A Stitch in Haste

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm wants to make the cities in her state more "cool" --

These so-called "cool cities" pilot projects also will be first in line, eventually, to draw from another $100 million in grants, loans and other state resources, said the governor...
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"These projects have priority status," Granholm said. "They're destined to attract a work force for the 21st century. There's no reason the city of Detroit can't be like Chicago."
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But critics question whether a handful of grants for art galleries, outdoor markets and loft housing really can turn around cities such as Detroit and Flint, which are beset by profound social and economic problems.
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"Coolness created in Detroit is coolness destroyed in Ishpeming, or whatever city doesn't get the favor," [Michael LaFaive of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy Research] said.

Exactly. This is not the Politics of Cool, it's the Politics of Pull — favored, connected or just plain lucky cities and projects get the boondoggle, while everyone else pays the cost. It's the Broken Window Fallacy in action yet again. When it comes to government spending, especially patronage spending as brazen as this retarded warm-fuzzy-feeling concept, there simply cannot be $100 million in benefits without $100 million (or more) in costs. The program creates nothing; it merely transfers wealth from the "un-cool" (i.e., politically disfavored) to the "cool" (i.e., politically favored).

That $100 million for the "cool" subsidies came from somewhere else in the state budget, or from higher taxes, or from higher deficits. Someone, somewhere in the State of Michigan, is picking up the tab.

Need proof that "Cool Cities" is mere Broken Window Fallacy?

Mary Thomas, a 46-year-old secretary from Detroit, was bewildered by Granholm's warning on Tuesday that she may have to cut school aid by $28 a student followed Wednesday by the cool cities grant announcements.

"In other words, it's OK to be dumb as long as we're cool. What a joke," said Thomas, who is thinking about moving to Warren so she can put her son in a better school.

Actually, Ms. Thomas doesn't sound very dumb to me, even if she isn't especially cool either — perhaps she'd do a better job as governor than Ms. Granholm.

Hat tip to PolicyGuy.

(Cross-posted at Bastiat's Window.)