The Wall Street Journal has a good "Weekend Interview" piece with Bob Woodson, head of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise. The group works in low-income areas to foster entrepreneurship, value creation and faith-based enterprises.
The whole interview is interesting, but one part in particular relating to government mandates for occupational licensing stuck out:
Economic revitalization is the chief rationale provided by backers of a $260 million taxpayer subsidy for the new Detroit Red Wings arena. The economic impact of Michigan’s favorite hockey team, however, is vastly exaggerated.
In fact, if this economic logic justifies subsidies, the state would be better off sending tax dollars to McDonald’s rather than to the Red Wings.
The Mackinac Center recently filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, urging justices to review a free speech case out of California.
At issue is Section 399b of the Public Broadcasting Act, which restricts core free speech by prohibiting public television stations from broadcasting paid advertisements, including issues of “public importance or interest.”
Gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer has released his plan for Michigan education. Rather than propose innovative solutions to Michigan's changing school environment, Schauer's plan appears to be largely directed toward protecting the status quo and making education more expensive.
Over the past decade, Mackinac Center for Public Policy analysts have pointed out that the Great Lake State ranked at the bottom of a number of economic measures and indicators.
In the last couple of years though, there has been far more good news to report than there used to be.
The Michigan Legislature is currently debating whether or not to send extra state money to Detroit. There have been three polls taken on this issue with fairly different results.
Lambert, Edwards & Associates/Denno found very high support, depending on how the money will be spent. I cannot find the exact language of how the question was asked, but this was in the press release:
Dr. Mark J. Perry, an economics professor at the University of Michigan-Flint, creator of the popular blog Carpe Diem and a member of the Center’s Board of Scholars, writes in the Lansing State Journal about House Bill 5108, which would remove restrictions on selling tickets to sporting events or concerts for more than face value.
As the prospect draws closer of a state bailout of Detroit at the expense of other critical needs, voters might want to examine more closely politicians’ skittishness toward selling off city assets. In particular, artwork owned by the city’s museum, an institution sustained by tax dollars (including a regional property tax favored by many of those same politicians in 2010).
The city of Detroit gets more revenue than every other Michigan city because of special treatment in state revenue sharing, casino taxes and utility taxes.
This extra money has not been enough to prevent its bankruptcy, nor were these the only favors extended to Detroit. The state also helped the city fight off insolvency by changing the rules for municipal borrowing.
Several Michigan Capitol Confidential reporters won awards from the Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists at its annual “Excellence in Journalism” dinner Wednesday night.
Jarrett Skorup won second place in the “Consumer/Watchdog” category for his stories on corporate welfare, asset forfeiture laws and government waste, while Jack Spencer took third place in the same category for his coverage of legislators attempting to define the term “journalist.”
Research Associate Jarrett Skorup writes in a Detroit News Op-Ed today about why support for a minimum wage hike is more about politics than people.
Mackinac Center analysts Michael LaFaive and Michael Farren write in a Detroit News Op-Ed today that Detroit could save millions of dollars by privatizing its transportation department.
The News yesterday cited LaFaive, director of the Center’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, about other privatization efforts Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr is considering, including several that Center experts have suggested for years.
Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr is considering several outsourcing options that Mackinac Center analysts suggested the city should pursue as long as 14 years ago, according to The Detroit News.
Among options being considered for privatization are Detroit City Airport, the water and sewer department and garbage collection.
Gov. Rick Snyder has proposed a partial bailout of the city of Detroit with a $350 million gift. The state has been providing special favors to Detroit for years and it hasn't prevented the Motor City from slipping into bankruptcy.
Detroit gets special rules from state policies that don't apply to any other city in Michigan. Many of these rules expand the city's ability to collect revenue. For instance, Detroit is the only city in the state that assesses a tax on residents' utility bills.
(Editor’s note: The following is an edited version of commentary that was originally posted at burtfolsom.com the website of Burton Folsom Jr., a history professor at Hillsdale College and a member of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy's Board of Scholars. It was written by Anita Folsom.)
As state politicians are primed to deliver $82 million more this year to state higher education institutions, it is appropriate to ask what taxpayers will get for this spending.
Unfortunately, there will not likely be much to show for it.
The only direct reward for state taxpayers is a promise that tuition will not increase on Michigan residents as much as it might otherwise. That's not to say that tuition will decrease because of the extra 5.7 percent in state spending. Institutions will just be limited to increases at double the rate of inflation if they want to be eligible for extra "performance funding."
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio is cited in The Detroit News today regarding President Obama’s recent visit to Michigan in his quest for a higher mandated minimum wage.
Vernuccio wrote in Michigan Capitol Confidential Wednesday that some 500 economists have signed an open letter opposing President Obama’s call for raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, and the Congressional Budget Office predicts such a move would result in the loss of 500,000 jobs.
Mackinac Center contributing author Michael Farren told WWMT-TV3 in Kalamazoo that the state should stop using tax dollars to subsidize Amtrak passengers. Farren pointed out that the subsidy comes from the gas tax, which means fewer dollars are available for road maintenance.
The Mackinac Center is pleased to announce that Jason E. Taylor has accepted an invitation to join its Board of Scholars. Taylor is the Jerry and Felicia Campbell Chair Professor of Economics at Central Michigan University, and a well-established scholar of 20th century economic history in the United States.
Mark J. Perry, a member of the Center’s Board of Scholars and a professor of economics at University of Michigan-Flint, writes in today’s Wall Street Journal about the alleged gap in pay equity between men and women.
(Editor's note: Funeral services for Margaret Ann "Ranny" Riecker will be held at 11 a.m. on April 14 at Memorial Presbyterian Church in Midland, Mich. A full obituary can be found here.)
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy mourns the loss of one of its founding directors, Margaret Ann “Ranny” Riecker, who passed away Monday at the age of 80 in Midland, Mich.
By Jack McHugh
The House and Senate are on a two-week spring break. Therefore, this report contains several recently introduced bills of interest.
Senate Bill 682: Impose additional charter school restrictions, mandates and taxes
Introduced by Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood, D-Taylor, to impose property taxes on charter schools; prohibit for-profit firms from managing charter schools; prohibit charter school authorizing bodies from authorizing any new schools unless students in the ones they have already chartered outperform conventional schools in the same school district by at least 20 percent; and more. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.
Recent press accounts describe the potential for steeper pension cuts for Detroit retirees if they reject a bankruptcy proposal made in February, and instead accept a new plan that, among other things, would insulate works in the city's art museum from potentially being sold off to satisfy both pensioners and creditors. The amended plan would also require a partial state bailout of the city.
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 862, Allow alcohol at Michigan Stadium international soccer game: Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate
To allow the sale of alcohol at the University of Michigan football stadium in Ann Arbor during a potential soccer game in August 2014 between the Manchester United and Real Madrid international soccer teams.
The Michigan Education Association has unveiled a new website that uses misleading information to try to make the case for more education funding.
Education spending is becoming an increasingly central issue to this year's gubernatorial campaign, and as a result, misinformation is rampant.
