'New' business will drive results in Michigan's race for governor
The biggest winner in Michigan’s primary election on Tuesday appears to be business, simply because both candidates and most voters seem to be ready to make it a central element of the general election.
Michigan is looking for jobs. And to get those jobs, it’s looking to grow business, improve its entrepreneurial climate and create better taxing policy to encourage both.
Both candidates say they get that. Given what this state has gone through over the last few years - including inattention from the sitting governor - that’s a welcome change.
Until we see either of them doing otherwise, voters can believe that, come November, we’ll elect a candidate who will turn Michigan into a pro-business state.
But what will that business look like?
This election may also drive home that it’s not only the outlook for business that will change. It’s also the face of business, and we’re seeing it already in how it influences both voters and candidates.
The 2010 gubernatorial election will be about new business - and old business. And redefining not just how Michigan emerges from the Great Recession but also who in business has the voice in driving that.
What is old business?
Unrelenting labor unions. Large-scale employers. That fading numbers of providers of high-paying, low-education jobs. Anyone who issues or cashes a paycheck and thinks that global forces don’t really affect where that money comes from.
That list comprises many of the groups that helped many candidates get elected over the years.
But in 2010, that won’t be enough. The world has changed, and in Ann Arbor, we have a glimpse of it, thanks to our business successes that stand in contrast to so much of the rest of the state.
Ann Arbor survives the recession as an economic beach for Michigan, where unemployment rates and business growth both buck the statewide trend.
Consider what makes that true: Top of mind may be the University of Michigan, easily the most significant economic driver in this community due to the research and its commercialization encouraged on the campus. The tech community, where innovation is driving job growth. Venture capital, which fuels still more good ideas evolving into product development.
In Ann Arbor, more so than other communities in Michigan, we see results from embracing a knowledge-based economy.
Our local business leaders are coming from the new economy. They’re powering high-tech companies and they’re serial entrepreneurs. Their playing fields are global, their offices may be mobile, their search is for talent and they value innovation. They invented social networking and they know how to use it best.
Their enthusiasm is contagious and they don’t accept barriers to success.
They are the future of business in Michigan.
And, in politics, they’re not likely to be connected to any “old business” endorsement.
Ann Arbor’s business climate illustrates that transition, but these types of new business leaders exist across the state.
If business truly will drive the 2010 gubernatorial election, then the candidate who identifies then captures the support of ‘new business’ will win.
And then so will Michigan, because the people who make up this new face of business are the ones who will create the economic growth that voters and candidates said this week has to be this state’s priority.
We’re already seeing it happen in Ann Arbor.
Paula Gardner is Business News Director of AnnArbor.com. Contact her at 734-623-2586 or by email. Sign up for the weekly Business Review newsletter, distributed every Thursday, here.
Comments
InsideTheHall
Tue, Aug 10, 2010 : 6:52 a.m.
Speechless/Johnny - Fellas you are way way off base and the more government mantra is a failed one. We don't want to be France or Germany. Sorry but your ideas are stale, worn, and part of the problem. The Big Three did make what the public wanted. The preferences changed when the price of gas changed. If the UAW was flexible with work rules quick conversions could occur when the market changes. Speechless - The life cycle of any product today is at most 18 months. "Instability" should be viewed as progress and goods and services improve creating more perceived value for the consumer.
diagbum
Mon, Aug 9, 2010 : 2:26 a.m.
Our local business leaders are coming from the new economy. Theyre powering high-tech companies and theyre serial entrepreneurs. Their playing fields are global, their offices may be mobile, their search is for talent and they value innovation. They invented social networking and they know how to use it best. Very nicely put Paula. Great article!
David Briegel
Sun, Aug 8, 2010 : 2:06 p.m.
Johnnya2, excellent post. And to these Right Wing geniuses, Fiduciary Responsibilty meant paying incompetent bozo's 50 million to bankrupt the company! The Unions didn't achieve that level of incompetence!!
Soothslayer
Sun, Aug 8, 2010 : 1:40 p.m.
Putting the best primary and secondary educational & training systems in Michigan is Job #1. Everything will fix itself from that. You can't create jobs where people don't want to live. Make them WANT to live here because we have the best education available. Incentivise businesses to keep Michigan educated talent IN Michigan. We have been acting like Michigan is a revolving door excepting that there's no one coming in. Lets not be Americas best kept secret, lets focus on simply being the best. Let the south have the manufacturing jobs, lets put our minds to work and re-invent Michigan.
johnnya2
Sun, Aug 8, 2010 : 11:43 a.m.
