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In this issue:
BLM Leadership Summit: March 11th
Three Resolutions for Improving Michigan's Economy
Making Michigan Competitive
Invest for Growth
Life Science Hub
Data Supporting the MTP
BLM Member Stories
In the News. . .

LeadingWhatsNext - orange

VIEWPOINT


February 2013

 

Investing in Infrastructure is Critical to Highway photo Michigan's Economic Success

We applaud Governor Snyder and many legislators, such as Senate Appropriations Chair Roger Kahn, for pushing for a comprehensive transportation funding solution.  We desperately need one.  In today's world, you can't grow your career or business if you're not connected to other communities around the world.  We depend on our highways, airports, rail lines and ports to keep us connected.  Yet, the last time Michigan increased funding for transportation was 15 years ago - and our roads, bridges and other transit systems show it.

 

Investments in infrastructure will grow the economy.  It's a key platform in our Michigan Turnaround Plan.  While there are many ways a solution could be designed, all will certainly cost more money.  We urge a long-term solution be adopted that provides enough revenue to build the infrastructure we need for at least the next decade.  We urge the Legislature to take up this challenge and pass legislation this year.  Let's turnaround our economy by supporting increased funding for transportation! 

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Business Leaders
for Michigan 
600 Renaissance Center, Suite 1760, Detroit, MI, 48243-1802

Phone: 313.259.5400

UPCOMING EVENTS


 

 NM Summit e-invite graphic simple

Click here to see who's speaking at the event and to learn more!

 

Register for the event!

OUR WORK


Rothwell: Three resolutions for an improving Michigan Detroit Freep Logo

Detroit Free Press | January 13, 2013

 

January represents a time of resolve and optimism. It's a time to resolve to break bad habits, accomplish new goals, and change things for the better.

 

This year also brings an opportunity to renew how we look at our state. Big steps have been taken the last few years to revitalize and rebuild Michigan. We have broken many of the bad habits that led to Michigan's economic challenges by balancing our budgets and stopping the use of accounting gimmicks. Read more. . .

ADVANCING THE MICHIGAN TURNAROUND PLAN & THE NEW MICHIGAN STRATEGY


 


MTP chart simple 6 steps
   

Step 1: Responsibly Manage Finances - Fiscal Practices in Law


Our view: To ensure that the state is consistently managed well in the future, BLM strongly supported adopting good fiscal principles into law rather than by administrative practice.

 

Action: The Legislature enacted into law requirements that each state agency create a spending plan 60 days after their budget is enacted and that each state department have a strategic mission, vision, goals and balanced scorecard.   

Step 3: Making Michigan Competitive


Our view:  Michigan's competitive position is improving significantly but still falls short when compared to "Top Ten" states. Michigan must address all six steps of the Michigan Turnaround Plan meet to global competition. 

Michigan 12th Best Business Tax Climate

Tax Foundation Logo
The Tax Foundation ranked Michigan as having the 12th best overall tax environment for business this year.  High marks were given for our corporate tax (7th), sales tax (7th) and personal income tax (11th).  Lowest rankings were for the unemployment insurance tax (44th) and property tax (31st).  
Read more. . . 

Tax Foundation Biz Climate Chart

Michigan vies for top 10 status in economic competitiveness
State concentrates on fundamentals as it seeks to claw its way back to competitiveness 

Detroit News | January 28, 2013

 

Once-powerhouse University of Michigan basketball is back, flirting with upending Duke as the No. 1 team in college basketball. So can once-powerhouse Michigan compete against economic giants like California and Massachusetts for jobs in the 21st century? Impossible, you say? Think again.

 

After a lost decade that saw it miss the NCAA tournament for six consecutive seasons, U-M has thrived under Coach Jim Beilein's leadership and focus on fundamentals. He took Big Blue back to the NCAA tournament in 2010, and this year - Beilein's sixth as head coach - the team is competing for round-ball supremacy. Read more. . .

Step 4: Invest for Growth


Our view: BLM supports making strategic investments in areas that promote future growth such as higher education and infrastructure. BLM believes a comprehensive transportation funding strategy is essential to creating the infrastructure MI needs to leverage our geographic location and connect us to the global economy. BLM supports boosting investments in higher education to make college more affordable, grow the state's talent pipeline and harness the innovation of MI's higher education system.

