When Mike Duggan was sworn in as Detroit’s mayor more than a decade ago, much of the city was in the dark. Four out of every 10 streetlights didn’t work. His administration rebuilt the grid and relit neighborhoods block by block.
Blight became another target. Crews tore down thousands of abandoned houses that posed safety risks. With hundreds of millions in federal relief, Duggan stabilized the budget and funded neighborhood programs. Meanwhile, the city’s violent crime rate eased: just over 200 homicides last year, the lowest number since the mid-1960s.
Other markers point to momentum. Detroit’s population has inched up for two years in a row — rare for a city that has seen decades of decline. Moody’s even restored Detroit’s investment-grade bond rating.
Duggan highlights these milestones when he calls himself “a fixer.”
The broader picture is mixed: while downtown investment is visible, many neighborhoods still face population loss and a lack of basic infrastructure.
Still, compared with the Detroit Duggan inherited in 2014, the city holds more promise today, and much of that transformation happened under his watch.
Now Duggan wants to take his record statewide. He’s running for governor of Michigan in 2026 as an independent — and asking voters across the state to buy into his version of Detroit’s turnaround.
The mayor joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss how he thinks his strategies can scale statewide.
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By PAUL WISEMAN and CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writers
WASHINGTON (AP) — Shutdowns of the federal government usually don’t leave much economic damage. But the one that started Wednesday looks riskier, not least because President Donald Trump is threatening to use the standoff to permanently eliminate thousands of government jobs and the state of the economy is already precarious.
For now, financial markets are shrugging off the impasse as just the latest failure of Republicans and Democrats to agree on a budget and keep the government running.
“Everyone seems quite complacent about the shutdown, assuming the Democrats and Republicans will come to terms and life will go on, as has been the case in past shutdowns,” the independent economist Ed Yardeni wrote in a commentary Thursday. “History could certainly repeat, especially with a man known for dealmaking sitting in the Oval Office.”
But given the chasm separating the two political parties, Yardeni added, “the lack of caution is somewhat surprising.”
The U.S. government has now shut down 21 times in the past half century. The last of those shutdowns was the longest — stretching five weeks in December 2018 into January 2019 during Trump’s first term.
Even that one barely left a mark on the world’s biggest economy: The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it shaved just 0.02% off 2019 U.S. gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services.
The economic impact of shutdowns is usually fleeting. Federal workers get furloughed and the federal government delays some spending while they last. When they’re over, federal workers go back to their jobs and collect back pay, and the government belatedly spends the money it had withheld. It’s pretty much a wash.
“Government shutdowns are inconvenient and messy,″ said Scott Helfstein, head of investment strategy at the investment firm Global X. ”But there is little evidence that they have a significant impact on the economy. Typically, the lost economic activity, if meaningful in the first place, is recovered in the following quarter.″
Government benefit payments that provide crucial income support for millions of Americans, such as Social Security, and health care programs such as Medicare, won’t be disrupted by the shutdown.
Data from previous shutdowns have shown little impact on U.S. GDP unless they are extended, according to CBO Director Phillip Swagel. “The impact is not immediate, but over time, there is a negative impact of a shutdown on the economy,” he recently told The Associated Press.
The damage could be worse this go-around.
First, some government agencies dodged the 2018-2019 shutdown because they’d received funding in advance and could just continue operating. That hasn’t happened this time: The CBO estimates that about 750,000 federal employees could be temporarily laid off.
Trump is also considering something more destructive: His budget office has threatened the mass firing of federal workers this time, not just putting them on temporary furlough.
A “reduction in force” would not only lay off employees but eliminate their positions, threatening more upheaval for a workforce that’s already been purged by Trump. “We’d be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very affected, and they’re Democrats. They’re going to be Democrats,” the president said Tuesday.
Thomas Ryan of Capital Economics wrote in a commentary that “it is reasonable to assume that (Trump’s mass layoff threat) is political bluster, aimed at pressuring Democrats to approve a funding extension without concessions.” But, he added, “if followed through, it could have longer-term consequences, prolonging government downsizing and keeping the sector as a drag on payrolls into next year.”
Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, estimates that the shutdown and temporary loss of income for federal workers could shave 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points from the nation’s annual growth rate in the fourth quarter for each week the government is closed. Some of that will be recovered once it reopens.
“The economic costs of government shutdowns are normally minimal unless they last for several weeks,” Sweet wrote.
