It’s not just a water crisis. Like many cities, Flint is the culmination of decades of Democrat malgovernance. It’s a few days old, but Shikha Dalmia has been on the case:
…IMHO, if liberals were truly interested in helping Flint residents rather than simply sacrificing them to the altar of the God of Beneficent Government, they should approach private philanthropists for donations to buy out the houses of Flint’s residents and let them flee to better climes where jobs are more plentiful and the government less intrusive. (Houston, anyone?) Giving each Flint resident $10,000—or $40,000 to a family of four—will require about $4 billion, which is hardly beyond the means of the wealthy trinity of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Mark Zuckerberg. And surely there are others whose help liberals will allow Flint victims to accept!
And what about the city of Flint? Indeed, if liberals were really as caring as they claim to be, they would shift their focus from saving geographical areas to saving living, breathing human beings.
But if they really, really want to do something about it, they should hand it to private developers to turn it into a giant landfill to bury liberal good intentions.
Reminder: they may be good intentions (though I think it’s more about power and corruption), but there is little “liberal” about this.
But helping real people with real problems just isn’t glamorous. You can’t sip your champagne at a cocktail party and pratter on about helping somebody move to a conservative state (where most of the jobs are growing.)
No, no, it’s much better to talk about adopting a non-white infant from an African country than to help minorities in the US.
OFF TOPIC:
Did you catch this on space investment?
“ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Tauri Group PR) – The year 2015 was a record-setting year for start-up space ventures with investment and debt financing of $2.7 billion (excluding debt financing, $2.3 billion). Nearly twice as much venture capital ($1.8 billion) was invested in space in 2015 than in the prior 15 years, combined. More than 50 venture capital firms invested in space deals in 2015, the most in any year during the 15-year study period (2000-2015).
Start-up space ventures—companies that began as angel- and venture-backed startups—have attracted over $13.3 billion of multiple types of investment since 2000, including seed ($1.3 billion), venture capital ($2.9 billion), private equity ($1.8 billion), acquisition ($2.2 billion), public offering ($23 million), and debt financing ($5.1 billion). Investment activity has soared in recent years. Looking at investment only (excluding debt financing), nearly two-thirds of investment in space ventures since 2000 has been in the last five years. Over 110 venture capital firms have invested in early stage space companies since 2000, and over 80 angel- and venture-backed space companies have been founded since 2000. Eight of these companies have been acquired, at a total value of $2.2 billion.”
– See more at: http://www.parabolicarc.com/2016/02/22/startup-space-report-shows-venture-capital-invested-2015-prior-15-years-combined/#sthash.9zFLK82A.dpuf
I don’t see why re-location assistance for individuals and families in ANY distressed locality isn’t a good idea. If the factory closes, and all the specialty workers — pipe-fitters or coil-winders or box-cutters — are out of work, why not ask them and assist them to disperse to regions where the factories are still operating. Why pay unemployment wages to people who want to work but don’t have a place that values their skills?
‘cuz if you pay unemployment wages to them, they have an incentive to vote for anyone who promises to increase the dole. Democrat-fu, Blue Belt level.
Vast numbers of suddenly unemployed high-skilled workers is no problem at all. It’s so obviously an opportunity that you’d have to be a socialist not to see it. If you want to understand what the problem is, take a look at why such high-skilled workers suddenly became unemployed, or the barriers that are in place that prevent them from returning to full employment. Remove those barriers and watch prosperity flourish.