Economy
Michigan business news roundup: glum and glummer
Outlook for Michigan’s largest publicly-traded companies continues to be rocky as we start the business week. While petroleum continues to trend downward, the impact of a year of sky-rocketing fuel costs has taken its toll on stock prices and underlying business performance.
Farming holds its own
The overall Michigan economy may be sagging, but the $63 billion agricultural sector is “hitting on all cylinders,” according to an upbeat story by Traverse City Record Eagle business writer Bill O’Brien.
Why ‘NEXT Detroit’ might be the next big problem for Kwame
I was reading article on Crain’s Detroit Business Web site and I came across a bit about how the NEXT Detroit Neighborhood Initiative is separating from the city and becoming an independent charity.
Not that groundbreaking on the face of it. A lot of city programs spin off into private charities. The Detroit Institute of Arts [...]
Is it the Vernors? Naah. McCain at Livonia defense contractor: ‘This will be a battleground state.’
In Michigan yet again, McCain talks about reducing corporate taxes, while ignoring shocking findings of GAO study released Tuesday.
Elected officials gush over Obama’s energy plan
Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presumptive nominee for president, addresses a crowd in Lansing where he unveiled his new energy plan.
Obama getting our money back?
Barack Obama noted in his speech today from Lansing, Mich. that last week Congress began work on a compromise that would include a “limited amount of new offshore drilling.” He said, “I’m willing to consider that IF it’s necessary to pass the legislation” that would break the addiction to foreign oil. “I’m not interested in [...]
Couch potatoes vote for coal
Despite the shrinking economy, there are more coal power plants proposed for Michigan than for any other state.
This story in today’s Detroit Free Press provides a good overview of the proposed coal developments and the controversies related to their likely environmental impact, but the most striking comment comes from Jeff Holyfield, a spokesman for Consumers [...]
Battle of Benton Harbor takes a new turn
Citizens say lease of public park for golf course violates law
In the latest round of a long battle, opponents of a proposal to build a private golf course in a public park are suing the city of Benton Harbor. They claim that by approving the project Benton Harbor has gone back on a 2004 legal [...]
Hurricane warning: GM in the eye of the perfect storm
But are they battening down the hatches?
Michigan’s auto industry faces into a perfect storm, with bad news picking up speed and intensity. The Big Three are being swamped, unable to move fast enough to reduce production, cut costs and increase revenues as gas prices escalate.
But like a slow-moving hurricane we can see on radar and [...]
War pays well for some West Michigan companies
June was a decent month for west Michigan military contractors, according to the Media Mouse military contracts database.
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