The showdown also comes at a time when the job market is already under strain, damaged by the lingering effects of high interest rates and uncertainty around Trump’s erratic campaign to slap taxes on imports from almost every country on earth and on specific products — from copper to foreign films.
Labor Department revisions earlier this month showed that the economy created 911,000 fewer jobs than originally reported in the year that ended in March. That meant that employers added an average of fewer than 71,000 new jobs a month over that period, not the 147,000 first reported. Since March, job creation has slowed even more — to an average 53,000 a month. During the 2021-2023 hiring boom that followed COVID-19 lockdowns, by contrast, the economy was creating 400,000 jobs a month.
The September jobs report was supposed to come out Friday — forecasters had expected to see 50,000 new jobs last month — but has been delayed indefinitely by the shutdown.
The economy is sending mixed signals, however. GDP growth came in at a strong 3.8% annual pace from April through June, reversing a 0.6% drop in the first three months of the year. But it’s not yet clear if that solid growth can continue, or if it will spur a rebound in hiring.
“The economy is very much on a ‘knife’s edge,’” said Michael Linden, senior policy fellow at the left-leaning Washington Center for Equitable Growth. “The economic data is pointing in different directions right now. Second-quarter GDP growth was strong, but how much of that was merely a bounce back from incredibly weak first quarter GDP is hard to know. What we know for sure is that the economy is creating fewer jobs, wage growth is slowing, and middle-class consumers are feeling pinched.”
Associated Press Writer Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this story.
The US. Capitol is photographed, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans and Democrats spent the first day of the federal government shutdown blaming each other for the dysfunction, as iconic sites representing the nation’s core identity — from the Liberty Bell in Pennsylvania to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii — were temporarily closed.
The Trump administration enlisted Vice President JD Vance for an appearance in the White House briefing room to argue, falsely, that Democrats refused to keep the government funded because they were trying to extend health coverage to people in the country illegally.
Neither side said it would budge, but, as the finger-pointing persisted, the economic pain became more likely to spread — potentially putting hundreds of thousands of jobs and basic services at risk.
‘We are going to have to lay people off’
Callers to the White House comment line heard a recorded message from press secretary Karoline Leavitt stating: “Democrats in Congress have shut down the federal government because they care more about funding health care for illegal immigrants than they care about serving you, the American people.” Several federal agencies posted overtly partisan messages on their websites blaming Democrats for the shutdown.
The White House underscored its argument by reviving a deepfake video posted by President Donald Trump of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries in a fake mustache and sombrero, a meme that Jeffries described as bigoted. They played it on repeat in the White House briefing room, though Vance promised that the “sombrero memes will stop” when the government reopens.
Jeffries responded with a meme of his own superimposing an image of Vance with a fat head and curly, long hair. “JD Vance thinks we will surrender to the Republican effort to gut healthcare because of a Sombrero meme. Not happening Bro,” Jeffries wrote in a post on X.
Vance said he couldn’t predict how long the shutdown might go on, but also said he didn’t believe it would be lengthy because some moderate Senate Democrats might soon vote with GOP colleagues to restore funding.
“Let’s be honest, if this thing drags on for another few days or, God forbid, another few weeks, we are going to have to lay people off,” Vance said.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said that Trump has refused to negotiate in good faith and that the claims of Democrats closing the government for immigrants in the country illegally is a lie.
“Donald Trump says it loud and clear: He is using the American people as pawns, threatening pain on the country as blackmail,” Schumer said.
The White House’s key policy priorities, including an aggressive deportation agenda, may continue with few disruptions. But education, environmental and other services may eventually sputter. The economic fallout could further imperil an already weakening job market, as a jobs report Wednesday by payroll processor ADP showed that private employers cut 32,000 jobs last month.
The Trump administration has also begun targeting funding projects in Democratic states.
White House budget director Russ Vought announced Wednesday a hold on roughly $18 billion in payments to build the Hudson Rail Tunnel and the Second Avenue subway line in New York City, two projects dear to Schumer. He later announced that almost $8 billion in green energy projects would be withheld for 16 states, all states represented by two Democrats in the Senate.
Mixed polling
The last government shutdown came in late 2018 and early 2019, during Trump’s first administration. It centered on a fight between both parties over funding for a wall along the Mexico-U.S. border and lasted more than 30 days. But Congress had already passed separate funding measures then that ensured that shutdown only partially affected government services, and wasn’t as widespread as this one might be.
