Tag: Mackinac Center (page 4)

Perhaps no one has yet noticed the similarity between the name and the amount (percentage) of credit provided to film makers for their "investments" into the Michigan Economy?  Could it be possible, the sheer audacity of what now appears to be a scam to separate Michigan taxpayers from their hard earned dollars would lend itself to the very name of the tool used to perpetrate such fraud?

It seems there is not a shortage of bold, in-your-face claims with regard to this project, or the very nature of its ability to feed corruption.  The naming convention, given recent news should come as no surprise.

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation Director Patrick Wright yesterday called for an official inquiry by the Michigan Legislature, Michigan Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney's Office into the Hangar42 state film subsidy deal in wake of troubling revelations and state silence surrounding the project.

Concerns about the purchase price of the studio, the nature of the arrangement between the seller and buyers and the level of the potential state subsidy were compounded yesterday when The Grand Rapids Press reported on a state representative's aide bragging publicly about his ability to profit from state subsidies on an unnamed film incentive deal.  Wright carefully states:

"While there is no clear indication that a crime has been committed, there are enough questions surrounding this deal that the Legislature, the Michigan Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney's Office should carefully scrutinize it and take appropriate action"

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Environmental regulatory agencies thwarted an effective Gulf oil response.

An ignored a climate change conference is more satisfying than the series finale of LOST.

Journalists unearth more interesting facts in Hangar42 film subsidy deal.

The Michigan Economic Development Corp. asks critics to be mum about its failures.

Funding questions surround Hangar42 Studios film subsidy deal, but state officials are mum on details of the possible $45 million project. more...

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Great Lakes Wind Development Too Risky — The Great Lakes are Michigan's irreplaceable treasure. Any claimed benefit from developing wind farms in the Great Lakes is not worth the risk.

Cap-and-Trade: A Thorning Subject — Last week, Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman introduced the latest version of federal cap-and-trade legislation that would have a devastating impact on Michigan's economy.

Teachers Union Isn't Pulling Its Own Weight When Making Concessions — Teacher compensation gobbles up the lion's share of district spending, but offers to absorb a tiny portion of necessary budget cuts.

"Why would investors allocate capital in a state that deprives them of their rights?" — Legislators changed the rules of corporate governance in the middle of the game so as to benefit the politically-well connected president of a Michigan insurance company.

In Loar v. DHS, state's meager 12-page Supreme Court brief concedes the main issue by never addressing it, notes Mackinac Center attorney

In a filing yesterday with the Michigan Supreme Court in the lawsuit Loar v. DHS, Mackinac Center attorney Patrick J. Wright lodged a response to a Department of Human Services brief that he later described as a "thin hodge-podge of technicalities." The filing by Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, called on the Supreme Court to immediately rule in favor of the home day care business owners the Mackinac Center represents in the case.

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Cherry Picking: More Day Care Union Connections? — The plot thickens.

MEA Wounds Governor's School Pension Reform — Taxpayers are on the hook for even more public-employee benefits.

Live from New York, It's Saturday Night Labor! — Saturday Night Live's "2010 Public Employee of the Year Award" might prove to be among the most consequential sketches in the show's 35-year history.

Federal Reserve Study: Economic Freedom Matters — We could have told them that.

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State Employee Pay Grows 25 Percent Above Inflation Since 1999 — The figures include the value of all benefits from state-paid retirement contributions to dry cleaning allowances.

New Air Standards Unrealistic — Arguably, the new and much stricter standards that the EPA is proposing for ozone could have nearly as big an effect on the American economy as the CO2 regulations.

Checking on the UAW — Highlights from the 2009 LM-2 form.

Michael Moore Inadvertently Makes Case Against Film Subsidies (Again) — One wonders how Wall Street bankers would have been treated in his film had their response to Moore's criticism been, "Our board of directors wanted it."

Can We Build Better Teachers? — Another study shows that teacher professional development programs don't guarantee higher student achievement.

Mackinac Center Policy Staff Discuss 'Texting While Driving' Ban — Has Jack McHugh turned into a squish on nanny-statism?

Intellectually Bankrupt — One reads and rereads Teamsters President James Hoffa's musings in vain for some hint of a solution to the state's problems -- even a misguided one -- but there is none.