The Mackinac Center: Analysis Based on Pure Politics, Not Facts

[7miledog]

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091...private-sector#

From the Detroit News Article on the size of state government. Clearly, the analysis of the Mackinac Center is based on partisan positioning, not the facts.

"'If someone is urging the downsizing of state government, consider it wildly successful," said Gary Olson, director of the Senate Fiscal Agency.
State spending more

Not everyone agrees. In a policy brief written for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank based in Midland, Gary Wolfram, a Hillsdale College professor of economics and public policy, argues that state government has grown during the recession.
"There are lots of ways to grow without adding employees," Wolfram told The News. "It [[state government) is clearly larger. It's spending billions more."
Total spending from state resources is up 7 percent -- $1.8 billion more in the 2008-09 budget year than in 2001. That's the equivalent of an additional $618,000 being spent every day since the recession began.
But those figures don't take into account inflation. While the state's total spending over the eight years increased 7 percent [[reaching $27.5 billion in '08-'09), inflation during the same period was triple that [[21.7 percent).
When adjusted for inflation, total spending has decreased 14 percent. Spending from the general fund, the Legislature's main source of discretionary money, is down 21 percent. By comparison, Ohio's general fund was down less than 2 percent, and Indiana's increased 5 percent.
Wolfram also argues total state employment is down only slightly. He cites statistics compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that lump in state university and some hospital workers as state employees.
State university employment, for example, has jumped 8 percent since 2000, paralleling a 7 percent increase in enrollment.
But labeling a Michigan State University professor a state employee isn't completely fair, MSU economics Professor Charles Ballard said. Only 31 percent of MSU's budget comes from the state; the share was 52 percent in 2000."

This "analysis" from the Mackinac Center reminds me of a forum I attended on the Center's support for FOIA. The Center strongly urged State Government to post all of its spending online, with a very compelling argument on the "spirit" of the Freedom of Information Act, and how public tax spending needs to be revealed and exposed down to the level of the salaries of individual employees. I agree that government spending should be posted on-line.

However, the hypocrisy exploded when the Mackinac Center representative was asked how deep the Center's support went, and if private contractors who receive state dollars for public purposes [[such as companies that operate private prisons) should have to also post how they spend public tax dollars, he stuttered and gave a VERY weak explanation for why they don't have to reveal how they spend public tax dollars. This was beyond the pale, and clearly exposed the GOP's, er I mean the Center's, position that the spending of public tax dollars should ONLY be reported if it is actually spent by the public, but if it goes to private companies for public purposes, then it should be kept secret. Freakin hypocrites!

[gazhekwe]

Has anyone examined whether the state is spending more money for the same or less goods and services than before? Just looking at the dollars does not tell the whole tale. Lazythink is taking over the dialogue.

[7miledog]

We ARE paying more for the same thing today than we were before for the same reason that a loaf of bread costs more today than it did 10 years ago: inflation.

[gnome]

you seem to have a dull axe to grind. If you haven't noticed, we are losing population, incomes are down, home values aren't even close to the bottom and you are defending the State's insistence they must have more money.

or in other words:

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

[mwilbert]

You can do an comparative analysis of spending trends in nominal [[unadjusted for inflation) dollars, like comparing trends in how much money you and your neighbor spent on haircuts over the past 10 years, because both figures are affected similarly by inflation.

But to say that state government has grown because spending unadjusted for inflation has gone up is simply dishonest.

Paying attention to analysis done by dishonest people is a mistake--you can't just adjust for the stuff you catch, because you don't know that you can catch all the other misleading things they may have slipped in.

[Corktown Mark]

the Mackinac Center for Public Policy is more a fox news echo system then a "think tank". These "analysts" will make up facts and distort reality beyond any recognition to advance their political agenda.

[Fnemecek]

the Mackinac Center for Public Policy is more a fox news echo system then a "think tank". These "analysts" will make up facts and distort reality beyond any recognition to advance their political agenda.

I disagree with that assertion, at least in part.

While the Mackinac Center clearly strains the definition of a think tank, they rarely make up any facts. Instead, their modus operandi is to take well-established facts and distort them in such a way as to conform to their political, moral or economic beliefs.

A clear example of this trait comes from the article that is the subject of this thread. The Mackinac Center argues that spending by the State of Michigan has increased in recent years. While that is technically correct, their failure to adjust for inflation in these numbers makes their "analysis" devoid of any credibility.

[Gsgeorge]

The Michigan Government is smaller today than it has been in 30+ years. It employs the same number of people that it used to in 1973. We have been systematically reducing the size of our state government for a while now as a result of the recession & the decline in population.

[elganned]

When will it be small enough to drown it in the bathtub, I wonder?

[lilpup]

The Michigan Government is smaller today than it has been in 30+ years. It employs the same number of people that it used to in 1973. We have been systematically reducing the size of our state government for a while now as a result of the recession & the decline in population.

Unfortunately it is shrinking in some of the wrong places. The expenses of the state Congress need to be cut off at the ankles - cut office budgets, reduce the number of representatives, go unicameral if necessary. Just as in Washington D.C. the legislators and the legislative process have become fat and lazy, sucking up money that should be going to programs.

[skyl4rk]

The Mackinac Center is a tinfoil hat society. They are ideologues who will make statements based on their ideology, whether or not the facts back it up.

[1KielsonDrive]

I think they call themselves 'The Mackinac Center for Public Policy'. It would be more accurate for them to be called 'The Mackinac Center for Public Spin'.

[stonechipped]

http://www.nomoreincumbents.org/ This will never happen in my lifetime...but we need to vote all the relics out of office as soon as possible

[mrrichard]

I'm confused. The MCFPP is a free market think tank, and GOP politicians usually have a free market slant on issues. So it is only natural for the GOP to side with their findings.
The Dems think the government has most the answers and should control how things play out and the GOP the private sector, that's alwaysbeen the main difference.

re: "he stuttered and gave a VERY weak explanation for why they don't have to reveal how they spend public tax dollars."
Did he mean that puclic companies should report a detailed income/expense statement for all public funds and private companies shouldn't? OR did he mean all government money spent should be posted / reported online and public companies.
And what does "actually spent by the public" mean, i'm confused.

[Novine]

Laziness all around. The growth in the state budget has been fueled by more federal dollars. Those numbers are on the state web site like here:

http://www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa/S...ustedGross.pdf

showing how much federal funds have increased as a percentage of the state budget. Or here:

http://www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa/S...edFedFunds.pdf

clearly showing how the growth in federal funds has accounted for almost all of the growth in state spending. It took me 2 minutes to find that. Why can't your average reporter or think tank analyst do the same?