By John Bebow - February 21, 2008
If you don't know where you are, you don't know where you're going.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s bipartisan Emergency Financial Advisory Panel preached that maxim more than a year ago.
"With regard to taxes, investment, and structural reforms,
But in the ensuing nine-month budget fight, there was little time or brainpower in Lansing for the cold calculus of comparison. So, the Center for
The verdict: ten "thumbs-up," seven "so-so," and 19 "thumbs-down" grades.
The scorecard reinforces some longstanding Michigan image problems. Our roads our lousy, our public sector is highly balkanized, our unemployment rate stinks, and our progress is mediocre on standardized student tests. But the scorecard also busts a few
MYTH: Michigan lags in K-12 education investment
Even in these tough times,
MYTH: Michigan is a horrible place to do business
Wall Street Journal readers might conclude from recent Michigan-bashing editorials that businesses might better locate in the Third World. Yet
MYTH: The Great Lakes
The scorecard gives a thumbs-down to Michigan for "North Coast Stewardship."
MYTH: Michigan voters are so fed up, they just don’t care
Recent polls gave record disapproval ratings to the governor and the legislature. That doesn't mean voters don’t care. Michigan voters in set a gubernatorial election turnout record in 2006 and a presidential election turnout record two years earlier. In 2004,
The Michigan Scorecard gives voters context for their concern and frustration.
Compiled by experienced researchers and edited by MSU Economist Charles Ballard, the scorecard is in use by some 1,500 statewide community leaders and engaged citizens meeting in "community conversations" to develop a bipartisan citizens agenda for Michigan's future. We will report their recommendations in May. We'll then use the scorecard and other tools to educate voters and hold officials accountable for improvement.
By November 2010, the governor, senate majority leader, speaker of the house, secretary of state, attorney general, three quarters of all state senators and 70 percent of state representatives will be replaced due to term limits. Reports like the Michigan Scorecard can help assure that no matter which political party wins those seats, new leaders can approach public policy with facts rather than dogma.
Benchmarks like those in the Michigan Scorecard have been used for years in other places. For example, the Oregon Progress Board, a state agency, has measured that state against others for the past 19 years.
John Bebow is executive director of the Center for Michigan, a non-profit, bipartisan “think-and-do” tank based in Ann Arbor. His email: jbebow@thecenterformichigan.net
2 Comments
"POPULATION TRENDS: Michigan was the eighth most populous state in 2007,
with a population of 10,071,822. By 2030, the state population is projected to grow to
10,694,172 (an increase of 622,350 people or 6.2 percent) as Michigan slips to a ranking
of # 11 nationally. California and Texas are projected to remain the biggest population
states, with Nevada and Arizona netting the biggest percentage gains.18"
Why is population reduction a thumbs down? I can understand why the reason for the reduction(people leaving the state for a better life),wjould be a thumbs down, but population reduction should not, by itself, be considered a bad thing. The less people there are in a state, the less stress there is to provide employment. There is less pressure to permit a new mine or coal-fired power plant.
Population reduction is not a bad thing. It is inevitable- if we want to consider Michigan(or any state) a sustainable entity.
bobdurivage point well taken. The old adage, "bad news sells papers" is still true in our largely paperless information age. Plus, we might add, Chiken Little is alive and well. There are many things that we should do as individuals without asking society to do those things for us. There ar emany things we as a society should do without asking government to do those things for us. For now, two suggestsions: (1)Move in the directon of parents thinking of themselves as primarily responsible for the education of their own children. (2) Move in the direction of encouraging an entrepreneurial spirit, espeically in the younger members of our society, this INSTEAD OF spending time and money (and tax exemptions) trying to attreact foriegn investemt and foriegn-owned manufacturing facilities.
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