What a bunch of lies. I love how "business" people pin the blames of the FAILURES at GM, Ford and Chrysler on the unions. The fact is, these companies lost market share because they built and designed CARS that people did not want compared to Toyota, Honda, or Nissan. The only reason people bought them were because of crazy incentives or basically giving them away to the fleet business. Banking your future on trucks,and SUV's (F150, Explorer, Hummers, Grand Cherokees) was not a union decision. The people running those companies had no vision that oil prices would spike again. Ford is now hiring more people back and why are they able to do that? Simple. they have cars people like and want (Fusion, Fiesta). It's a simple formula to success. No matter how many "other" industries Michigan involves itself in, the auto industry will always drive the bus. By the way, "fading numbers of providers of high-paying, low-education jobs" is exactly thew attitude that causes the problem. See how it works is, if you pay people more, they spend more. If they spend more, OTHER businesses prosper. The current system is designed to make the rich richer, and the middle class become the poor. Companies that look to locate a business rank taxes and wages pretty far down the line in their reasons for choosing a place. Miller Brewing left relatively low cost Wisconsin for much higher cost Illinois. Quality and availability of work force and what they want was far more valuable. I don;t see Steve Jobs moving Apple out of California (high cost state). Google is still based there. Microsoft is based in a higher cost state. If you really want to make the state competitive there are two things that could happen and destroy other states 1. Offer college education to all people who graduate high school in the state: Parents will move to Michigan in full force. Even if their jobs are in Illinois, Indiana, or Ohio, they would be willing to move to Michigan for that educational opportunity. This puts an increase on demand for housing, and other businesses in the state, theby having a ripple effect. 2. Single payer health insurance for all: Every business looking to move a job into a state would say, we can cut out the health care costs of the workers from our numbers. Yes, certain taxes will be higher, but health care is the number most companies grapple with year over year. This would also be something that would incentivize a workforce to want to come to Michigan. Certain things about Michigan can never be changed no matter which party is in charge. It will never have Florida or Arizona type weather. If you look at Ontario, they have unions stronger than in Michigan. Yet, they have taken jobs from Michigan in the auto industry because of the Canadian health care system. I would also suggest you look at their economic vitality, versus Michigan currently.
Speechless
Sun, Aug 8, 2010 : 10:52 a.m.
One large problem with the "knowledge economy," and the contemporary economy in general, is that it is very unstable. Large swaths of it appear and disappear in short order. Your skills may have good market value today, but a decade from now your current specialty and industry may no longer exist; you might thrive, but only for a while. Having to regularly reinvent one's work skills is a stressful way of life based on a fearfully uncertain long-term future. In essence, the middle class has lost tenure. Michigan cannot simply rest its hopes on attracting "a new economy" every decade, so as to rebuild employment stability. Should we go that route, the inevitable result will be periodic, standing armies of the unemployed and homeless. We'll have to fend for ourselves, becoming assertive in new ways: • Establish a state bank modeled after North Dakota. This will provide a means to develop new a trend toward job "insourcing," rather than outsourcing to third world environments. This would give Michigan a chance to directly support start-ups and begin removing huge, predatory banks from the investment equation. It could also contribute its surplus to the state budget. • In the long run, Michigan will not regain a stable environment without taking its public infrastructure more seriously, starting with funding. The state budget will remain in perpetual crisis until we decide to more appropriately tax higher incomes, which will include closing loopholes and approving a graduated state income tax. Tax structures built to give big breaks for upper incomes will benefit Wall St., not Michigan's unemployed. • Expand union representation throughout the service sector. Post-manufacturing, this is where it seems most people work. Going back 80-90 years, working in an auto plant was held in low regard, much like fast food jobs are today; at that time it was considered obvious "conventional wisdom" that auto workers did not deserve a living wage for unskilled work. • Promote various employee ownership plans as alternative to ownership by private individuals or Wall Street stockholders. In a business where workers dominate board representation, who will vote to outsource themselves to Indonesia? Employee equity also encourages living wages. While Snyder probably supports some of these ideas, at least privately, Bernero can be expected to advocate forcefully and publicly for proposals that will get more state residents back to work over the long haul. Yes, we want more knowledge workers, but not everyone will hold one of these better-paying jobs, yet every Michigan adult will need a living wage.
jamie
Sun, Aug 8, 2010 : 10:12 a.m.
There is only one 'new' business that gets vacant buildings and residential apartments and houses occupied, brings people from other states to come live in Michigan, gives tradesmen such as carpenters, plumbers, electricians, more work as well as professionals such as lawyers, accountants, doctors, also retail stores with specialized equipment and other related ventures are proven to be able to thrive. This is all done by way of significantly helping sick and dying people maximize their quality of life. Medical marijuana is already a proven contributor to cities and towns in Michigan and other states. The tip of the ice berg hasn't even been scratched in terms of potential. If industrial hemp were included, farmers would have another cash crop and the empty manufacturing plants would have a purpose and thousands of jobs would be created. There is no other industry that can provide this kind of economic development as responsibly and quickly. The candidate that speaks of embracing this crucial opportunity, will get my vote.
81wolverine
Sun, Aug 8, 2010 : 8:25 a.m.
By the definition of "new business" in this article (which I think is correct), Snyder is the clear choice. Bernero's pro-union stance would be counter-productive to achieving the pro-business environment this state absolutely MUST have in the future. I think EVERY candidate, Republican, Democrat, or Independent has to make the economy and finances their #1 priority. If you have a strong economy and budgets that are well-managed, everything else becomes a heck of a lot easier. Having a strong economy will provide the money to afford quality public services, better health care, excellent schools, good roads, the list goes on and on.