Economist Milton Friedman would be 101 today. His passing several years ago was lamentable but many of his ideas — involving monetary policy and price theory, for instance — are immortalized in his many scholarly books, academic papers and tributes by fellow scholars who knew him best.
"Free to Choose," a 10-part television series starring Milton Friedman and highlighting free-market principles, first aired over 30 years ago. The education episode begins with students at Hyde Park High School, the camera panning across metal detectors and armed policemen surveillance as students enter school.
The House and Senate are in the midst of a summer break, so rather than votes this report contains several recently introduced bills of interest.
Senate Bill 391: Allow electronic "proof of insurance"
Introduced by Sen. Michael Green (R), to allow “proof of insurance” documents motorists are required to have when driving under the state’s no-fault insurance law to be an electronic communication from the insurance company. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.
Rod Lockwood, a member of the Mackinac Center’s board, was on Fox Business with John Stossel Thursday night discussing his idea to purchase and develop Belle Isle.
Center analysts have long recommended Detroit sell the island and use the money to help pay down a portion of its crushing debt.
As we read in Ecclesiastes, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Based on recent examples, this also applies to politicians’ press releases about government "economic development" programs and projects.
There are many issues that led to bankruptcy in Detroit and everyone and his brother seems to have a theory.
Rather than rehashing the reasons why Detroit went bankrupt, let’s discuss what did not save it: Flashy projects.
Back in 2005, my colleague Michael LaFaive compiled a partial list of bold proclamations about projects in the Motor City:
Editor Lindsey Dodge was a guest on “Capital City Recap” with host Mike Cohen on WILS AM1320 in Lansing Wednesday evening, discussing her blog post on Detroit’s bankruptcy posted at the Independent Women’s Forum.
Dodge points out that cultural issues are a symptom, not a cause, of Detroit’s problems and explains that bad policy decisions are the root cause of the city’s failings.
Several news reports indicate protests are taking place across the country over the minimum wage, with Lansing and Detroit intending to host their own, according to MLive.com. There are a number of problems with governments' wage floors.
Minimum wage laws:
Mackinac Center President Joseph G. Lehman was cited in a Reuters story today explaining why the state of Michigan should not bail out Detroit.
“Detroit needs a game changer,” Lehman suggested, rather than more state aid. He pointed to the elimination of the city income tax as one preferred option, something Fiscal Policy Director Michael LaFaive suggested in this Detroit News Op-Ed more than seven years ago.
Michigan’s recent increase in unemployment was caused by an uptick in the number of people looking for work.
While an increased proportion of people looking for work is rarely good news, this time it is. The reversal of the state’s long-term trend of losing its workforce is a positive for the state.
What impact will Detroit’s bankruptcy have on other municipalities? Fiscal Policy Director Michael LaFaive told Fox News: “I would hope cities are looking at their under-funded liabilities and the health care costs associated with future and current retirees.”
The Mackinac Center, in conjunction with the ACLU of Michigan and the Michigan Press Association, will host a town hall meeting on government transparency from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Northwood University in Grand Rapids, according to MLive.
The House and Senate are in the midst of a summer break, so rather than votes this report contains several recently introduced bills of interest.
Senate Bill 331: Repeal expanded "emergency manager" powers
Introduced by Sen. Coleman Young (D), to repeal the 2012 law that greatly expanded the powers of emergency managers appointed by the state to reform the finances of fiscally failed school districts and municipalities. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.
State, national and international media turned to the experts at the Center after the city of Detroit announced it had filed for bankruptcy Thursday afternoon.
Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, told National Public Radio that the situation is unprecedented.
The city of Detroit announced it has filed for bankruptcy. Gov. Snyder must still approve of the move. If he does, it is a sad day in the long decline of a once powerful city.
It did not need to come to this.
Warning signs were everywhere and only increased in intensity in recent years. As early as 2000 this author published an entire issue of the Mackinac Center’s flagship publication Michigan Privatization Report dedicated to Detroit’s fiscal problems and related solutions.
The state of Kentucky used occupational licensing laws to shut down an advice columnist, according to an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.
"Was Dear Abby a career criminal? Can 'The Dr. Oz Show' show be censored? Absolutely — at least according to the Kentucky attorney general and the state's Board of Examiners of Psychology, which just banned one of the most popular advice columns in the United States from all of Kentucky's newspapers," wrote Paul Sherman and Jeff Rowe, attorneys with the Institute for Justice, who are representing the columnist.
People embracing civil society is helping Detroit receive services where the city government has failed, according to Fox News, including volunteers who mow grass in city parks, a charter bus company and a civilian organization that helps board up abandoned buildings.
Detroit-area members of the media have high praise for Michigan Capitol Confidential in a story about the Center’s news outlet posted today at Columbia Journalism Review.
Bill Shea of Crain’s Detroit Business told CJR that the Mackinac Center is a “professional and responsive” organization and “a serious player in the state conversation,” noting that he thinks “It’s hard not to use them” as a source.
Although the Legislature is in a summer recess with occasional pro forma sessions and no votes expected until July 17 at the earliest, this week did see an attempt in the Senate to advance the Medicaid expansion bill to the Senate floor. This report contains the vote on that, and some recent votes of interest not included in previous issues for reasons of space.
In the Mackinac Center’s most recent bimonthly magazine IMPACT, my colleague Michael LaFaive has an interesting piece dealing with personal finance. It is worth extrapolating on some of the points.
In the article “Will Financial Illiteracy Harm Future Voters?” LaFaive wrote:
Education Policy Director Audrey Spalding was cited in the Port Huron Times-Herald on recent talk about school consolidation and her commentary on the matter appears in the Manistee News Advocate (subscription required).
Spalding told the Times-Herald she didn’t think countywide school districts would bring the savings proponents claim.
An Op-Ed by Editor Lindsey Dodge and Senior Legislative Analyst Jack McHugh explaining why Medicaid expansion is wrong for Michigan appears in The Detroit News today.
For more analysis and commentary on the matter, see here.
Executive Vice President Michael J. Reitz was a guest on “The Tony Conley Show” on WILS AM1320 in Lansing today, talking about the Center’s upcoming series of town hall meetings focusing on government transparency, the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act.
Detroit-area media are widely touting the accomplishments of Thirkell Elementary School, which is the top-ranked school on the Mackinac Center’s new Elementary and Middle School Context and Performance report card. Thirkell is one of eight in Detroit Public Schools that placed among the top 100 on the report card. Some 2,300 schools statewide were ranked.
Once again, Michigan education officials are floating the idea of school district consolidation as a cost-savings measure. This time, State Superintendent Mike Flanagan is proposing that school districts be required to centralize certain services at the county or regional level.
