Wishful thinking

Wow. City Council today endorsed a resolution requesting a $10 billion bailout for the city of Detroit. Audacious, no? Hopeless, too.

The thing to remember -- after you've laughed -- is that the city actually needs every penny of it. If fiscal stimulus is the correct response to a recession, then Detroit is the premier pump to be primed. After all, it's economy has been declining for decades. The reason the proposal sounds so absurd isn't the sum being asked for but the body that's asking for it. Who on this earth would trust City Council to administer it?