While we're at it, let's save Rochester, too.

In an incredible, must-read post, The Atlantic's Megan McArdle skewers the thinking in (mainly) Democratic circles that Detroit must be saved, or else the towns in the Rust Belt that depend on jobs from the automakers will die a horrid death. Which is true, but...I'll let Megan say it:

But it doesn't matter. These vital towns, where generations of people lived happy lives and raised fat, burbling babies to a middle-class adulthood, are all dying. Should the government save these places too? Shall we support Eastman Kodak indefinitely, whether or not it can produce a product anyone wants to buy? And Xerox, and Carrier, and a thousand companies you've never heard of? Shall we make it illegal to make a better product than American corporations? Why not just ban new products that make old ones unprofitable?

To do that, we'll have to take the money from other people, in other cities. Other businesses will not get the capital that we give to dying firms, so they won't expand. Some other families, not yours, will lose their homes because their business failed, or have to move away from home in order to get jobs because their area is in the doldrums. Meanwhile, everyone in the country will be slightly worse off, because we've shifted limited economic resources towards products they demonstrably do not want.

This hits me particularly hard, because I went to graduate school at the University of Rochester, and lived in that wonderful city for 3 years, visited at least once a year until last year, and still have many friends there. When I started at the U of R in 1992, Kodak was suppporting much of the University, especially my beloved Optics Dept. Many graduate students were supported by Kodak, and still more went on to cushy research or engineering jobs in Kodak upon graduation. Kodak was the primary concern of Rochesterians, with its quarterly earnings the front-page news, the first item on the nightly local newscast.

That's all changed. During my tenure in Rochester, Kodak cut back its support dramatically. I still had friends go to work there, but none remain. Kodak has been in a long downward spiral, a slow death.

This is a trend over 11 years. Pretty bad. I'm not sure if anything can save Kodak from going belly-up, or Rochester from, well, decaying. Unless the gummint wants to infuse cash to "save" Rochester.

I don't think this is a bright idea - it would only prolong the inevitable. Resources need to go where they are contributing to the welfare of the most possible people. Which is why I agree with Megan: this "bailout" of GM, Ford, and Chrysler is a fool's errand, a reward to failed capitalists. Those conservatives that decried a Marxist becoming President, but do not say anything about this travesty, be prepared to be labeled a hypocrite.