We learned today, via the Grand Rapids Press, that 40% of the city of Grand Rapids’ population is on Medicaid and 34% of the city’s population is on food stamps. This is, of course, part of the surging trend of food stamp recipients across the nation, which reached a record-breaking 40,000,000 people this month....
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BREAKING NEWS: State bureaucrats surprised to learn that paying people to do nothing results in more people doing nothing. From the Detroit News: Landscapers find workers choosing jobless pay But B&L Landscaping in Oak Park finds the labor pool is noticeably weaker and less motivated, director Richard Angell said, even though the company still...
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Grand Rapids’ Chief Financial Officer, Scott Buhrer, updated the city’s Fiscal Outlook through 2014 on February 12. You can read the report here. My first reaction was, “Finally, somone at City Hall gets it!” I will quote extensively from his comments and bold the comments that I believe are important to note. This financial...
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A little-discussed news item is that, as the Great Recession drags on, states are getting crushed under piles of borrowing to continue to pay unemployment benefits. As states run out of money, they begin to borrow from the Federal Government. Why is this issue important? Because the state will eventually have to repay this...
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The Detroit News is reporting this afternoon that the Michigan Democratic Party is proposing five issues to potentially appear on the 2010 general election ballot. They are: Raise the minimum wage from $7.40 an hour to $10 an hour and remove exceptions in the law that allow employers to pay less than minimum wage...
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The latest monthly state revenue report was finally released today, and it doesn’t look good. A few of the money quotes: The revenue collected from Michigan’s General Fund and School Aid Fund earmarked taxes totaled $1.3 billion in May, which was down 13.4% from last year’s level. This marked the fourth consecutive month that...
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I found an interesting chart, courtesy of city-data.com, showing the median home price in Grand Rapids, as well as the number of homes sold on a quarterly basis. Clearly things are bad and getting worse. Median home prices have dropped almost in half since 2004. Incredible! Oh, and remember our post about how the...
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Ouch! The Senate Fiscal Agency just released their February report of state revenue and it’s a doozy. A couple of quotes: While tax collections in February were expected to fall below last year’s level, due primarily to the impact of the economic recession, the decline was much worse than expected . . . In addition, tax collections...
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Today it was announced that Michigan’s unemployment rate hit 11.6%. What is governor Granholm’s reaction? She announces her support for an increase in gas taxes! Great idea! She has already succeeded in increasing the income tax by 12% and increasing business taxes by 22%. That seems to be working out really well. Not....
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It was announced today that the May unemployment rate in Michigan has jumped to 8.5%, from April’s 6.9%. As the big three continue to face big problems from the jump in gas prices, and of course the gigantic tax increase last year starts to take its toll, employers are cutting back. By contrast, France,...
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