What does crony capitalism look like? In Michigan, it looks like seventy years of the state government taking money from small businesses to give big corporations special incentives to create jobs. Joe Lehman, president of Mackinac; and Mike Lafaive, senior director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, explain the ways they sh...
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“Good Jobs for Michigan” was a state corporate subsidy program that cost taxpayers an estimated $40,000 for every job it claimed to have created. The program was limited in size and scheduled to sunset in 2019, but business and political leaders pushed legislation to expand the costly program and extend it indefinitely.
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Atlas Network is excited to announce that Linda Edwards and Joseph Lehman have joined its board of directors.
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Today the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Janus v. American Federation of State, Country, and Municipal Employees, Council 31 (AFSCME) that non-union workers cannot be forced to pay fees to public sector unions. Almost 5.5 million workers across 22 states are now free to choose whether to pay union fees. This landmark case some spect...
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In your work, do you struggle with communications conflicts or staff turnover? Is employee morale and absenteeism a problem? Do teams in your organization work in silos, unaware of and unconcerned with how their work affects and is affected by others? Are your people focused on day-to-day routines to the exclusion of thinking ab...
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Across the United States, millions of government workers are forced to pay money to a government union as a condition of employment. These workers have no choice in the matter. In 22 states, government unions have the power to force every public sector employee to fund their lobbying and political advocacy, even if these workers...
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Like many states, Michigan has tens of billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities relating to its public pension system, clocking in at $29.1 billion. However, its state legislature recently passed reforms aimed at introducing sustainability to the system – reforms that have been championed by the Mackinac Center for Public Pol...
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The 2017 Lights, Camera, Liberty! training program brought together 56 participants to workshop the messaging, marketing, and video storytelling of their respective think tanks. Lights, Camera, Liberty! is one of the signature offerings of Atlas Leadership Academy, Atlas Network’s training and mentoring program. Held in Los Ange...
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Michigan recently spent nearly $400,000 to determine how effective its education spending is and whether more taxpayer funds should be spent in order to improve student achievement. Such school funding “adequacy” studies, however, paint an incorrect picture. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, based in Midland, Mich., release...
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Every year Liberty Forum inspires and rejuvenates the individuals in the worldwide freedom movement, and this past weekend was more inspirational than ever. More than anything, there was a palpable connectedness among our partners, our supporters, and various friends and family members. With 58 countries represented, Liberty For...
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The Mackinac Center for Public Policy first published a brief calling for Michigan to become a right-to-work state in 1992. Despite the many compelling reasons that nobody should have to pay money to a union in order to hold a job, organized labor was so powerful at the time that few politicians took the idea seriously.
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It was just a year ago this month that the world celebrated the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta, a conciliatory agreement between King John and his noble lords at a swampy site called Runnymede about 20 miles west of London. The document served both to legally and rhetorically limit the king’s power and subjugate...
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The inaugural Europe Liberty Forum, held June 8–9 in London and co-hosted by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), focused on spreading the ideas of freedom to millions in the United Kingdom, Europe, and beyond. “Think tanks should make life of all established political parties uncomfortable,” said Member of Parliament Dougla...
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One of the leading intellects in educational choice, Cato Institute Senior Fellow Andrew Coulson, passed away this week after battling brain cancer for the past 15 months. In the 1990s, Coulson left a promising career in computer engineering to devote his time and talents to making the case for educational freedom — first wit...
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Freedom of association is a fundamental cornerstone of the ideas of liberty, but mandatory union fees for school teachers have long held many of those teachers captive to an ideological system that they don’t support. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently hearing testimony in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA), a...
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You never know where your next big idea will originate — a dynamic speaker, a moving video, an interactive workshop, a chance conversation. Inspiration can arise from almost anywhere, and a primary reason that Atlas Network organizes Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner (LFFD) every year is to facilitate an environment in which there...
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On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), and nearly one year since the organization won the 2014 Templeton Freedom Award, the Vilnius-based think tank welcomed CEOs from Atlas Network partner organizations across Europe and the United States for the inaugural Transatlantic CEO Summi...
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Following the passage of Michigan’s adoption of right-to-work law in 2012, unions were quick to subvert the law’s intent by making it a difficult task for workers to opt out of collective bargaining. The Michigan Education Association (MEA) was one such union, taking great efforts to ensure that teachers would not opt out, most...
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When government negotiates behind closed doors, outside public scrutiny, taxpayers are at risk. Atlas Network partner the Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) has been pushing for years to bring sunlight to public-sector collective bargaining in the state, and a new law that took effect in July may make Idaho’s open meetings law the “...
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The rights of property owners across the United States are under assault by the rampant use of civil asset forfeiture laws, which grant law enforcement the authority to seize property if it is suspected of being involved in a crime — even if the owner is not charged with a crime, let alone convicted. Under these laws, the proper...
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A poll commissioned by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy finds that Michigan voters are worried about the effects of a minimum wage hike, particularly on its family-owned business.
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In Michigan, the teachers’ union, Michigan Education Association (MEA), makes it hard for teachers to opt out of the union. MEA says that opting out can only happen in August. So the Mackinac Center for Public Policy is making it a little easier for teachers to exercise their rights.
The Mackinac Center developed an easy-to-use...
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