendations that will strengthen property rights protection, reform labor law to
protect worker rights, improve education for Michigan children, spur economic growth and
development, and enhance the state's transportation infrastructure.
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Published on Jan. 1, 1999 – Study
A nationwide survey of air travelers recently ranked Detroit Metro Airport dead last in quality and convenience. Contracting out the airport's management to a private firm-as other cities have done-could solve Metro's woes.
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Published on Aug. 3, 1998 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Children whose parents take an active role in their educations are among the most academically successful. The thousands of Michigan parents who teach their children at home should be applauded for demonstrating the ultimate in parental involvement.
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Published on July 6, 1998 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on June 1, 1998 – Michigan Privatization Report
The looming bankruptcy of Social Security threatens the retirement security of millions of workers. Michigan lawmakers should call on Congress to either privatize the system or let states design alternate plans.
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Published on May 4, 1998 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
More than 65 percent of Michigan citizens favor allowing parents to choose the schools their children attend. Which political party will have the courage to take the lead on educational choice initiatives?
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Published on Feb. 2, 1998 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on Jan. 29, 1998
(Editor's note: This publication was updated in April 2010.)
Students today are often given a skewed account of the Great Depression of 1929-1941 that condemns free-market capitalism as the cause of, and promotes government intervention as the solution to, the economic hardships of the era. In this essay based on a popular lecture, Mackinac Center for Public Policy President Lawrence W. Reed debunks the conventional view and traces the central role that poor government policy played in fostering this legendary catastrophe.
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Published on Jan. 1, 1998
An audit that found flaws in Michigan charter schools suggests the need for more education reform, not less.
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Published on Nov. 10, 1997 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Did the gold standard in any way "cause" the Great Depression?
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Published on Nov. 1, 1997 – Ask The Economist
Do balanced budgets cause depressions?
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Published on Nov. 1, 1997 – Ask The Economist
How does one respond to the idea that government needs to regulate monopolies? More specifically, in laissez faire economics, is there any time when government would intervene "for the consumer's good"?
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Published on Nov. 1, 1997 – Ask The Economist
What is your opinion of government student loan programs? Arent they helpful to students who cant afford the high costs of college?
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Published on Nov. 1, 1997 – Ask The Economist
Published on Sept. 1, 1997 – Michigan Privatization Report
Published on June 1, 1997 – Michigan Privatization Report
We can learn from how the Kiwis "down under" restored economic growth and productivity after decades of failed statist policies in New Zealand.
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Published on May 1, 1997 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Simplifying the tax code to require a single, flat rate would charge the economy with billions of dollars in productivity now wasted on tax paperwork.
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Published on April 1, 1997 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
No legislature can make a person worth more by making it illegal for job providers to that worker less.
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Published on Feb. 24, 1997 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Is it a mark of compassion to favor government aid programs for the poor? A look at the effectiveness of these programs and the traditional meaning of compassion help us tell the difference between those who just talk about compassion and those who actually practice it.
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Published on Jan. 6, 1997 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on Dec. 1, 1996 – Michigan Privatization Report
By forcing insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions, a proposed Michigan law may make health insurance harder to get, not easier.
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Published on Nov. 4, 1996 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Everyone agrees that Michigan's crumbling roads need to be fixed. The state needs to make road repair a higher priority, continue recent cost-saving and efficiency measures, and adopt other recommendations that apply market forces and sound economics to road funding.
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Published on Sept. 9, 1996 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
In Michigan, the same constitution that reads the "means of education shall forever be encouraged" is also the nation's strictest in forcing parents who choose an alternative to the public school system to pay twice for education. A tuition tax credit plan would provide some relief and address some of the flaws of a voucher system.
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Published on Sept. 9, 1996 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on Sept. 1, 1996 – Michigan Privatization Report
Historians usually give high marks to American presidents who expand the frontiers of government. Democratic President Grover Cleveland worked tirelessly to limit government and expand individual liberty in the late 1800s. Could he win election today with that philosophy?
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Published on Aug. 5, 1996 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Government consumes 41 percent of personal income-an indication that ours is an increasingly political society. Restoring civil society means seeking more to solve our own problems and looking less to government.
