Tuesday, June 8, 2010

MEDC and Iron County Economic Development

Our Iron County Economic Development Corporation
relies heavily on the state's MEDC. This author's
experiences with Iron County's EDC is that
they're particularly transparent.

The following paragraph was most telling about MEDC.

"A 2005 study by the Mackinac Center showed that
MEGA (ed:Michigan Economic Growth Authority) had no
impact on per-capita personal income or job creation.
We did find that for every $123,000 in tax credits
offered, one construction job was created, but 100
percent of those jobs disappeared within two years."

http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/12906

Additional information that reflects poorly on the
MEDC clearly depicts why the state is in trouble
where it comes to jobs:

"Last year, we used a different modeling technique
to isolate MEGA's effects from the larger economy
and found that for every $1 million in tax credits
earned in a county there was an associated loss of
95 manufacturing jobs.

"The Anderson Economic Group study, published in
March and funded by the Michigan Education
Association, found that MEGA and two similar state
programs cost the state 25,000 jobs and $85 million
in tax revenue annually.

"The Upjohn study, published in April, was by far the
most favorable study done. Even so, the authors'
claim that MEGA has created 18,000 jobs since 1996
totals just 1,600 a year on average. If this is the
MEDC's idea of success, we would hate to see their
definition of failure."

The trouble with employment in Michigan has for
decades been that this state married the automobile
business, and everything else fell by the wayside.
Nobody involved with Michigan government has any
idea about how to grow away from the car biz and get
geared up into dealing with a variety. In short one
might say that Michigan was ruined by Henry Ford's
success and the state becoming a hanger on.

I've discussed a feature called "corporate culture"
in this publication before. It is that immovability
in ways of thinking that brings the state to the
current employment debacle, along with the huge
vacant tracts of abandoned homes in the auto
manufacturing districts.

The only solution is to import, and listen to,
development experts from outside the this region.

Give them authority!

This lack of entrepreneurial vision extends from
local city councils, township, and county boards,
upwards. Local governments became accustomed to
suckling at the state's teat, and the state has
run dry.

Bill Vajk

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