The New Republic

The regions on both sides of the Great Lakes international border need to team up to strengthen their highly integrated economies. That was the conclusion of over 250 public and private leaders from both the United States and Canada recently brought together by Brookings and the University of Toronto Mowat Centre in Detroit-Windsor. READ MORE >>

It is not surprising that the focus of the fighting around public employee benefits and collective bargaining is in the industrial Midwest. As noted in the Brookings report The Vital Center: “Today’s employee benefit, job, and income security systems, like so many of the nation’s economic and social practices, were forged in the Midwest." READ MORE >>

Following an export-oriented week in Washington--with China’s president visiting, a new White House Council on Jobs and Competitiveness created, and capped by an Obama visit to a GE plant in Schenectady New York--new Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s first State of the State message  took a similar “think globally, act locally” tack.  READ MORE >>

Theater is an important element of politics, and the show that Michigan’s Republican Governor Rick Snyder orchestrated for his inauguration was encouraging.   READ MORE >>

At an event carefully choreographed by Michigan’s incoming Republican Governor Rick Snyder’s transition team--a parade of corporate, civic, and political leaders previewed and validated the Snyder agenda, calling for big changes in government service delivery to save money and promote a more competitive business climate; while also calling for strategic investments in education, infrastructure, and Michigan’s metro regions as engines of the next economy. READ MORE >>

As seen here on the Avenue, our colleagues have been hammering on the fact that, just as the nation’s metropolitan areas went into the Great Recession carrying their own unique economic baggage, so too, are they are emerging from it differentially equipped to participate in the economy to come. The metros of Great Lakes, region, for example, did not enter the crisis on the housing and finance-fueled bubble that “popped” the economies of many metros in the south and west. READ MORE >>

This week we got news the Gulf oil spill was done, finally. Last week another oil pipe broke outside Chicago. READ MORE >>

What the Great Lakes region exports to the world now is, mostly, cars. But its rich network of universities and medical complexes may be one of the best bets for its export future. READ MORE >>

In places like Michigan, where the loss of auto and other manufacturing jobs has been so numerous and painful, China is viewed as a job-stealing, economy-weakening threat. But in Lansing, Michigan State University is the fulcrum of new business, research, and learning partnerships that are bringing Chinese spending, investors, and, thus, new jobs to mid-Michigan--and a new round of increased diversity and immigrant-led economic renewal to the loc READ MORE >>

Regular readers of the Avenue have seen this blog more than once make the case for a national infrastructure policy, focused on strategic investments that boost our competitiveness in a global economy. We recognize that repetition doesn’t necessarily make the national infrastructure debate seem any less wonkish or abstract. READ MORE >>