Taxpayer Costs For Average State Employee Increased From $79K in 2001 to $95K in 2011

In 2001, the state paid $3.9 billion to 62,057 full-time employees, an average of $63,474 in total compensation for each employee. In 2011, the state paid $4.7 billion to 47,818 full-time employees, meaning total compensation per worker jumped to $97,883. The Mackinac Center received the compensation data in a Freedom of Information Act request from the state’s Civil Service Commission.

When adjusted for inflation, the state spent $4.8 billion in 2001 on employee compensation and $4.5 billion in 2011 despite having 23 percent fewer workers. Average compensation increased from $78,999 in 2001 to $94,888 in 2011 when adjusted for inflation. more …

Analysis: The Unstoppable Teacher Pension Fund Monster

The state’s teacher retirement system continues to increase burdens on taxpayers and local school districts. The costs exploded in the recent years, and without substantial reform there is no reason to expect that trend to change. more …

Award-Winning Reporter, Editor Joins Michigan Capitol Confidential as Managing Editor

Home Health Care 'Dues Skim' Worse Than Previously Thought

According to figures provided by the Department of Human Services, far more home healthcare providers were ensnared in Michigan's “forced unionization” of 2006 than previously believed. There are 60,190, which is more than 25 percent higher than the 43,000 reported up to now. more …

Commentary: Right-to-Work-for-Yadda-Yadda-Yadda

If there is a challenge in defending the right-to-work concept, it isn't researching or writing, it's boredom. Union officials continue to tell the same stories. After a while the material you have to read through and rebut gets repetitive. more …

Nation’s Highest Gas Tax Coming To Michigan?

Michigan could potentially have the nation’s highest gas tax if Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposal to replace the state motor fuel tax with a higher wholesale tax becomes law. more …

Indiana Is A Right-to-Work State

Michigan now has a right-to-work state as a neighbor, as Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed legislation Wednesday afternoon making his state the 23rd right-to-work state in the nation and the first in the Manufacturing Belt. Under the legislation, unions and companies cannot negotiate contracts that force employees to financially support a union as a condition of employment. more …

Trash Collectors = Green Jobs? Prez Campaign Ad Claims Green Energy Job Growth From Criticized Study

Former Vice President Al Gore didn't invent the Internet, but apparently President Barack Obama wants voters to believe he created trash collectors and bus drivers.

His first campaign ad of 2012 uses claims made in a debunked study that counted such jobs to boost its “green energy” job count above 2 million. more …

Is President Obama Correct That State Budget Cuts Are the ‘Largest Factor’ In Tuition Increases?

In a speech delivered last Friday at the University of Michigan, President Obama said that the “largest factor” in tuition increases at colleges and universities is state budget cuts in higher education. But overall operating expenses at U-M and most Michigan public universities have risen substantially in recent years, regardless of state funding.

Dems' Plan: Scale Back Select Corporate Tax Credits They Already Voted For

A new proposal from state Senate Democrats would pay the college tuition of Michigan students by eliminating “ineffective tax loopholes.”

However, these same “ineffective tax loopholes” for particular businesses include ones these politicians have overwhelmingly supported over the past several years. more …

Commentary: Charter Schools Face Discrimination in Michigan

Charters often face another obstacle that should anger taxpayers: Hostile discrimination from conventional school districts. Shockingly, many school boards have blocked charter schools from purchasing vacant school buildings at a fair market value. These districts waste money maintaining empty buildings, and keeping other below-capacity schools open, simply to deny their use by another public school. more …

Is Congressman Ron Paul Supporting Select Energy Subsidies?

It’s the bill that has Tea Party favorites Ron Paul and Michigan Congressman Justin Amash pitted against each other. House Resolution 1380 has been called everything from the “T. Boone Pickens” bill to "the next Solyndra.” Its official name is the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions Act of 2011.

According to the Club For Growth, the bill offers about $5 billion in tax credits to boost production of natural gas vehicles. more …

'Birthday Tax' Unveiled in Lansing

Legislation been introduced that reportedly would extract more than $1 billion from motorists through a new state fuel tax and a huge increase in the vehicle registration tax. The latter, paid each year on a car owner’s birthday, would increase 67 percent on average. Happy Birthday taxpayer! Now, give your state government $60 more. more …

Bringing Freedom to Afghanistan

Professor Abul Ahrar Ramizpoor was 9 years old when troops from the U.S.S.R. rolled into Afghanistan in 1979. He remembers standing with his family, feeding their small library of books one-by-one into the fire. They had heard stories of the Soviet Communists murdering “intellectual” Afghan citizens and Ramizpoor’s father wanted to keep his family safe.

Today he is married with two young children and works as a United Nations human rights officer. He has also started Afghanistan’s first free-market think tank promoting classical liberal values. more …

Michigan's Solyndra?

Former Gov. Jennifer Granholm made a deal with a group of wealthy and politically connected individuals in Oakland County to use state pension funds to guarantee $18 million they borrowed to set up a film studio in Pontiac, essentially making the pension fund the “co-signer” on the loan. more …

'We Found a Place Where Our Children's Safety Would Never Be An Issue'

The Michigan House Education Committee is considering lifting the enrollment cap on the number of families that can take advantage of publicly funded cyber charter public schools. No more than 2,000 students may enroll in these schools under current law.

Below is an interview with Brian Kevelin, a parent who sends his children to one of Michigan’s two cyber charter schools — Michigan Virtual Charter Academy. more …

Helping Districts Deal With Deficits

“Not only do you have that health care legislation sitting out there, you've got an emergency manager possibility for a district that has been in deficit for a while,” Van Beek said. “Having their members pay more for health care is far better than having an emergency manager come in and void their contracts or set them aside for a period.” more …

U-M Forced Grad Student Unionization Case: Court Approves One-Sided Hearing

Those opposing unionization of graduate student research assistants at the University of Michigan will be left out in the cold. That's the gist of an Michigan Court of Appeals ruling. more …

When Will Right-to-Work Come to Michigan?

Rep. Mike Shirkey, R-Clark Lake, is expected to introduce right-to-work legislation in the Michigan House. Under such a law, employers and unions would be prohibited from negotiating contracts that require non-union employees to pay union dues.

With Indiana moving toward right-to-work status, the issue appears to be heating up in Michigan. more …

Commentary: Right-to-Work Will Keep Michigan Competitive

Indiana may soon become America's 23rd right-to-work state: Legislation is under consideration in both chambers of the Indiana Legislature, and Gov. Mitch Daniels said he will sign such a bill. Michigan may need to adopt such a law to better compete for jobs and talent. more …