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Jan 13, 2025 | 
mackinac.org | James M. Hohman |Michael J. Reitz
Michigan's economy continued to grow in 2024, but the growth rate should have elected officials concerned. The state is not performing up to national averages, and Michigan is already behind many of the average levels of prosperity. Job growth slowed in 2024. The state has been at roughly 4.5 million jobs since April 2024 and ranks 10th-worst among the states in jobs growth over that period. Jobs had been up 4% in 2021 and 2022 and 2% in 2023. It’s a sign of stagnancy.
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Nov 27, 2024 | 
mackinac.org | James M. Hohman |Michael J. Reitz
Rep. Matt Hall, R-Richmond, drafted a plan to spend more money on roads. He would redirect the state’s corporate income tax revenue to transportation and away from corporate handouts. He would also replace the sales tax levied on fuel with a fuel tax that goes to roads. His proposal would put a lot more into roads without raising taxes. Government spending interests are skeptical.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
mackinac.org | James M. Hohman
Michigan lawmakers are debating bills to give out more money in corporate handouts. It’s a bad idea. Selective business subsidies are ineffective at creating jobs, unfair to the taxpayers who foot the bill, and expensive to the state budget. They also fail to accomplish what their supporters promise. When lawmakers give out more subsidies, they say what they want them to do. And corporate handouts fail to live up to the standards their supporters’ claim. When Gov.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
mackinac.org | James M. Hohman
Politicians can’t buy more auto jobs. They’ve tried. They’ve tried very hard. Lawmakers have authorized $22.7 billion in business subsidies since 2000, mostly aimed at bolstering the auto industry. With that money, they could have run the state government without income taxes for two years during this period. The nearly $23 billion in subsidies have largely gone to auto and auto parts manufacturers.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
mackinac.org | James M. Hohman
This article originally appeared in The American Spectator October 28, 2024. Last week, someone in Georgia won the Powerball lottery and became an overnight multi-millionaire. The jackpot was more than $478 million, and the winner had two options for collecting the prize — a smaller (though still hefty) lump sum cash payment of $230 million immediately, or an annuitized prize for the full $478 million over almost 30 years.
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Oct 28, 2024 | 
spectator.org | James M. Hohman
Last week, someone in Georgia won the Powerball lottery and became an overnight multi-millionaire. The jackpot was over $478 million and the winner had two options for collecting their prize — a smaller (though still hefty) lump sum cash payment of $230 million immediately, or an annuitized prize for the full $478 million over almost 30 years.
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Oct 25, 2024 | 
detroitnews.com | James M. Hohman
Hohman: Michigan needs a better playbook for funding universitiesJames Hohman | The Detroit NewsThis Saturday’s Michigan State-University of Michigan football game pits residents against each other. Because everyone knows a fan of the other side, the rivalry is more chivalrous than others. We’re going to have to live with the fans of the opposition, so we can at least be neighborly. But people should be good to their opponents for another reason. As a Michigan resident, you own both schools.
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Oct 17, 2024 | 
mackinac.org | James M. Hohman
Michigan’s government gives special favors to many private companies. Lawmakers believe they can improve the state economy through selective grants, tax abatements and other bits of favoritism. They can’t. But one program stands out as being clearly set up to fail: the state’s site preparation program. It is poorly designed. It ensures taxpayer costs without benefits. It is comparatively worse than the state’s other business subsidy programs.
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Oct 1, 2024 | 
grandhaventribune.com | James M. Hohman
The country has fully recovered the jobs it lost during the pandemic and has been steadily growing in recent months. Michigan, meanwhile, is still falling behind. Michigan’s added 39,000 jobs since February 2020, a 0.9 percent gain. That’s well below the 4.2 percent national average. Michigan is ranked 40th in job growth. Jobs in Idaho, the fastest-growing state by this measure, are up by 12.9 percent. kAm#646?E EC6?5D 2C6 H@CD6] %96 DE2E6 92D =@DE ;@3D @G6C E96 A2DE E9C66 >@?E9D[ 2 E:>6 :?
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Sep 30, 2024 | 
mackinac.org | Jarrett Skorup |VANCE GINN |James M. Hohman |Michael D. LaFaive
When I was 25 years old, I was married with a newborn and a total annual household income of less than $35,000. But my wife and I managed to pay monthly college loans, cover our expenses, tithe and save and invest more than 25% of our money. And in the years since, we’ve never spent even half our income on essential living expenses (housing, food, transportation, technology, etc.). Not everyone is as fortunate as we were.