Read editorials from papers around the state that talk about why Transportation photos1 improving Michigan's transportation infrastructure is so important to Michigan's future economic success!

 

Lansing State Journal: Michigan's infrastructure is top job

Detroit News: Time to get Michigan moving

Detroit Free Press: Act to save state's roads

 

Howes: State fails higher education test

Business group says fund shift to prisons over colleges since '02 threatens growth

Detroit News | January 22, 2013

 

The charts are sobering. There, in stark type, stands a picture of Michigan that doesn't bode well for a state trying to break from the dysfunction of its past and embrace the promise of a growing, better-educated 21st-century future.

 

Between 2002 and 2012, state spending per student on higher education declined 35 percent even as public spending per prisoner increased 42 percent, Business Leaders for Michigan said Monday. In 2002, Michigan spent $2 billion on higher ed and $1.7 billion on prisons. A decade later, the state spent $1.3 billion on public colleges and universities and $2 billion on prisons. Read more. . .

Editorial: Doing the math on higher education LSJ Logo

State must fund its universities better

Lansing State Journal | January 23, 2013

 

No doubt many Michiganders consider adding jobs a key priority for the state's policymakers.

 

That's no surprise after spending the darkest months of the Great Recession as the state with the highest unemployment rate, hitting 14.2 percent. Even with improvement - Michigan had the sixth-highest unemployment rate among states at 8.9 percent in December - there are still far too many people without jobs or seeking better jobs. Read more. . .

 

Michigan's University Research Corridor R&D Spending Growth Surpasses Other Leading U.S. Research Clusters URC Jan 2013 Report Graphic

URC Michigan | January 23, 2013

 

URC responsible for $15.5 billion in statewide economic impact, 74,000 direct and indirect MI jobs, $375 million in state tax revenue

 

Michigan's University Research Corridor (URC) generated $15.5 billion in economic impact statewide, exceeded $2 billion in annual research expenditures and awarded more than 31,600 degrees in one year, placing it at or near the top of seven university innovation clusters in the U.S., according to a new Economic Impact Report released today. Read more. . .

Step 6: New Michigan Strategy - Life Science Hub


Our view: BLM supports leveraging MI's distinctive assets to grow good paying jobs and accelerate MI's economic growth. To that end, MI should develop a Life Science Hub based on our robust health, medical and bio-pharmaceutical capabilities.

How Van Andel researcher made Parkinson's breakthrough with help from Michael J. Fox, VanAndel Institute Logo Rockford coach, Japanese trout

MLive.com | January 31, 2013

 

Myriad factors fell into place to bring about Van Andel Institute's recent breakthrough in Parkinson's disease research. A Rockford basketball coach and Hollywood star Michael J. Fox. Patients at Saint Mary's Health Care and patients in Sweden. Rainbow trout in Japan. And a Malaysian scientist.

 

That international constellation of people and places - and fish - are the touch points in a study that may lead to a better way to detect Parkinson's disease. Connecting the dots was a Van Andel Institute scientist named Sok Kean Khoo, who scanned and analyzed blood samples in a bright, glass-roofed lab overlooking downtown Grand Rapids. Read more. . .

DATA SUPPORTING THE TURNAROUND PLAN


Michigan - 11th Largest Cuts to Higher Education Over Last 5 Years

 

A study by Illinois State University shows that Michigan was one of the states that cut higher education the most over the last five years - including one of the largest cuts in any single year (a 15% cut in 2011).  Note that the data reinforces one of our MTP conclusions - higher education spurs growth.  Eight of the Top Ten states for GDP, income and job growth over the last ten years all increased funding. Read more. . .

 Illinois Univ HE Cuts Chart Feb 2013

 

 
Illinois Univ HE Increase chart Feb 2013

Michigan - Top 10 Manufacturing State

 

Michigan ranks 4th in the nation for the concentration of manufacturing earnings according to the Commerce Department.  With nearly 17% of all earnings derived from manufacturing, Michigan derives more than twice the national average of economic benefit from this industry. Read more. . .

Commerce Dept chart Feb 2013

Philly Federal Reserve Predicts Michigan Will Grow Faster Than U.S.

