FINALLY! OPTIMISM ON MICHIGAN'S ECONOMY!

After a decade of mostly pessimistic news, economists gathered for this week's annual Revenue Estimating Conference in Lansing and said the latest figures show Michigan's 10-year recession has finally ended and the economy is growing strongly.

The state is on track to erase the heavy losses it saw after the national economy plunged in late 2008. However, it will be many years before the state can regain the immense losses it took over the past ten years.

"Our view is that the Michigan economy is in the early stages of a sustained recovery," said George Fulton, director of the University of Michigan Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics.

Economists agreed on a projected unemployment rate of 10.2 percent for this year, 9.8 percent for 2012 and 9.5 percent for 2013.

The consensus agreement on job growth was 66,000 this year, 39,000 in 2012 and 48,000 in 2013. The conference also agreed that personal income would grow by 4.9 percent this year, 2.9 percent in 2012 and 4.4 percent in 2013.

Mr. Fulton said one significant change has come in the profitability of the "Detroit Three" automakers, which are again moving toward 16 million in vehicle sales. Ten years ago, with vehicle sales at 17 million, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler made little profit. But now, after Ford's cost-cutting measures and GM and Chrysler going through bankruptcy, 16 million in vehicle sales is leading to solid profit.

Michigan is home to 24 percent of the U.S. auto industry and 43 percent of the "Detroit Three" automakers' capacity. He noted that while the "Detroit Three" closed 14 plants between 2008 and 2010, only one was in Michigan.