it seems to me that the issue now becomes talent. a lot of talent has left, and the money you save in starting a company will probably need to be spent in getting talent to detroit.
The talent is there and there's a large number of people who have left and would return in a heartbeat if the jobs were there.
Michigan's new governor is a former VC and the state is staking their future on startups and entrepreneurs. He's trying to lower taxes, smaller companies will pay zero taxes under his plan.
However Michigan's unions are fighting him tooth and nail even though he is not challenging their power directly like the governors in Wisconsin and Ohio. So despite the voters giving him a majority in both legislatures he may not achieve everything he wants. What there won't be are the huge government handouts to favored companies that the previous governor was fond of using.
They are, however, fighting him on the ability to deploy to cities in financial disarray state appointed "emergency managers" who can override elected officials and, most importantly to the unions, cut union contracts. [1]
Now, you could argue that the emergency financial manager plan would eventually result in lower taxes and an easier path to success for smaller companies. You could also argue that there are better ways to achieve that same result rather than said plan.
[1] - http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/wayne_county/governor-ri...
What the proposed law does is give some bargaining strength to the state's beleagured cities and school boards. Unions are more likely to reach agreement when there's the threat of the governor appointing an emergency manager. I think the reality is that the governor won't use that power often. A large number of the city's in the state face bankruptcy and that's a lot more unpleasant outcome.
We are faced with some very unpleasant choices in the state. We're in trouble because previous governors from both parties kicked the can down the road with paper fixes. The governor is calling for shared sacrifice and those having to recieve less don't like it one bit.
I live in Ferndale, but I have an idea that is very suitable for Detroi - but I won't pursue it until there are some more changes happening in the city council.