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Published on July 8, 1996 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
States are battling one another with arsenals of corporate welfare that use public money to attract select new factories and businesses. These counterproductive and discriminatory incentive programs should be replaced by more broad-based tax cuts and government reforms.
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Published on June 3, 1996 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Most people think government should do some things, but not every thing. Expanding government programs for things like "job creation" and "economic development" blurs the line between public and private.
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Published on June 3, 1996 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Almost every duty of local government has now been privatized, somewhere in Michigan. Privatization is emerging as a bipartisan, good-government initiative. Communities can benefit by merely considering the privatization option.
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Published on May 6, 1996 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on April 4, 1996
Alternative fuel subsidies and mandates distort the market signals that help make new technologies successful in the first place.
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Published on March 4, 1996 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
"Free people are not equal and equal people are not free," is a profound truth that politicians forget when they try to force economic equality through punitive taxes and restrictions. Michigan's former inheritance and intangibles taxes are examples.
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Published on Feb. 5, 1996 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Some consider freedom of choice a serious threat to organized labor. Michigan law denies many workers the right to choose whether or not to support a labor union. The twenty-one states which guarantee this freedom to choose through right-to-work laws also enjoy greater economic growth, job creation, and real wages.
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Published on Jan. 8, 1996 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
American education is still burdened by the thing that caused the economies of Eastern Europe to disintegrate-central planning that all but obliterates individual initiative and accountability. Private-practice teaching is an innovation that gives teachers more freedom and incentive; provides administrators more flexibility and cost savings; and allows more choice and improved education to students.
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Published on Oct. 2, 1995 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
An initiative to provide Michigan public school students and parents greater choice in school selection would benefit students and schools. Opponents of school choice defend the existing system and status quo, and find themselves opposing freedom instead of helping to make it work.
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Published on Oct. 2, 1995 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Published on Aug. 28, 1995
If you wanted something done in your community, would it ever occur to you to send a check to Washington, D.C., so the federal bureaucracy could take a cut before sending back the rest?
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Published on May 1, 1995 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Government subsidies for a new Tiger Stadium amount to corporate welfare. Other big businesses have to raise their own private capital-why not baseball? This article makes the philosophical and economic case for private sports facilities.
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Published on May 1, 1995 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Two new laws take effect in April 1995 that will help Michigan's 1.7 million school children and their parents. Will schools take advantage of the newly created freedoms and opportunities?
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Published on April 3, 1995 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
Michigan's turbocharged economy is a result of courageous government streamlining and downsizing. If the federal government is serious about "reinventing," it should follow Michigan's blueprint.
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Published on March 6, 1995 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
What do economics, experience, and political philosophy tell us about government and its proper role in society? In this time of great change in Washington and in the 50 states, Mackinac Center for Public Policy President Lawrence Reed addressed that critical question before a field hearing of the United States Senate Budget Committee. This transcript of his testimony, founded on seven key ideas, is inspirational.
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Published on Feb. 27, 1995 – Special Items
Welfare programs are one of the most unpopular of government activities. Though Michigan has made progress over the past four years, the real challenge lies ahead: making assistance to the needy a private initiative instead of a government responsibility.
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Published on Jan. 9, 1995 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
During the elections of 1994, the voters spoke with uncommon clarity about the role of government in their lives. Governor John Engler was re-elected to be a risk-taker, not a caretaker. In this advisory document, the Mackinac Center recommends several specific measures for education reform, labor law reform, and economic development. 5 pages.
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Published on Nov. 15, 1994 – Study
Public Act 362 of 1993 authorized charter schools and did not violate the Michigan Constitution. Charter schools are a creative way to make changes within public schools. However, luring private schools into the public domain with tax dollars is a danger.
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Published on Nov. 7, 1994 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
A comparable worth scheme imposed on the economy would arbitrarily abolish the role of supply and demand in the labor market. Markets set wages better than any artificial, political contrivance could ever hope to.
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Published on Sept. 6, 1994 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
The Michigan legislature regularly spends taxpayers' money on resolutions of tribute for an array of special interests, individuals and groups.
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Published on Aug. 1, 1994 – Viewpoint on Public Issues
The state of Michigan should privatize its workers compensation insurer, but not by selling it to a quasi-public entity that enjoys many government-granted privileges.
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Published on June 1, 1994 – Viewpoint on Public Issues