 

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's latest forecast predicts Michigan's growth over the next 6 months will outpace the nation.  The continued health of the automotive and manufacturing sectors are responsible for the forecasted performance. Read more. . .

 

Philly Fed Chart Feb 2013

 

Michigan Ranked 11th for Small Business SBEC Logo

 

A new ranking by the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council ranks Michigan the 11th best state small business climate based on 46 factors.  Strengths were no death tax, low workers compensation rates and relatively fewer government workers per capita.  Negatives were high property taxes, electricity costs and levels of government debt. Read more. . .

SPOTLIGHT ON BLM MEMBERS


American Axle investing $100 million in Three AAM Logo Rivers plant, expects workforce to top out around 1,300

MLive.com | February 3, 2013

 

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (AAM) is investing more than $100 million in its manufacturing facility in Three Rivers, which includes the addition of 500 jobs.

 

The news, announced Friday, comes five years after a stretch of voluntary retirements, buyouts and layoffs that all but decimated the plant's workforce. Read more. . .

GM to invest $200M to expand powertrain GM-logo headquarters in Pontiac

Detroit News | January 31, 2012

 

General Motors Co. said Wednesday it will expand its Global Powertrain Engineering Headquarters here by investing $200 million to build a 138,000-square-foot wing.

 

The investment, which is expected to add about 400 jobs in Pontiac, is part of the $1.5 billion GM said it would invest in its North American facilities in 2013.

 

The company said work will begin in February on the north side of the complex; work will be completed during the second half of 2014. Read more. . .

BorgWarner, Manganello donate $2 million to UMfor endowed chair in mechanical engineering

Crain's Detroit Business | January 30, 2013

BorgWarner Logo

 

Auburn Hills-based BorgWarner Inc. board Chairman Tim Manganello and the company's nonprofit contributions arm BorgWarner Foundation are donating $2 million to the University of Michigan College of Engineering for an endowment to fund research and teaching.

 

Manganello, 62, who stepped down as CEO of BorgWarner Jan. 1 and remains executive chairman until a planned retirement at BorgWarner's annual meeting April 24, will be on hand Thursday for a celebration event marking the endowment for the college's Department of Mechanical Engineering. Read more. . .

La-Z-Boy to build new $50M headquarters in LaZBoy Logo Monroe

Furniture maker to break ground this spring on new office complex

Detroit News | January 25, 2013

 

Furniture maker La-Z-Boy Inc. will build a $50 million global headquarters in its hometown, Monroe, on 120 acres of pristine land that has been maintained for decades by Roman Catholic nuns.

 

The company and the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary finalized the land purchase Wednesday. The price was not disclosed.

 

La-Z-Boy plans to break ground this spring and move 500 corporate employees into the new building in late 2014 or early 2015. Read more. . .

Amway's One by One campaign reaches 10 million Amway Logo children

Grand Rapids Business Journal | January 23, 2013

 

Over the past decade, Amway has helped 10 million children around the world.

 

That's the milestone Amway's One by One campaign announced it has reached today on its 10th anniversary. Launched in 2003, One by One is a global campaign aimed at helping disadvantaged children through volunteer projects. Read more. . .

IN THE NEWS


Pro-business policies spur recovery

Detroit News | January 24, 2013

 

More than $1 billion in business investment to create nearly 4,600 jobs in Michigan, announced Wednesday, ain't nothin' - and it isn't an accident.

 

The moves by the state Strategic Fund to support private investment in a broad array of business sectors shows that comparatively upbeat macroeconomic conditions nationally and pro-business policies in Lansing are combining to speed Michigan's climb out of its "Lost Decade." Read more. . .

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About Us

 

Business Leaders for Michigan, the state's business roundtable, is dedicated to making Michigan a "Top Ten" state for job, economic and personal income growth. The organization is composed exclusively of the chairpersons, chief executive officers, or most senior executives of Michigan's largest companies and universities.  Our members drive over 25% of the state's economy, provide over 325,000 direct and 820,000 indirect jobs in Michigan, generate over $1 Trillion in annual revenue and serve nearly one half of all Michigan public university students. 

 

Find out more at:  www.businessleadersformichigan.com

 

Business Leaders for Michigan
600 Renaissance Center, Suite 1760, Detroit, MI  48243-1802
Phone: 313.259.5400
E-Mail Address: [email protected]