ANN ARBOR - Consumer confidence posted a sizable loss in June, with most of the overall decline in how consumers viewed future prospects for the national economy, according to University of Michigan economist Richard Curtin, director of the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. The Surveys, conducted by the U-M Institute for Social Research
LANSING - Expanding Medicaid eligibility as the federal Affordable Care Act wants but effectively can no longer require, is more a decision based on policy than fiscal issues because the expansion could actually save Michigan money, a memo from the Senate Fiscal Agency says. Because the expansion would allow the state to shift general fund
LANSING - As word spread Tuesday that the online retail giant Amazon might be looking to hire more workers in Michigan, news that was heralded by the administration, another group continued to press the Legislature to close what it says is a tax loophole that Amazon and others exploit to the detriment of small businesses
ANN ARBOR - Pure Visibility co-founder and COO Catherine Juon is leaving the company to pursue consulting opportunities with second stage companies and will be replaced by General Manager Dunrie Greiling. ?Like the businesses we help grow, Pure Visibility has experienced a tremendous evolution over the last 18 months,? said co-founder and president Linda Girard.
LANSING - The Small Business Association of Michigan's latest June 2012 Small Business Barometer survey of 600 small business owners finds entrepreneurs reporting higher sales and profits, and increased hiring, compared to last fall. Twenty-two percent said that over the past six months they increased their number of employees, compared to only eleven percent who
DETROIT ? A new survey shows across-the-board improvement among Michigan business owners regarding their outlook for sales, profits, hiring and wages, including the expectation that growth will continue for many months, with the strongest expectations in the Metro Detroit region. The caveat, among small and medium-sized business owners, is with the Michigan economy recovering, where
LANSING - While it seemed the attention of the political world was on the issue of whether the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act could impose a mandate on individuals to acquire health insurance, from the standpoint of the state, possibly the most significant aspect of the ruling is its effect on Medicaid. Because
LANSING - The waiting and the confusion surrounding the creation of a state health exchange that existed before Thursday's historic ruling on the federal health care law still remains as House Republicans did not have a firm answer for what they would do next. House Republicans had resisted moving forward on the exchange for months,
MARSHALL ? What's particularly impressed Steve Dodge, president of Stelmi America Inc., with working in Marshall, is the quality of life and the support offered by the community for business. Stelmi has been a tenant of The Brooks, an industrial and research park south of the city of 7,103. His company, a steel bar processor
BRIGHTON - Fortech Products, which provides corrosion-resistant coatings, metal-forming lubricants and contract packaging services for the auto industry, is expanding its production, laboratory and office facilities in Michigan, and adding new hires. The company recently moved into a new 80,000-square-foot headquarters on a 27-acre tract in Brighton, nearly tripling its production capacity, adding 25 percent