by Ross H. Yednock August 16, 2009 The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) injects more than a billion dollars directly into the pockets of Michigan’s working families every year. Clearly, this is a good thing and an invaluable work support for the hundreds of thousands of eligible Michigan workers. But as a new report [...]

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by Lou Glazer July 10, 2009 In all of the five different tax rankings of the states that have been released recently, Michigan places in the middle. But each brings calls for Michigan to cut taxes so that it can be one of the lowest tax states in the country — the assumption being that [...]

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by John T. Reurink July 3, 2009 Those who make up Lansing’s political infrastructure (lobbyists, PR flacks, legislators and staffers) include a ton of bright, talented and, let’s admit it, very competitive people. So it was no surprise when the week before the release of the 2009 MIRS/EPIC/MRA Insiders’ Survey results, I began receiving e-mails, [...]

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by Julie L. Novak June 1, 2009 The issue of smokefree air is lighting up again (pun intended) with House passage of HB 4377 only days after the House Regulatory Reform Committee sent it to the floor for a vote. Lawmakers and advocates have been pushing for comprehensive legislation that would protect Michigan residents from [...]

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by Eric J. Schneidewind May 16, 2009 Healthcare has emerged as a major economic and social problem throughout the United States. Nowhere is that more evident than in the Michigan market for healthcare services and products targeted to individual customers who are not part of a group. In the past, it was thought that Blue [...]

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by Lou Glazer April 16, 2009 It’s obvious that the Michigan economy has been dreadful this decade. We’ve suffered an unprecedented eight consecutive years of job losses and are at the bottom of the national rankings in both employment and per capita income growth. During the just-ended national expansion, many referred to it as a [...]

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by Richard Cole February 18, 2009 When business gets tough, businesses stop marketing. When government spending gets cut, governments cut prevention programs first. We are seeing a lot of that thinking these days. It never made any sense to me. General Motors is in desperate need of customers. The company is winning the battle in [...]

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by Robert Daddow, Deputy Oakland County Executive October 19, 2008 A Chinese proverb states: “may you live in interesting times.” Financially, these may not be interesting times, but they certainly are troublesome for governmental entities trying to maintain a level of services that the public expects and deserves. The State of Michigan provides an estimated [...]

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by Rich Robinson, Michigan Campaign Finance Network September 22, 2008 The Center for Governmental Studies recently gave Michigan an “A” and a national ranking of #3 for campaign finance disclosure. I guess things in Michigan look much rosier from Los Angeles than they do in Lansing. Since 2000, we have had more than $40 million [...]

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by Richard Cole September 1, 2008 Columnist Charlie Cook says a simple test should apply to the choice of a presidential running mate. “The first objective is to follow the Hippocratic Oath, which has been paraphrased as, ‘First, do no harm.’” Cook asks us to consider evaluating Senator McCain’s choice of Governor Sarah Palin from [...]

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