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Comerica Bank's Michigan Economic Activity Index rose again in May and is up 12% from last year - but the pace of the recovery is starting to slow down. Dana Johnson thinks that the "broad-based gains in the national economy should result in sustained moderate job growth in Michigan" over the entire year. Sure hope he is right.
Michigan's research sector is "booming", according to The Scientist magazine. The latest ranking of the "40 Best Places to Work in Academia in 2010" highlighted Van Andel Institute, Calvin College, Michigan State University and Wayne State University as examples of how "Michigan is making itself a leader in the life sciences". Awesome.
Graffiti artist Banksy outs the Packard plant owners. Check this great DKos diary for the full story and some wonderful photos - although now I'm curious as to why the city couldn't just take back the property before if no one was paying taxes and/or claimed ownership. Fill me in if you know the details on that.
A Grand Rapids pizza parlor is gearing up to serve as the setting of the multi-million dollar movie "30 Minutes or Less". Vito's Pizza on the west side is undergoing a make-over, and - listen closely, Rep. Agema - "getting the restaurant 'movie-ready' has provided employment opportunities to several businesses in West Michigan". Painters, plumbers, and other contractors are working 10 hr days to prepare for shooting to start later this month, and it is expected to run through October. This is just one of three movies shooting in GR this summer.
A couple of MUST read editorials this week. The Freep calls out the GOP on the "deficit spending" hysteria...
The new deficit hawking among congressional Republicans is enough to make you gut-sick over political hypocrisy. It's doubly revolting given the fact that the victims of their preening are middle-class families still struggling to find work after the financial crash.
This is a party that inherited a $230-billion annual surplus when it took control of the White House and both houses of Congress in 2000, but blew it on two wars and big tax cuts. Where were the GOP leaders now decrying the growth of deficit spending when the beneficiaries were those in higher tax brackets? President Barack Obama inherited a budget that was $400 billion in the red.
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The about-face is stark and disturbing. It reflects a party whose principles have come unmoored from any regard for the country's middle-class needs, or the pain of joblessness felt by American families. It's the policy of a party that has taken its anti-government rhetoric to a dangerous extreme.
Just go read it. And send it to everyone you know.
While you are at it, send them this one too - the words "fraud" and "Tea Party" come together in such a splendid way...
The Tea Partiers, far from being a separate political entity, are just the most extreme right-wingers of the current crop of Republicans, hoping to repackage themselves in the eyes of voters.
Yup. And it's possible that most voters will understand that, and will turn away from the insanity if enough Democrats make sure and call it out for what it is. Since the radical right wing operatives are going to unleash a $200 million dollar smear campaign this fall, it's going to take all hands on deck to address the lies that will be trumpeted and counter a fawning media that it intent on promoting this nonsense as some sort of legitimate movement.