When We Should Break a Promise

The Michigan Senate recently voted to cut the $140 million Michigan Promise Scholarship. Created in 2006, this tuition assistance program awards $4,000 to each student who achieves a proficient score on the Michigan Merit Exam. It also hands out another $4,000 to each student who fails to meet the MME proficiency level but maintains a 2.5 GPA in their first two years at a Michigan college.
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Buy American?

The recent turn of events in our nation's automotive industry has prompted many citizens to rethink what nameplate they'll purchase the next time they're in-market for a new vehicle. Chrysler and General Motors may soon shed what little brand loyalty remained prior to unprecedented government interference.
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High Tide

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports that Great Lakes water levels are up from this time a year ago. Lakes Michigan and Huron are up 12 inches, Lake Superior two inches and Lake Erie five inches while Lake Ontario is unchanged. Even Lake St. Clair is up nine inches. Erie and Ontario (and St. Clair) are between two and six inches above long-term monthly averages for June. Superior, Michigan and Huron are only 6 to 7 inches below long-term averages for June. While this change in the water levels is pronounced, it is not unusual. The Great Lakes have a history of considerable fluctuation in water levels.
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Right-to-Work Dashboard

This comparison of economic data shows how states with right-to-work laws are outperforming Michigan in several ways.
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Reading List

The media drumbeat of the declining fortunes of the Republican Party stands in contrast to the recent rise of a different sort of party — the citizen-led TEA parties that stand for Taxed Enough Already.
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Keep Private Enterprise Private

Many economists have long criticized government "economic development" programs — including selective business subsidies and tax incentives — as being wasteful and ineffective at "creating" new jobs.
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A First Step

A package of bills for reforming failing schools that was recently introduced by Rep. Timothy Melton, D-West Bloomfield, calls to mind two old sayings, both involving travel and — coincidentally — China. The first is an ancient one attributed to Lao Tzu: "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." The second, of more recent origin, is to the effect that only Nixon can go there.
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The Eternal Struggle

One might expect that a union would be a model employer: progressive in policy, generous in pay and benefits, sharing a commitment to the well-being of working folk and inspiring complete loyalty from employees. In short, one would think that if there was a workplace where workers would not see a need to unionize, it would be at a union.

And one would be wrong.
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Introducing the 2010 Chrysler Backfire

The restructuring of Chrysler is likely to fail because it does not address two of the company's shortcomings. First, Chrysler LLC has a surplus of labor and a shortage of customers. Second, Chrysler will need new investment. The Obama administration's bailout terms are vague as to how the company will develop marketable cars, and border on vicious in the treatment of investors, but bend over backwards to protect the interests of labor — which gets the Chrysler hierarchy of needs in reverse.
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Eight Is Not Enough

On June 8, 2009, Jack McHugh, senior legislative analyst for the Mackinac Center, was a guest on "The Frank Beckmann Show" on WJR AM760. McHugh discussed his newly released study in which he details eight budget reforms on which Center scholars and Gov. Jennifer Granholm agree. While the savings from the reforms would be minimal — about $100 million — McHugh questions why the Legislature has not embraced such "low-hanging fruit," and that if legislators cannot adopt ideas already embraced by the governor and Center, how will they handle much harder budget cuts ahead. The interview is 6 minutes and 57 seconds.
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Which Way Is Up?

About this audio: On May 22, 2009, David L. Littmann, senior economist for the Mackinac Center, was a guest on “The Greg Marshall Show” on WMKT in Traverse City. Littmann discussed his prediction that unemployment in Michigan could reach 20 percent by the end of the year. He also discussed Michigan’s outbound migration, the need for a right-to-work law and why Michigan should have a part-time Legislature. The interview is 21 minutes and 6 seconds.
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Regulatory Revolution

Nothing short of a regulatory revolution is needed if there is any chance of Michigan climbing out of its current economic depression. Leadership from both the private sector and government has been conspicuously absent for the last several years, and with two of the Big Three automakers in bankruptcy and unemployment hovering around 13 percent, our state's economy is in a meltdown. There is still reason to harbor some optimism, however, for Michigan's future.
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MEDC Failure

The Michigan Economic Development Corp. was created in 1999 and charged with "providing services to create and retain good jobs and a high quality of life." The program has been a patent failure and 2009 should be the year that it is eliminated.
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Don't "Fix" State Budget With Graduated Income Tax

Recall 2007? The Michigan Legislature had appropriated more spending than tax revenues could accommodate, and it wanted to do the same in 2008. Legislators dithered all year in denial and in a GM-like failure to undertake transformational reforms. In a sloppy finish, they imposed $1.4 billion in business and personal income tax increases, notwithstanding what was then "just" a one-state recession.
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Ask and They Shall Receive

Editor's note: The following is an edited version of testimony given by Kenneth M. Braun, policy analyst, to the Michigan House Appropriations Committee on May 20, 2009.)

Good afternoon Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.

