Bridge Feed- Urban farm plan reels in cash, tilapia
- Ethnic media alliance pushes stories of success, provides community leadership
- Michigan goes hard after student loan defaulters
- State takes cautious approach to freight hub proposals
- Land O Links
- Guest column: Student loan debt is next big bubble
- Half the investment on colleges means a full measure of trouble for Michigan
- Report: Michigan’s license ‘burden’ is above average
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Author Archives: Phil Power
Taxing pensions is an explosive move aimed at fairness
There’s no doubt that the biggest and most controversial idea in Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed state budget is the one calling for the state to tax income from both public and private pensions.
As thing now stand, pensions for retired Michigan public employees – teachers, police and other government employees and former elected officials – are [...]
Posted in Columns, Fresh Thoughts Comments closed
Redistricting in Michigan: We can do better
Every two years, more than three million Michiganders vote for their lawmakers in Lansing. They cast votes for state representatives every two years; for state senators, every four years.
But many of those votes don’t really matter.
That’s the main conclusion of a study released last week by The Center for Michigan on the effects of [...]
Posted in Columns, Fresh Thoughts Comments closed
A warm story for a cold winter
It’s the dead of winter. We’ve had more single-digit cold nights than I remember for a long time. There’s so much snow piled up that it’s hard to find a place to put it. Spring looks faa-a-r-r-r away.
So it’s time for a story to warm your heart.
Over in Ann Arbor, the Humane Society of Huron [...]
Posted in Columns, Fresh Thoughts Comments closed
Peering at Snyder’s Dashboard
Two main things can be said about Gov. Rick Snyder’s businesslike and largely successful State of the State speech.
First, it wasn’t filled with uplifting, easily forgettable “vision statements,” the way most such speeches are. It was matter-of-fact, and it covered a lot of ground. It was, in short, the speech of a businessman who considers [...]
Posted in Fresh Thoughts Comments closed
What’s the business of Michigan education?
What business are we in?
What’s our product?
Who are our customers?
Focusing on these three fundamental questions is a great way for managers to avoid distractions and get to the heart of the basics of their organizations. If asked persistently and rigorously, they offer a way to calibrate and re-calibrate basic strategies. Anyone who fails to ask [...]
Posted in Columns, Fresh Thoughts Comments closed
A voice in the woods goes silent
Glen Sheppard, the long-time publisher of the North Woods Call newspaper, died last week at age 74. Sheppard was a towering figure on Michigan’s conservation scene, a passionate advocate for natural resources, hunting, fishing and gun rights …
Not to mention the worst nightmare to those bureaucrats and politicians who might threaten them.
He later said what [...]
Posted in Columns, Fresh Thoughts Comments closed
Will Snyder suffer from the ‘Obama curse’?
As we head into the New Year, it seems to me the old Chinese curse had it right: “May you live in interesting times.”
Interesting, indeed! The coming year will go a long way to determining whether Michigan is truly ready to launch a period of reform and reinvention or whether we [...]
Posted in Columns, Fresh Thoughts Comments closed
Can a serial entrepreneur spark a Michigan culture change?
Midway through his workmanlike Inaugural Address, Gov. Rick Snyder added something new and provocative to our political discourse when he said: “The underlying key to success, though, is to change our culture.”
For years, political leaders have talked about all kinds of factors that could trigger Michigan’s turnaround. A better tax system. Balanced budgets. Entrepreneurship. Service [...]
Posted in Columns, Fresh Thoughts Comments closed
Monday’s summit hows how much citizen engagement matters
If you don’t think people care deeply about our state, consider this: More than 500 of them braved bad roads and deep chill on Monday to attend a summit conference on “Common Sense Reforms for a New Michigan” in Lansing.
The summit, co-sponsored by The Center for Michigan and Business Leaders for Michigan, was designed to [...]
Posted in Columns, Fresh Thoughts Comments closed
Thoughts from Sri Lanka
My wife Kathy and I have just returned from a trip to Asia, where we spent time in Singapore, and Sri Lanka, the island nation off the southern tip of India that used to be called Ceylon.
It sure feels good to get back home after living out of our suitcases in 90-degree plus temperatures and [...]
Posted in Columns, Fresh Thoughts Comments closed
