This article originally appeared in The Detroit News December 9, 2025.
Alex Tokarev grew up in Bulgaria during the Cold War. Life under socialism, he says, was “miserable.” Twenty-five years ago, he and his wife moved to the United States, and he now teaches economics at Northwood University in Midland. Tokarev offers a blunt warning for Americans flirting with socialism.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News December 2, 2025.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who took some of the most aggressive measures in the country during COVID-19, recently said she has no desire to review her pandemic management. Appearing on the Financial Audit podcast Nov. 3, the governor deflected when host Caleb Hammer questioned Michigan’s lockdown policies.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News November 25, 2025.
Last Thursday night in Detroit, the Federalist Society Michigan Lawyers Chapter honored a public interest lawyer who has made an indelible mark on Michigan’s legal environment.
The Federalist Society, a network of conservative and libertarian lawyers, conferred its prestigious Grano Award on Patrick J. Wright, who directs the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation.
This article originally appeared in the Washington Examiner October 6, 2025.
Government unions are fighting President Donald Trump tooth and nail. The American Federation of Government Employees alone has filed numerous lawsuits to block the president from reforming the federal workforce and rolling back collective bargaining at government agencies. Unions claim that the president’s actions hurt workers, the economy, and even the country as a whole.
The year 2025 produced little agreement between Michigan’s Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate. That’s not bad news for Michigan taxapyers. Lawmakers went an entire year without approving more spending on select business subsidy programs. That is the first time lawmakers have avoided giving corporate welfare to local favorites since at least 2000, when the Mackinac Center began its Business Subsidy Scorecard.
Michigan policymakers overhauled the state’s auto insurance laws in 2019. Drivers were paying some of the highest premiums in the country and had for decades. Michigan’s “no-fault” insurance laws were the only in the country that required every driver to purchase unlimited personal injury coverage. Forcing everyone to buy uncapped insurance for medical expenses resulting from a car accident led to expensive mandatory premiums.
I love the holiday season. I love being bundled up inside with the wood stove going and a fresh blanket of snow across the ground. I enjoy spending time with family and friends, and celebrating the season with holiday lights and baked goods. I also enjoy the tradition of sawing down a tree and dragging it into my house. Finally, I thoroughly enjoy watching holiday-themed movies, including the countless versions of “A Christmas Carole” (the Muppets version being my favorite), “The Grinch,” “The Christmas Chronicles,” “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” “Assault on Precinct 13” (John Carpenter’s version, which is far superior to Die Hard), and even the classic “Santa’s Slay” featuring none other than Bill Goldberg as Saint Nick.
This article originally appeared in the Washington Times July 9, 2025.
Unions like to claim that they are the ultimate champions for workers, fighting for better pay and benefits. But do they deliver? A new report from the Mercatus Center, paired with recent news about layoffs at UPS, suggests unions might not be the golden ticket workers hope for.
With 15 years of life left, there is no urgency to close the J.H. Campbell, coal-fired power plant near Holland. It supplies 10% of Michigan’s electric demand. The plant’s owner, Consumers Energy, invested a billion dollars in air pollution control equipment to dramatically reduce emissions at Campbell and other coal plants. The company also signed an agreement with Ashcor this year to recycle all the residual coal ash into concrete.
While lawmakers have ended the worst excesses of Michigan’s business subsidy programs, they are still likely to continue taking money from taxpayers and giving it to select businesses. A bipartisan group of Michigan House members introduced a package of bills to fix some problems with the policies.
This article originally appeared in Crain’s Detroit Business September 19, 2025.
For much of the 20th century, the Midwest was the engine of American manufacturing. Cities and small towns alike prospered from factories that produced cars, appliances, steel, and furniture.
This article originally appeared in the Lansing State Journal May 14, 2025.
Voters rejected a second consecutive school bond proposal in St. Johns and by a larger margin than the first. There appears to be a disconnect between the priorities of voters in the St. Johns School District and those of school officials.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News November 17, 2025.
A recent admission by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer casts doubt on her aggressive COVID-19 lockdown decisions. Appearing on Financial Audit, a popular podcast with 2.65 million YouTube subscribers, the governor talked primarily about Michigan’s finances. During the interview, host Caleb Hammer pressed Whitmer on her “weird” lockdown policies.
