Feds Give $2 Billion More for Michigan's Wayne County!

It is interesting what self-interest can do to one's views. While I never liked industrial policy before I moved to Michigan, having my home value tied to the Michigan economy changes my view of socialism. I love the idea of a GM bailout -- even though maybe I would have liked simple bankrupcy before. 

This reminds me of a discussion with my dear wife about preachers, nee spiritual teachers, who ask for money. It seems they find a way to work giving money to charity into their teachings. I believe most preachers are sincere, but conflict of interest changes the emphasis of their talks. Oral Roberts and "Seed Faith" come to mind.   I just heard today on NPR's Planet Money about how Iranians pay Homps or donate 10% of their profits to the clergy, which is like fundamentalist Christians tithing 10% to the church. (I really liked the Planet Money story.)

Anyway, here is the Detroit News article increasing my increasingly desperate hope of a local economic recovery.

Kalamazoo; Detroit News Lansing Bureau; BY MARK HORNBEC — More federal relief came to Michigan on Friday when Vice President Joe Biden an nounced that the U.S. Treasury is offering the state $2 billion in recovery zone bonds to attract jobs and private investment.
Wayne and Oakland counties and Detroit will be among the top-10 recipients of a recovery zone bond program that will target states and communities that support the core of the auto industry, Biden told a crowd of about 300 at an athletic field behind the Loy Norrix High School in Kalamazoo.
Biden was in the western Michigan city as part of his Road to Recovery tour for the groundbreaking of a $44 million road-widening project financed by stimulus cash.
“It’s not just about rebuilding roads … it’s about rebuilding an economy that can lead us into the 21st century,” he said as cars whizzed by on Interstate 94, near the soon-to-be widened Westnedge Avenue in terchange. “We are quite literally paving the road to recovery right here in Kalamazoo.”
Treasury officials said $260 million is available for Oakland County, $196 million for Wayne County and $125 million for Detroit. The federal govern ment will pay 45 percent of the interest on the bonds.
The money is in addition to $7 billion in federal recovery cash already coming to Michigan.

This reminds me how my hometown Kenosha was after Chrysler closed the old American Motors assembly lines there. No one believed it at the time, but it was the best thing for the town.