How many corporate economic programs does Michigan have, quite a few. Some in the media love them and protect them with all their reputation at stake.

We currently have the:

  • Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF): promotes economic development in Michigan.
  • Michigan Economic Development Corp (MEDC)
  • The Michigan Business Development Program (MBDP)
  • Jobs Ready MI Program
  • Going PRO Talent Fund
  • I am sure I probably missed a few they have flying under the radar

We use to have a program called the Michigan Economic Growth Authority (MEGA) program. One that the Lansing State Journal use to love.  Way back in 1999 they published an editorial titled “Job-maker MEGA a true success”.  They wrote their editorial in support of General Motors locating a new plant in Lansing and receiving a MEGA subsidy. They stated in that editorial that this new plant was “projected to create as many as 2,000 jobs”.

In that editorial, the Michigan Capitol Confidential reports they criticized Michigan’s Mackinac Center for Public Policy because they pointed out the problems with the MEGA program.

The Lansing State Journal wrote:

Critics of MEGA, such as the conservative think tank Mackinac Center, liken the program to corporate welfare for a favored few. ... MEGA is a true success story and should be trumpeted by Michigan – and by the Lansing region in particular. Quite literally, MEGA means work.

Who was correct and who was horribly wrong, the Mackinac Center or the Lansing State Journal?  That is an easy question.

Let’s look at the history of transportation jobs in the Lansing area:

  • Back in 1999, the year the MEGA subsidy was granted to GM, there were 15,400 transportation equipment manufacturing jobs
  • In 2005 that “plummeted” to 8,000 
  • As of December 2021 the number was 8,100

Surprise, surprise the editors at the Lansing State Journal were horribly wrong. Perhaps people who are in the “news” business should not be making such calls when it has to do with business.

The Michigan Capitol Confidential writes:

The news at the end of January 2022 has again been filled with glowing stories about another round of state subsidies for four new GM projects. A Jan. 25 Detroit Free Press story pronounced, “Economists say that, in turn, will create thousands more ancillary jobs.

Who will you believe this time?

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