Please note: Kai Petainen is a member of The Ann Arbor Independent’s Editorial Board by P.D. Lesko ANN ARBOR SPARK is once again under fire for discrepancies in its job creation claims. Forbes.com writer Kai Petainen uncovered a…

Please Note: Kai Petainen is a member of The Ann Arbor Independent’s Editorial Board. ANN ARBOR CITY Administrator Steve Powers (below) sits on the Executive Committee of Ann Arbor SPARK. SPARK is funded with public money from both state…

by Rob C. Smith IN DECEMBER 2012 Governor Rick Snyder was quoted in the Detroit Free Press as saying that “Michigan is well-positioned for a comeback.” A few days later, for the third year, Forbes Magazine ranked Michigan 47th in Forbes’…

by Rob Smith On December 12, 2012 Governor Rick Snyder was quoted in the Detroit Free Press as saying that "Michigan is well-positioned for a comeback." A few days later, for the third year, Forbes Magazine ranked Michigan 47th in Forbes’…

by Rob Smith The 1 percent here in Ann Arbor are just different than us. They look at out-of-work folks and hungry children, homeless men and women tossed out of Camp Take Notice, struggling small businesses and cash-strapped school…

A2P Notes: In Fall 2010, A123 Systems opened what the company touted as the "world's largest lithium ion automotive battery manufacturing plant in North America" in Livonia, Michigan. According to a September 13, 2010 piece in the New York…

by Rob Smith In the March 13th issue of the New York Times there is an article about the severe economic problems that face Italy. That country, like Michigan, has been in one of the deepest recessions on record. Unemployment in Italy last…

by P.D. Lesko Guess what you can get in Michigan for a $10,000 donation to Rick Snyder's campaign? You can get $18,000,000 in state money to bail you out when your project crashes and burns just 10 months after it's launched. You can also…

Small businesses owned by individuals, couples and families do one thing really well: take out as much money as possible from the business, and minimize the tax burden as much as possible. This can be confirmed by just about any small…

Legend has it that Helen of Troy had a face that launched a thousand ships. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, on the other hand, has a  "job creation" strategy that has launched a recall effort. It's a strategy that has resulted in Snyder…