Michigan Economic Development Program (sarcasm alert)

Michigan has a new economic development program!

By allowing the infrastructure to crumble, particularly the highways and roadways, the state is boosting business....

.....  for tire shops, alignment shops, body shops, car dealers.......

Sorry, "tired of buying tires."

Book Review

The gloomy future of the rust belt, in one very readable book.

The New Geography of Jobs
Enrico Moretti
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2012

Available used at on-line vendors.

NAFTA Rolls On - Carrier Corp. Goes South

The damage from NAFTA just keeps rolling on.

http://www.indystar.com/story/money/2016/02/10/carrier-move-indy-unit-mexico-eliminate-1400-jobs/80181804/

We think this could be fodder for the presidential campaign, as primaries move into the midwest.

Stay tuned.

Michigan's Job Recovery Deficit

The State of Michigan lost 858,400 jobs in the decade Y2000-Y2009.

University of Michigan economists project Michigan will recover 624,700 jobs during Y2010 and Y2018.

Much of the recovery so far has been driven by manufacturing, specifically the auto industry. Can this surge be sustained? History tells us the auto industry will dive during the next recession.

This was discussed during a semi-annual state budget conference in Lansing this week.

On a bright note, there may be steady improvement in “knowledge jobs.”

Growth is predicted to slow, not unusual for a period six years after the end of a recession.

Michigan’s population seems to have stabilized, after a period of prominence in the moving van surveys, but any substantial growth does not appear imminent.

The glory days are not set to reappear.

http://michiganradio.org/post/u-m-economists-predict-more-job-growth-michigan#stream/0

http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa/Consensus.asp

http://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2015/01/14/michigan-budget-picture-worsens-corporate-tax-credits/21756881/

http://www.msbo.org/sites/default/files/jan16_jointpres.pdf