In the wake of an ever worsening outlook for the domestic Auto industry, Flint, Michigan is taking some rather unconventional strides to combat the growing rust-belt. The straight dope comes via yahoo!
Yes, you read it correctly, Flint, Michigan, is trying its darndest to create an honest-to-goodness embodiment of Ayn Rand’s Twentieth Century Motor Company, which, for those of you who haven’t read Atlas Shrugged, is a company and corresponding Company Town that operates on strictly marxian principles. Here is a brief history of 20C Motor Co.
There was something that happened at the plant where I worked for twenty years. It was when the old man died and his heirs took over. There were three of them, two sons and a daughter, and they brought a new plan to run the factory. They let us vote on it too, and everybody — almost everybody — voted for it….. The plan was that everybody in the factory would work according to his ability, but would be paid according to his need.
I would immediately question the unwavering ignorance and naivete of Flint Mayor, Donald Williamson. For starters, what makes him believe that he is anything other than utterly unqualified for the position of running a factory? Or anyone in his employ, for that matter? The Auto Industry in the United States was once the lifeblood of the country, and capable of attracting the brightest minds in their respective fields.
And the brightest minds have ultimately failed in the long run. But as usual, in politics it’s not really about “reality” so much as it is about the “warm fuzzy feeling” that people get when they hear vague promises that an office is completely incapable of satisfying.
“Reality doesn’t have a lot to do with what gets promised in Flint,” said Albert Price, a professor of political science at the University of Michigan, in Flint, “Desperate people will believe anything.”
Paul Keep, editor of the Flint Journal asks: “Is this going to take millions and millions of dollars from the Flint treasury?”
And I’ll answer, Paul, is there any other way? Well, considering that 25% of Flint’s population lives below the poverty level, I’d give this proposal about even odds with a snowball in hell.
My previous comments about Ford.
hat tip Kip, Esquire.
