Grimes on bright spots for Michigan

University of Michigan economist Donald Grimes will be on this afternoon's Economic Recovery Forum panel in Sarasota. Here he is interviewed on hopeful sectors for Michigan in the current downturn:

Do you see any hopeful sectors for Michigan? You have previously talked about health care as strength in particular in Oakland County.
There's an amazing number of hopeful sectors actually in Michigan. As part of the study with the Research Seminar for Quantitative Economics that I was involved in, I believe we found 280 private-sector industries that between 2002 and 2007 actually grew faster in terms of employment growth in Michigan than they did nationally. That's a staggering number I never would have expected. Health care was one of the aggregate industry groups. There was also some that were in medical product manufacturing, pharmaceutical product manufacturing, agricultural and foodstuff manufacturing. It was in a wide variety of industries. Even semiconductors in Michigan were doing better than they were nationally.

Sarasota Has No Economic Development Strategy?

Sarasota County rethinks growth

[The] recession, the end of the building boom and a future made uncertain by the growing options of retirees has turned the old economic development model on its head.

The change was foreshadowed last December when County Administrator Jim Ley admitted in an internal memo to county commissioners that "we have no economic development strategy as a community." ...

the plans to spend more than $90 million on economic development in such a short period of time signaled a decided break from the past.

That shift was apparent again this week when Sarasota County commissioners announced plans for a program to give property tax breaks to businesses promising to create high-paying jobs here. The tax abatement plan would have to be approved by voters, and could be on the ballot as early as next spring.

more...

Downsizing the Sunshine State

...the Sunshine State is shrinking.

Choked by a record level of foreclosures and unemployment, along with a helping of disillusionment, the state's population declined by 58,000 people from April 2008 to April 2009, according to the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research. Except for the years around World Wars I and II, it was the state's first population loss since at least 1900.

"It's dramatic," said Stanley K. Smith, an economics professor at the University of Florida who compiled the report. "You have a state that was booming and has been a leader in population growth for the last 100 years that suddenly has seen a substantial shift."

The loss is more than a data point. Growth gave Florida its notorious flip-flop and flower-print swagger. Life could be carefree under the sun because, as a famous state tourism advertisement put it in 1986, "The rules are different here."

But what if they are not?

more.

US states face budget meltdowns

By Steve Schifferes Economics reporter, BBC News

Fireworks traditionally mark US Independence Day

Fourth of July celebrations will take place across US cities and states on Saturday to celebrate American independence day. But they are likely to be subdued, with many cities cutting back or eliminating the elaborate firework displays that have been a key feature of the celebrations.

It is the latest sign of the fiscal crisis that is spreading across the nation as the recession has had a dramatic effect on state spending. more...

Ongoing challenge

Gaping budget hole expected next year as real estate values continue to slide

By PAUL QUINLAN

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Friday, June 26, 2009

Palm Beach County's real estate values will continue to fall next year by 10 percent or more, say county leaders, who estimate the deeper slide will open up a $110 million budget gap in 2011. More...

Not-for-profits feeling pinch at worst possible time

Charities struggling

A quiet crisis is unfolding in nonprofit circles across the country, and the issue is particularly acute in wealthy Southwest Florida, where charity is a central part of life and major donors have been hit hard by the economic downturn.

... government spending on social services is declining as tax revenues plummet.

Sarasota County's budget for nonprofits dropped from $8.9 million in 2007 to $7.4 million this year and is expected to fall another 20 percent to 25 percent. That means up to $1.9 million more in cuts, or a 40 percent reduction in three years. more...