Trump took most of the blame for the last shutdown, with an AP-NORC poll conducted during it, showing about 7 in 10 Americans said Donald Trump had “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of responsibility.
This time, about two-thirds of registered voters in a recent New York Times/Siena poll conducted before the shutdown said the Democrats should not allow the government to halt even if their demands were not met.
Still, Republicans as the party in power could also face blowback. About one-quarter of registered voters in that poll said they would blame Trump and the Republicans in Congress if a shutdown happened, while about 2 in 10 said they would place blame on congressional Democrats. About one-third said they’d blame both sides equally.
Shutdown starts taking hold
Federal courts will remain fully operational at least through Oct. 17, and potentially life-saving forecasting by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its National Weather Service haven’t been disrupted.
But tours of the Liberty Bell were scrapped, and St. Louis’ Gateway Arch and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston closed. Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Hawaii began Wednesday shuttered, though officials were working with nonprofit partners to get it reopen.
At Acadia National Park in Maine, which gets 4 million visits a year, would-be hikers in search of trail maps checked empty receptacles outside the closed visitors center. With no park rangers in sight, Jim Feather of Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and his wife were unsure about trying to tackle Cadillac Mountain, with its panoramic views of the North Atlantic coast.
“It’s frustrating that they’re playing politics in D.C.,” Feather said. “Their job is to pass a budget. And if they’re not doing their job, what are they doing down there?”
Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst and Darlene Superville in Washington, Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu, Alexa St. John in Detroit and Robert F. Bukaty at Acadia National Park contributed to this report.
A sign announces that the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center is closed, on the first day of a partial government shutdown, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
What does it feel like to be a small business owner in southeast Michigan right now?
It’s hard to get a firm picture of that, but we do have some numbers to put some paint on the canvas. Right now, the broad story is that the economy is doing well despite uncertainty from high tariffs.
In Detroit specifically, the unemployment rate fell to below 10 percent, dropping from 11 percent in 2024. And a new report says that gains are expected to be had here in the finance, leisure, hospitality and public administration sectors.
But, as noted, difficulty is looming. An effective US tariff rate at almost 16 percent is expected to hamper auto-related jobs. Many have companies stockpiled goods to counteract the tariffs, and some businesses anticipate raising prices. What’s more, companies are hiring much fewer people than they were four years ago.
What does all this mean for small businesses in our area? What does it look like to own a coffee shop, a clothing store, or a small construction company in Metro Detroit?
Mark Lee is the president and CEO of The Lee Group, where he consults for small businesses. He spoke with Robyn Vincent.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
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While Donald Trump is in the United Kingdom meeting with prime minister Keir Starmer and the King of England, the highest-ranking U-S official on American soil is Vice President JD Vance. The VP visited Michigan yesterday, making a stop at a metal stamping plant in Howell.
Vance toured the facility before delivering a speech to a room of largely conservative supporters. The visit came one week after conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was murdered by a gunman in Utah.
Vance shouted out Kirk for his embodiment of conservative values and success in attracting youth into the Republican party. Main talking points also centered around President Trump’s economic policy and deployments of the National Guard.
“We deserve to be safe in our communities again,” said Vance, “and that’s what the president is making happen.”
Vance told the crowd he would be happy to see the National Guard deployed in Detroit, calling on Governor Whitmer to ask for the White House’s assistance. That’s despite crime rates in the city trending down in recent years.
Vance said the White House’s economic policies will make things cheaper for families.
“We talk about no taxes on overtime,” said Vance, “which we are proud to deliver — the lowest taxes we’ve had in this country in a very long time.”
Michigan Democrats have countered the president’s spending bill and economic policies have hurt residents around the state, driving up prices on things like healthcare and groceries.
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Michigan’s official monthly unemployment rate in July remained at 5.3%, which was unchanged from June.
The number of unemployed people in Michigan decreased slightly by 1,000, according to the Michigan Center for Data and Analytics. But the labor force – people who are either working or looking for work – declined by about 5,000 people.
These numbers are close enough that, on balance, they failed to move the unemployment rate.
“The unemployment rate held steady because the labor force declined, and that’s not what we’d like to see,” said University of Michigan economist Gabriel Ehrlich. “The reason wasn’t because the count of employed Michigan residents increased or held steady, it actually fell. So, the number of Michigan residents who reported that they’re working actually dipped last month.”
Ehrlich said he does not see anything alarming in the data, but will continue to watch the workforce participation numbers.
Michigan Labor Market Information Director Wayne Rourke said Michigan is not seeing big month-to-month changes in its jobs numbers, which shows employment remains steady.
