Business

The following is a summary of a previously recorded interview. To hear the complete segment, click the audio above.

Thirty years ago Hudson’s closed its store in downtown Detroit.  

Michigan Radio’s Jack Lessenberry spoke with Cyndy about the store’s significance to Detroit and its citizens.

“They talked about closing it as early as the 1970’s. It was a symbol. The people who were saddest were people who ceased to come to the store,” said Lessenberry.

Lessenberry noted the difficulty of retaining a downtown shopping district.

“People started moving away from downtown shopping…Large industrial cities all over the nations have had trouble keeping their downtowns viable."

For more of Lessenberry’s interview, listen to the above audio.

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Congress passed a bill Tuesday that would prevent the U.S. from falling over the 'fiscal cliff.'

Addressing the bill’s impact on Michigan were Daniel Howes of the Detroit News and Jack Lessenberry of Michigan Radio.

“The Michigan Republicans in the delegation were clearly split on this… a lot of them didn’t like it. The Bush tax cuts the Democrats spent the last ten years railing against were essentially made permanent for 98% of the tax payers,” said Howes.

According to Howes, much of the state's workers will witness increased taxes this year.

“About 77% of people who work are going to be paying higher taxes,” said Howes.

“Everybody seems to object to paying for things they get… most of the tax increases are restoring the Social Security payroll tax to what it used to be,” said Lessenberry.

December is shaping up to be another good month for the auto companies.

Analysts expect to see strong December sales numbers for General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and other auto makers:   Rising consumer demand, new models in the showroom, big year end deals. 

Mike Wall with IHS Global Insight says they’re all reasons to expect December to be a good month. 

“We still have a fairly old fleet out there…in terms of the average age of vehicles….and we have a consumer base that is starting to reengage the market,” says Wall.

Michigan dairy farmers have been ‘unnerved’ by the lack of a federal milk pricing plan.

Congress’ failure to pass a new Farm Bill this past fall threatened to scrap the current milk pricing system and let the system revert to an outdated 1940’s model.

Consumer prices could potentially double.

Ken Nobis is the president of the Michigan Milk Producers Association.

“In terms of planning for the future, it’s not good that we have this uncertainty today,” says Nobis.

FLINT, Mich. (AP) - Numbers are adding up to be a growth business in downtown Flint.

The Flint Journal reports that accounting firm Plante Moran has a staff of approximately 50 people and typically hires five to 10 a year since arriving in 2005.

Ken Leslie, managing partner at the Flint office, says internships provide candidates. The most notable supplier is the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. Leslie says people don't want to leave downtown once they're hired.