Three cheers for Doug Oberhelman, CEO of Caterpillar Inc., the largest manufacturer of earth-moving equipment whose prowess projects American industrial capability into markets around the world. In an interview with the Financial Times, he excoriates the political gamesmanship that pushed Washington to the brink of a debt default, hampers effective economic policy-making and stymies passage … Continue Reading →
Reader Jim Beaver takes me to task this morning for using colorful language — in this case, my choice of “ravings” to describe The NYT’s Paul Krugman — in blog post last week. “Why is it that when someone says something you don’t agree with they are ‘raving’ or ‘hyperventilating,’” asks Beaver, a self-described retired … Continue Reading →
The headline at Marketwatch.com caught my eye: “Austerity is making the economy worse,” and Rex Nutting goes on to hyperventilate that “austerity by Washington’s politicians will only make things worse, at least in the short run. The stimulus — including tax cuts, grants to state and local governments, increased spending on infrastructure, a reinforced safety … Continue Reading →
Aside from obvious notes that they’re both products of Harvard Law School, both give good speeches and both struggle with the basics of leadership, the debt-ceiling debacle building to a crescendo in Washington makes the president of the United States look an awful lot like the failed two-term governor of Michigan, now retreated to the … Continue Reading →
Detroit Medical Center is confirming that Emery King, the respected former TV anchor, is in talks to help sort Mayor Dave Bing’s disastrous communications apparatus. That’s necessary, but it’s not sufficient. Hizzoner’s chief communications officer, Karen Dumas, is a lightning rod for controversy, backbiting and, now, litigation. If Bing retains her in what clearly are … Continue Reading →
Gov. Rick Snyder may be a lot of things, as his critics freely allege on a daily basis, but financially stupid ain’t one of them. By ruling out a Chapter 9 bankruptcy for Detroit, as he did
Good thing Saab Automobile AB’s owner, Spyker Cars NV, inked a deal for two Chinese companies — Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. and Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. — to invest $351 million into the Dutch parent company, in part to restart production. Maybe then sad-sack Saab owners like me can get their grubby hands … Continue Reading →
Among Mitt Romney’s political problems is an obvious affliction with double-speak that isn’t gonna’ help him win the Republican nomination to challenge President Barack Obama, much less a general election. But the partisan beating he’s taking for his November ’08 op-ed in The New York Times — on the left from former Gov. Jennifer Granholm … Continue Reading →
In the continuing search for reasons to explain the national economic drift setting in again, consider this one: President Barack Obama’s White House can’t get anything done. That’s a meaningful problem if you accept the notion that the nexus of business and politics in Washington influences a) consumer behavior and b) the sense of certainty … Continue Reading →
MACKINAC ISLAND — GalaxE Solutions boss Tim Bryan can’t say it enough: His health-care IT company’s gambit to set up shop in the budding IT hub of Campus Martius “completely validates the model,” he told me today before the opening session of the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference. “A hundred percent of the work … Continue Reading →