“Since January, the unemployment rates have really stabilized and Michigan’s rate has hovered between 5.3% and 5.5%,” he said. “So, looking at the last six months or so, Michigan’s unemployment rate has really stabilized after the large growth of last year, and that’s a good sign.”
Michigan’s July unemployment rate was 1.1 percentage points higher than the national rate. It is also half a percentage point higher than it was at this time a year ago.
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Business leaders say President Trump’s tariffs on various countries and products are creating a high level of uncertainty for companies.
That appears especially true for small business owners who often operate with razor-thin profit margins.
A national coalition of CEO’s called Small Business for America’s Future estimates owners of smaller firms account for the vast majority of U.S. imports, the kind directly impacted by tariffs.
The group recently drafted a letter to President Trump and other officials claiming tariffs place a disproportionate burden on small businesses and are creating a crisis for owners.
That includes Farmington Hills, MI-based Blitz Proto, a company that specializes in helping customers bring ideas from design and engineering to production.
Blitz Proto CEO Carrin Harris says tariffs are making it hard for her company to survive.
Listen: Small business owners ask Trump for tariff relief
The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Carrin Harris: Blitz Proto is a small, three-person team. We’re focused on bringing innovative ideas to life. We help companies make prototypes from toys to medical devices and auto parts. Most of our prototypes involve electronics. That’s why we are having difficulty with the tariffs right now. Most of the electronic parts come from China. But we also do machining. So, the cost of all materials for machining has gone up. Aluminum, steel, everything’s going up quite a bit.
Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: Have you been able to absorb some of the costs from the tariffs? Or do you have to pass the full cost on to consumers?
CH: We do work on very small margins. We have done what we can to absorb the cost. But for the most part, we are passing it on to the customers.
QK: How is that going over?
CH: So far, it has been very difficult. Many of our customers come to us with very small budgets and they can’t afford the additional cost to make their product. So, we have lost some opportunities this year due to the increased costs that we’re passing on.
QK: There’s been reports that some suppliers are demanding additional payments to cover tariff-related costs they say they were not expecting. Has that happened with your business?
CH: Yes, it has. We had placed some orders back in December. Then we received communication from our vendors telling us the cost had gone up. They’re attempting to absorb the costs as well but they had to pass some additional fees on to us to account for the tariffs and duties and additional shipping costs.
QK: How does that affect your business? I imagine it impacts not only costs but also quoting people what you might have to charge them or the time frame for when you’ll be able to deliver a product?
CH: Yes, it has. We have changed our policies internally this year. Our quotes are now expiring in one week rather than one month. And a lot of our lead times are being pushed out because the shipping times are much longer.
QK: It must be difficult to form a business plan with that kind of a situation.
CH: It has been extremely difficult. I’m doing the best that I can to assure our customers that we are exploring alternative vendors. We’re looking into more suppliers here in the United States, although costs for items coming from the United States tend to be quite a bit higher, sometimes three times the cost.
QK: You are one of the owners included in the letter sent to President Trump and other officials regarding tariffs and how they’re affecting small business. President Trump has said over and over that he loves tariffs. But he’s also proposed huge tariffs and then reduced them and then added others. Given all that, how realistic do you think it might be that he could reverse course on any of these tariffs, especially ones dealing with electronics from countries like China?
CH: It does sound like a possibility. But it’s pretty unpredictable. I’m hoping that he’ll at least choose and stick with a tariff rate so that we can anticipate better. Because we quote customers ahead of time, sometimes months ahead of time, so they can plan their budgets. If they’re ready to start a project and the cost has skyrocketed in the meantime, they usually have to scrap the project.
QK: The president said earlier this year that his use of tariffs could mean, for example, that maybe someone can only buy two dolls for a child this year for Christmas instead of 30. That’s as he says he’s bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. For you, whose company actually makes prototypes for toys, among other things, what do those comments mean to you?
CH: It really means the supplier that wants to create a new toy is probably not going to do it. We are a very small business among many small businesses and these tariffs are threatening our livelihood. We already are working with almost no capital. So I don’t see how we can sustain this in the long run. I’d like to see more consistency.
QK: How long have you had your business going and how has it been doing?
CH: We started in mid-2022. It’s done pretty well up until the tariffs were put in place. We had really good outlooks for this year. We’ve formed a lot more customer relationships and have had a lot of new opportunities this year. Unfortunately, a lot of those customers have held back from putting in orders that they planned on making with us this year. I am sure that’s due to the fluctuating cost.