This article originally appeared in Crain’s Detroit Business June 25, 2025.
Sheetz, a Pennsylvania-based company that sells gasoline and made-to-order food, wants to expand its footprint in Michigan. The chain, which offers a wide selection of decent meals at a low cost, has plans to add dozens of new stations in metro Detroit.
The Michigan Senate voted to authorize spending $1.9 billion on a program to support developers and their building projects. If enacted into law, the bill would be the first addition to the business subsidy scorecard in 2025. The program, advocates say, secures “transformational” buildings. But it has failed to deliver on its promise, and lawmakers ought to have higher standards before giving it more to spend on developer subsidies.
The push to transform education has accelerated in recent years, largely because parents are asking more of their schools. Chris Waston, founder and developer of the AI tool EdLoop, is one of the entrepreneurs rising to meet that demand. On The Overton Window Podcast, he shares his experiences as an educator and parent while describing the platform he built to close the “gap that exists in the feedback loop in schools today.”
This article originally appeared in National Review September 21, 2025.
The jockeying for the 2028 presidential race is well underway, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer will surely be a contender for Democrats. So it’s worth paying attention to her ongoing debate with the state legislature over Michigan’s direction. By the end of the month, when the state budget is due, Americans will know if she’s moving toward commonsense spending and problem-solving — or doubling down on a failed and unaffordable vision of more taxes and spending.
This article originally appeared in the Detroit Free Press August 19, 2025.
Since Detroit’s financial collapse and 2013-2014 bankruptcy, the dramatic revitalization of downtown has been a major part of the city’s comeback story.
Numerous vacant buildings have been rehabbed and converted from office use to upscale apartments and hotels. Once-darkened storefronts now hold retailers such as Gucci, H&M, Nike and a future Apple Store. Every month seems to bring a new restaurant opening.
This article originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal August 1, 2025.
California isn’t only the No. 1 state for illegal immigrants. It’s also the top state for illegal cigarettes. The reason is clear: heavy-handed government. The Golden State has banned some popular cigarettes while jacking up taxes on the smokes that remain. The result has been a rise in crime, lost revenue and yet another lesson in unintended—yet entirely predictable—consequences.
This article originally appeared in the Washington Examiner June 23, 2025.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer seems all but certain to run for president, and voters need to know about a uniquely concerning part of her record. She has overseen an explosion of earmarks — the pork-barrel spending that politicians dole out without regard to taxpayers — including more than a billion dollars in her latest state budget alone. More taxpayer-funded goodies are surely on the way.
After eliminating the funding source for the state’s largest business subsidy program, Michigan legislators have introduced a replacement, calling it the “Real Jobs for Michigan,” part of a two-bill package sponsored by Rep. Mike Hoadley, R-Au Gres and Mark Tisdel, R-Rochester Hills. The proposal has some distinct and different features from previous initiatives intended to spur job growth. But giving preferences to companies is ineffective at delivering good economic outcomes to Michigan.
The Michigan Legislature is considering bills to allow nurse practitioners to be independent operators, which they currently can do in most states. Recent research suggests this would lead to fewer malpractice lawsuits, better care that leads to hospital stays being shorter, and fewer preventable deaths.
For most of American history, the United States – and Michigan – had no zoning at all. Detroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, and other major cities grew rapidly before municipal zoning codes existed. The most stringent forms of zoning were created only during the past few decades.
This article originally appeared in the Washington Times June 23, 2025
In the wake of immigration protests that rocked California and spread across America, many union members are wondering: Why is my money supporting this chaos?
David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union California, was recently arrested on charges of impeding immigration enforcement in Los Angeles. Video shows Mr. Huerta blocking the driveway of a federal detention center. He was later released on a $50,000 bond. The violent and destructive protests that swept the “City of Angels” spread across the country, and labor unions proudly supported and even led them.
This article originally appeared in USA Today May 19, 2025.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer may as well have already declared herself as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028.
In a much-ballyhooed speech last month in Washington, D.C., Whitmer promised to get America building again, with the slogan “Build, America, Build.” Whitmer certainly knows how to tap into popular sentiment. She also has good political instincts.