Thank you so much for the invitation to testify. I greatly appreciate that you are the first Appropriations Committee in either chamber of the Legislature to ask for my advice. I'd like to clarify before I begin that, while my remarks have been tailored to the work of this body, a comparable statement could and should also be directed at the Senate. I mention this because what I am about to say to you may not win me an invitation to speak in the Appropriations Room on the other side of the building anytime soon.
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Tool Time

Hundreds of thousands of citizens participated in recent "Tea Party" protests against the chronic fiscal irresponsibility of our political class and the outright fiscal extremism now underway in Lansing and Washington. For many, if not most, of the Tea Partiers this was the first time they have ever been involved in a political protest movement. Both at the events and in the days since, they've been asking the same questions: "What's next, and what else can we do?" The Mackinac Center provides some answers.
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Trading Places

"Protectionism" has long been a diversion used by Michigan politicians to shift blame for their own economically damaging policy decisions. At various times Japan, Mexico and China have all been blamed for Michigan's dismal economic performance.

Yet despite all of the disingenuous talk, Michigan residents have greatly benefited from free trade and globalization. While politicians have belittled our trading partners, Michigan's exports have steadily grown, hitting a record level in 2008.
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Perk Test

On Feb.12, 2009, the Michigan Senate resoundingly defeated 2009 Senate Resolution 13, a proposal urging Gov. Jennifer Granholm "to work with the Civil Service Commission to require that state employees either work on President's Day or take the day off as an unpaid holiday to reflect the state's dire financial challenges."
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David and Goliath

About this audio: On May 14, 2009, David L. Littmann, senior economist for the Mackinac Center, was a guest on “The Frank Beckmann Show” on WJR AM760. Littmann discussed federal stimulus spending, inflation, the state budget overspending crisis and his analysis of Chrysler and GM and the impact their problems will have on Michigan. The interview is 10 minutes and 6 seconds.
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Gut Check

When it comes to government spending restraint and Michigan's political class, it's a case of "everybody wants to go to heaven — but not today." Therefore, we see lots of evasive recommendations for "consolidation," unspecified "across-the-board" cuts, slashing the "waste, fraud and abuse line item," etc., but few substantive, big-ticket savings proposals.
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Strong Words

Ideas matter, especially when they influence high government officials. Contrast these two statements.
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Can I Ask You a Question?

Hard-to-dodge questions that suggest whether a candidate for the Michigan Legislature actually supports limited government principles.
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Tea Minus 10 Minutes

Ten things you can do to keep the Tea Party movement moving ahead.
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Attitude Adjustment

The following describes an attitude that, if widespread, would vastly improve the incentives of lawmakers to honor the principles of limited government.
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Paper Cut

"This is a horrible thing that I present to you today."
-- Michigan Budget Director Bob Emerson presenting budget cuts to House and Senate Appropriation Committees, quoted in MIRS News.

Responding to a $1.3 billion gap between how much state politicians want to spend vs. the amount of revenue they actually expect to collect, Gov. Jennifer Granholm Tuesday proposed and the legislative appropriations committees approved $304 million in state spending reductions. The balance of the spending gap will be filled in with federal "stimulus" money (called "Obamabucks" by Capitol wags).
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(Editor's note: Below is the written testimony of Michael D. LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center, submitted today to the State Senate Finance Committee.)
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Hitch a Ride

Michigan has been in trouble for a long while now. The state is going on 37 months at the top of the unemployment charts. But there's been no clear theory as to why we're in trouble. That's important because it tells us how we're going to fix the problems.
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On the Bubble

(Note: Following are the edited remarks of Joseph G. Lehman, president of the Mackinac Center, at an April 15, 2009, TEA Party on the steps of the Midland County Courthouse.)

Some elite commentators, including Paul Krugman in The New York Times, have been making fun of you, and the TEA Parties happening around the country. They've compared what we're doing to peasant revolts. (I see some of you brought your pitchforks and torches. Be careful with those, don't hurt anybody.)
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Mean Green Machine

In the film and book “Field of Dreams” protagonist Ray Kinsella hears a voice that whispers, “If you build it, he will come.” This may work as justification for constructing a baseball diamond in the middle of an Iowa cornfield, but as an analogy upon which to base a whole new economy, it’s nothing more than fantasy. But such seems to be the case with the green jobs mantra — proponents pat each other on the back that renewable energy mandates will provide major environmental payoffs in terms of a sustainable future and more jobs. Putting aside the arguments against the promises of a sustainable future for another day, the claims for job creation are as fictitious as Shoeless Joe Jackson redeeming his legacy in Kinsella’s cornfield.
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A Rising Tide

This graphic shows the increase in Michigan's unemployment rate since Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the Michigan Legislature approved a $1.7 billion increase in taxes on Michigan businesses and working families in late 2007.
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Government Bubble

The best title for any book ever written may be "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds." Charles Mackay's 1841 classic describes the growth and sudden collapse of some of history's most ruinous investment bubbles. The recent credit and real estate bubble would fit neatly into Mackay's narrative. If he were writing today, he would no doubt note a new government bubble that our tax dollars are rapidly inflating.
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Tea Time

Editor's Note: The following are the edited remarks delivered by Kenneth M. Braun, policy analyst for the Mackinac Center, before about 1,000 people at a TEA Party in Hudsonville, Mich., on April 15, 2009.)
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