cm-life
Sorting out Michigan’s troubled economy
By Alex Piazza
Staff Reporter
October 28, 2005
Since 2002, the Griffin Policy Forums have involved intense discussions by expert panelists and this year is no exception.
Globalization, outsourcing, unemployment, economic competition with other states, the decline of the automobile industry and how state government is dealing with economic problems were all topics of debate at Wednesday night’s semi-annual Griffin Policy Forum.
Five panelists discussed these issues and more concerning the decline of Michigan’s economy at the forum, which was held in the Charles V. Park Library Auditorium.
The five panelists for the forum — “Michigan’s Economy: Can it be Saved?” — competed to answer questions from Bill Ballenger, the forum’s moderator and the Griffin Endowed Chairman in American Government.
Together, the panelists worked to figure out different ways Michigan can dig itself out of the economic hole it is currently buried in.
“I have more confidence that some of the people in Michigan can handle this situation better than Washington,” said Daniel Howes, business columnist and associate business editor for The Detroit News.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, Michigan currently ranks fifth in the country in unemployment rate as of September 2005. The unemployment rate, however, up from last year’s rank of third.
Tom Walsh, chief business columnist for the Detroit Free Press, brought up the topic of education in Michigan schools and how it needs to be improved.
“Only two universities in the state graduate the more than half of the freshmen that enroll there,” he said.
Walsh said the University of Michigan graduates 90 percent of its freshmen, while Michigan State University graduates 70 percent of its freshmen.
The rest of the state’s universities do not graduate more than 50 percent of their freshmen, Walsh said.
Sharon Miller, president of the Immediate Temporary Help Inc. in Midland, talked about education in reference to CMU.
Miller said CMU should be commended for being the only university in the state with an entrepreneurial program.
David Hollister, the director of Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth, said he would argue that universities are becoming more entrepreneurial themselves.
The Robert and Marjorie Griffin Endowed Chair in American Government hosts the Griffin Policy Forums twice a year with the help of the Political Science Department and the College of Humanities and Social Behavioral Sciences.