QK: And not being a huge corporation, I imagine you don’t have the extra assets or resources available to help tide you over the way that a large company might?
CH: We’ve actually had some suppliers tell us that big corporations came in and bought up all of their stock. So they wouldn’t actually honor the orders that we’d already put in and paid for.
QK: How can they do that if you already paid for them?
CH: That’s a good question. They didn’t really have any answers for us
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Tariffs aren’t just numbers in a trade deal. They are hidden costs baked into the price of almost everything we buy and sell, and they have become a point of contention and anxiety with President Trump’s erratic maneuvers — announcing them, delaying them, increasing them, walking them back.
He says his new tariffs aim to protect American industries, but they are hitting small businesses and big supply chains in Michigan and beyond.
Economists warn that the state’s manufacturing base and retailers are especially vulnerable. That means higher costs for business owners, tougher choices on pricing, and potential sticker shock for many of us.
So we’re connecting the dots, from the global supply chain to the boutique sales floor with Rachel Lutz, owner of The Peacock Room, a women’s clothing and accessories boutique in Detroit, and Professor Jason Miller, interim chair of Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University.
They joined The Metro’s Robyn Vincent to explain tariffs’ local and less understood impacts.
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New tariffs imposed earlier this year by the Trump administration are starting to raise prices on some consumer goods, and many Michigan households are struggling as a result.
The youth-led effort, funded through the city’s Grow Detroit’s Young Talent program, helps to educate Detroit youth about financial wellness and money management. Participating mentors receive extensive training on how to lead workshops and encourage participants to take control of their personal finance.
Mutakabbir joined The Metro on Monday to talk about the program and how her background in finance shaped her mission to educate others.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
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A new state pilot program kicking off this fall aims to reduce turnover and attract talent in early childhood education by offering affordable benefits packages for educators.
The two-year pilot program, facilitated through the Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM), will include health insurance, life and disability benefits, and 401(k) options for early education teachers and child care workers.
Michelle Beebe, chief revenue officer with the Small Business Association of Michigan, told WDET the high turnover rate in the childcare industry is bad for kids.
“Every time you adjust a caregiver it’s impacting a child’s life, it slows down the learning process,” she said. “You have training, it costs the business owner money to constantly be in a state of hiring, and this allows for stability within that industry.”
Beebe says the SBAM hopes to develop tiered benefits packages, where the base plan will be subsidized by the state and employers can buy into higher tiers.
Detroit has demolished thousands of vacant homes since voters approved Proposal N five years ago. The $250 million bond program enabled the city to tear down blighted properties while salvaging other homes to be renovated and sold. A contractor will carry out the 8,000th demolition under the proposal on Friday.
The Detroit Tigers will face the Texas Rangers on Friday, July 18, at Globe Life Field. The Tigers are currently No. 1 in the American league with a 59-38 record; and as they enter the second half of the season they are facing the 48-49 Rangers. First pitch is at 8:05 p.m. ET.
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Michigan lost a deal for a massive semiconductor plant this week that was projected to bring about 10,000 jobs to the Flint area.
As part of WDET’s weekly series, MichMash, Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow and Alethia Kasben break down Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s reaction to this and the new economic plans for the site.
Then later, Gorchow and WDET’s Cheyna Roth speak with Mike Csapo, general manager of the Resource Recovery and Recycling Authority of Southwest Oakland County, about the proposal to expand Michigan’s bottle bill and why he doesn’t support it.
Why SanDisk pulled out of the semiconductor plant deal
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s reaction to the deal’s collapse
A case against Michigan’s proposed bottle bill expansion
The $63 billion project proposed by SanDisk — a computer technology company — was a lofty goal for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who in a statement on Wednesday blamed the project’s collapse on “massive economic uncertainty at the national level.”
“Their board came to this decision amid national economic turmoil, which is at risk of worsening amid threats of even higher tariffs,” the emailed statement read. “Michigan’s Mundy Township site was the company’s preferred destination to build their massive facility.”
Both Whitmer’s office and local economic development groups have said the roughly 1,300-acre site is ready for other businesses, but Kasben cautioned against hope for such a deal.
“If economic uncertainty is the reason SanDisk pulled out, what are the odds of another company existing in this same economy being ready and willing to take on a similar project?” Kasben said.
Speaking with Roth and Kasben about the proposed expansion to Michigan’s bottle bill, Csapo explained his reasoning for not fully supporting the initiative.
