Michigan is not growing to keep pace with other states

[iheartthed]

Not the number to be concerned about.

Michigan GDP per capita $43,372 USD

Luxembourg GDP per capita $103,104 USD

There's the standard of living difference. Not the total population number.

I was pointing out that Luxembourg has actually been growing at a healthy pace. It's just that Luxembourg is a tiny country that has fewer residents than the city of Detroit.

[DeLemur]

Agreed. I would add fostering a better Michigan identity of Great Lakes culture. We're on an enormous Lake system for sailing, fishing, swimming, ect.. yet we don't foster this culture which is fully embraced in growing western states and is in essence that of the more well to do. Furthermore, it provides a quality of life that other states can't match, certainly at the price. Let's stop being the state of rusty old factories and start being the state of the Great Lakes with huge swaths of green belts near its towns.

The obsession with population growth is odd.

Its quality over quantity. You want the Luxembourg standard of living, you don't require a lot of people, you require smart, well paid people.

The world is overpopulated with humans and this is a strain on the environment.

The idea that all growth is good growth is such nonsense.

The mindset needs to be 'smart growth'.

In the context of Michigan that means having more people live in Detroit and its inner burbs and de-commissioning expensive to service ex-urbs in favour of farmland or nature.

It means similar moves to larger urban nodes in key parts of the State, Kalamazoo, Pt. Huron, Sault Saint Marie and so on.

It means phasing smaller centers that are non-viable out of existence or back to quaint villages.

***

It also means focusing on education, on productivity per worker and on quality of life.

That not only isn't achieved through large-scale population growth, its almost always diminished.

Time to re-think the goals and the ways of measuring success.

[renf]

The University of Michigan Ann Arbor designated the winter term of 2020 as the Great Lakes Theme Semester. Here is a link to the web site for that endeavor:
https://lsa.umich.edu/greatlakes

[DeLemur]

Super!

The University of Michigan Ann Arbor designated the winter term of 2020 as the Great Lakes Theme Semester. Here is a link to the web site for that endeavor:
https://lsa.umich.edu/greatlakes