Further Down the Rabbit Hole: Forced Unionization 'Dues Skim' Linked To West Coast Scandal

Rickman Jackson came to Michigan directly from Los Angeles. The Service Employees International Union Local 6434 official was the protégé of an influential union boss and the guy who signed the collective bargaining agreement that made the "Home Healthcare Dues Skim" in Michigan possible.

More than $28 million has been taken from home health care workers' checks since that happened, but Jackson wasn't around long to see how the union he represented continues to profit from the “skim.” more …

Bill To Stop Graduate Student Unionization Moves

The Senate Government Operations Committee Tuesday approved legislation (SB 971) to prevent the unionization of graduate student research assistants (GSRAs) at the University of Michigan. The vote was 3-2, with Republicans in support and the Democrats opposing. more …

Unemployment Rate Not as Rosy as it Appears

Michigan’s workforce has dropped from 5.1 million in January 2006 to 4.6 million in December 2011. Michigan added 13,000 jobs in December of 2011, but the labor force decreased by 11,705 jobs.

“The labor force and employment are moving in opposite directions and that’s strange,” said James Hohman, a fiscal policy analyst with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Hohman estimates that if Michigan had maintained the same number of people in the workforce as December 2007, and if all of the labor force drop-outs were instead classified as unemployed, Michigan’s unemployment rate would be at 16 percent. more …

Digital Learning Day

Feb. 1 was the nation's first ever "Digital Learning Day." The Alliance for Excellent Education led this effort to bring attention to how schools are using digital learning and how technology can help improve education. more …

Despite Deficit, Some Dearborn Top Officials Got Boosts in Pay

Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly’s message to the city’s residents in the 2011 budget was they’d have to pay higher taxes due to severe budget issues. Yet, a look at gross income shows that the top city administrators saw lucrative pay increases while many lower-paid Dearborn employees took pay cuts in 2011. more …

Unplugged: 'Educators-Know-Best' Video Clip Ordered Taken Down

A video of a Michigan educator telling politicians that parents may not know what was best for their children was making national headlines when Michigan Government TV told the people who bought it they were violating terms of the agreement. more …

Should Threats Against Legislators Have Stricter Penalites?

A bill introduced in the Michigan Legislature would outlaw death threats against public officials or their immediate family members. But even before it was formally introduced, questions arose: Why just public officials? Why not everyone? more …

Commentary: Wishful Thinking, Legalistic Hairsplitting and Hysteria From the Michigan AFL-CIO

In a column, Michigan AFL-CIO President Karla Swift simultaneously calls for unity while demonstrating why the undeniably contentious battle over a right-to-work law is indeed necessary. By exemplifying the union establishment's tendency to wishful thinking, legalistic hairsplitting and hysteria, Swift shows how unions have let many workers down, why workers have lost faith in unions, and why workers shouldn't be forced to pay union dues or fees to keep a job. more …

High Costs Force School District to Drop Union-Connected Health Plan

In its previous union contract, Ravenna Public School teachers didn’t make any payments for health care premiums for the Michigan Education Special Services Association (MESSA) insurance, often referred to as the “Cadillac of insurance plans.”

But when Gov. Rick Snyder signed a law that required public employers to pay no more than 80 percent of the annual cost of medical benefits, it started a ripple effect across the state that will save taxpayers millions. more …

Commentary: MEA's Hyperbole About Cyber Charter Schools

The president of the state’s largest government employee union, the Michigan Education Association, recently said the for-profit education management companies that manage online charter public schools here will make “hundreds of millions of Michigan taxpayer dollars” if a bill is passed increasing the arbitrary cap on the number of students allowed to enroll. This claim is laughable. more …

Roots of SEIU Forced Unionization 'Money Skim' Lead To Former ACORN Organizer

To pull off the “Home Health Care Dues Skim,” a signature was required to certify that the 43,000 people who provided for the needs of homebound patients statewide were employed by one entity.

Apparently, a former ACORN “community organizer” provided that signature. more …

Commentary: Would Michigan Have Been Better Off if the Sit-Down Strike had Failed?

As union officials reminisce about the glory days when workers really believed in their movement, it should be noted that GM could have reneged on that contract the very next day. The “contract” was signed under duress. Strikers had taken over GM property. The government either could not or would not remove them, but they had no legal right to remain there. The company would have been well within its rights to tear the thing up as soon as the strikers had gone home, fire the ringleaders, and dock the rest for lost time and damage to the plant.

And Detroit might very well be better off today if GM had done just that. more …

Illinois Woman Charged With Making Death Threats Against Mackinac Center

Last spring, a caller to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy unleashed a profane series of death and bomb threats in phone messages left at the center's headquarters in Midland, Mich.

On Feb. 2, Laura Campbell of Waukegan, Ill., was charged with making death and bomb threats against the Mackinac Center on April 1, 2011, according to court documents. She was to be arraigned on those charges Feb. 15, but the arraignment was rescheduled until next week, according to Kim Nerheim of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Corporate Welfare to Increase $20M in 2012

Commentary: Detroit Could Sell Off Assets to Avoid Insolvency

Without a doubt, selling assets could generate some badly needed revenue for the city while improving services for residents over the long term. The city might not be in such dire financial straits, however, had it heeded the recommendations of Mackinac Center Fiscal Policy Director Michael LaFaive when he recommended selling these and other assets more than 11 years ago. more …

Detroit: The Triumph of Progressive Public Policy

In 1950, Detroit was the wealthiest city in America on a per capita income basis. Today, the Census Bureau reports that it is the nation's 2nd poorest major city, just "edging out" Cleveland.

Could it be pure coincidence that the decline occurred over the same period in which union power, the city government bureaucracy, taxes and business regulations all multiplied? While correlation is not causation, it is striking that the decline in per capita income is exactly what classical economists predict would occur when wage controls are imposed and taxes are increased. more …

'Best Article on Wind Farms You Will Ever Read'

There are potentially fatal results from European wind energy, should this form of green delusion be carried to its logical extreme, and the pure destruction of wealth its massive misallocation of resources already represents (imagine hundreds of Solyndras). Thanks to members of the Michigan House and Senate, since 2008 the same dangerous and destructive folly is underway in the Great Lake State. more …

MSU Starts Student Health Care Mandate

Michigan State University is now mandating that its students be covered by health care insurance, a requirement being phased in with the current freshman class. more …

Commentary: When Stadium Deals Fizzle, Taxpayers Lose

The Detroit Tigers were a a few wins short of going to the World Series last year and getting that close has encouraged team ownership to open up its wallet and sign All Star first baseman Prince Fielder to a 9-year, $214 million deal in the hopes that he will help push the team over the top as well as continue strong attendance at Comerica Park.

Maybe with that extra revenue they will consider repaying Michigan taxpayers for the hundreds of millions of dollars that were used to subsidize the team's stadium. more …

Unemployment Rate Dropping But 'Disturbing Trend' Developing as Food Assistance Skyrockets

Although Michigan’s unemployment rate has been dropping lately, there’s a disturbing trend developing over the last decade.

One in five people in the state received food assistance from the state in 2011, up from 1 in 16 in 2001. more …