“It’s not necessarily that we’re opposed to expansion. It’s that we need to be mindful of the law of unintended consequences,” he said. “If our goals are to continue to expand Michigan’s circular economy and capitalize on the economic, environmental and supply chain benefits of recycling, then any change to one part of the system has to consider the impacts and the other parts of the system expansion.”
With Michigan’s bottle return rate decreasing, a solution for increasing the state’s recycling efforts remains difficult to conceive.
The changes, which were unanimously approved by the council, will reduce administrative burdens by cutting redundant licensing requirements that “do not protect health and safety”; allow businesses to renew their business licenses every two years instead of annually; improve the city’s permitting and licensing processes and more.
Hassan Beydoun, group executive of Economic Development for the city of Detroit, joined The Metro on Tuesday to elaborate on what these new resolutions mean for small businesses in Detroit.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
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The industry for materials key to American manufacturing could receive extra government support under proposed legislation from a Michigan congresswoman.
The bill, called the “Unearth America’s Future Act,” would create new federal loans, tax credits, and programs to spur the domestic production and refining of critical minerals like copper, magnesium and aluminum.
“What this bill is, is focused on public-private partnerships, supply chain opportunities, as well as recyclability, which is something that’s gaining a lot of traction in the critical materials space right now,” U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Michigan) said about her pending legislation.
Stevens estimates her plan would invest around $10 billion in the industry. It would cover loans, tax credits, partnerships and the creation of a new national center to oversee research and development.
The policy proposal is a response to concerns about China’s dominance in the market for precious metals, especially those used in goods like smart phones or vehicle batteries.
Stevens said that makes both the country’s and Michigan’s current situations untenable.
“Leaving Michigan’s entire manufacturing base on the hook for materials coming from minerals that are refined in China, that’s a risk. And that’s not working,” she said.
The Trump administration has already issued executive orders aimed at increasing the country’s mining capacity, despite environmental concerns. Separately, existing bipartisan bills in Congress are also trying to address that issue.
Stevens, however, said her way of addressing the matter is by taking a similar approach to how the bipartisan CHIPS Act addressed a shortage of American semiconductor chip makers: increasing the capacity for processing and refining already-mined minerals.
“This will increase our resilience here in the United States of America, but it will also increase our domestic production capabilities, which means lowering costs, lowering costs, lowering costs — we need to lower costs, and that’s what this bill’s going to be about as well. And job creation,” Stevens said.
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Efforts to attract and settle immigrants in Detroit may have been a contributing factor in the city’s recent population growth, according to recent reporting from The Conversation.
Research shows that Immigration has a positive impact on the economy through a larger employee talent pool, increased social and civic engagement, and offsetting the decrease of Detroit native born children.
Despite a national shift in tone towards immigrants, cities like Detroit are prepping for a globalized future by investing in programs that encourage and support immigrants looking to start a life here.
The Detroit Tigers are facing the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday at Comerica Park. The Tigers are close to locking up their division and are proving to be the team to beat. This may be the year of the Tiger after all. First pitch for today’s game is at 6:40 p.m.
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She says the middle class has been shrinking since the ’70s, making it more challenging for young Americans to become as affluent as their parents. Part of the reason for that, she says, is how much the economy has changed structurally, and the failure of government to change along with it.
“We were already taking on water as the middle class, and now we’re about to hit a Category 5 hurricane in the form of artificial intelligence,” she said. “We gotta reset on how we do the basics of government and of our lives and focus on those essential things.”
Slotkin says part of the solution is to build more housing, expand access to health care, invest more resources in small businesses and to ban donations from corporatePolitical Action Committees.
Metro Producer Sam Corey spoke with the senator about her “economic war plan” to build up the middle class, and why she says Democrats should be on the offense right now.
—WDET’s Jenny Sherman contributed to this report.
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The United Auto Workers union announced last month it would be endorsing Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr. in the Detroit mayoral race, calling him “a longtime advocate for working-class people.”
Kinloch, a senior pastor at Detroit’s Triumph Church, is the only candidate in the mayoral race who has not held an elected position. He is currently battling for second place in the race behind frontrunner Mary Sheffield — who continues to maintain a sizable lead. The top two vote getters in the Aug. 5 primary will face off in the November general election.
In Detroit, a political endorsement from the UAW has always carried considerable weight, but membership is down in recent decades, and there are shifting political views within.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
Trusted, accurate, up-to-date.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
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