By Derek Melot/Bridge Magazine

“I have tried to know absolutely nothing about a great many things, and I have succeeded fairly well” – Robert Benchley, American humorist and newspaper columnist.

* Bob Jones, who consults with educational institutions and others on public policy, ran through the latest unemployment data. His messages: If you’ve been jobless a long time, you are in big trouble. If you have only a high school diploma or less, you are in  even bigger trouble. Check out the charts:

http://bridgemi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Unemployment-by-Education-Feb-2012.pdf

* The state of Indiana wants many more college graduates — and wants its universities and colleges to prove they can produce them efficiently (Hat tip to Bob Jones):

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/03/12/republican-backed-plan-aims-double-indianas-college-degrees

*Mitch Bean, who serves on Bridge’s Board of Advisers and who served a long time with the House Fiscal Agency, tried to provide some institutional memory to term-limited legislators and their staffers last week on the nature of municipal and school budgets. Bean’s primary thesis: The state has been no friend to local governments, regardless of what Michiganvoters may have wanted in the way of public services:

http://www.mml.org/advocacy/inside208/post/Expert-Says-State-is-Partially-to-Blame-for-Emergency-Managers-and-Fiscal-Stress.aspx

* “When Andy Crosby travels around Michigan, he rarely drives a car. Instead, the doctoral student, a longtime resident of Grand Rapids, uses trains or buses when he visits his friends or works on academic projects around Michigan”:

http://www.rapidgrowthmedia.com/features/03152012Crosby.aspx

*Michigan is becoming a very good place indeed for corporations that don’t want to pay income taxes:

http://www.crcmich.org/column/?p=225

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