Optimism of Michigan residents conflicts with business leaders' survey - MLive.com
Although the state's performance slipped a bit in June, Michigan's growth far outpaced that of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin — the other four states in the Chicago Fed district — in the first half of this year. Michigan State University's newly released spring State of the State Survey of 966 state residents found levels of consumer confidence not seen since the boom years of the late 1990s. Nearly 57 percent of those surveyed said they are better off... 2 percent said they expect to be better off next year — nearly five times the 14. 5 percent of residents who said they think they will be worse off next year. "The economy has been improving for five-plus years," said MSU economics professor Charles Ballard, who directs the survey. A new survey by Business Leaders for Michigan found that a majority of the state's largest employers think the U. S. and state economies will be flat over the next six to 18 months. BLM surveyed 80 of its members, whose companies represent nearly a third of the state's economic output. Doug Rothwell, BLM's chief executive, said global economic problems, the failure of the Legislature to enact a road-funding plan and talk of gutting state economic development programs are contributing to "a. Source: www.mlive.com
