A City Governed by the Delusional Lives in a State of Delusion

"We are worth it. We are worth at least as much as General Motors or Chrysler or the Wall Street bankers. It was this city that built military vehicles for World War II. It was this city that (invented) the middle class and the five-day work week.

"We should not be in a position to be victims. We are victors. And we should demand respect."

JoAnn Watson, in and of herself, is a national, state and Detroit treasure.

The City of Detroit neither owned nor operated any plants that built military vehicles. It could be argued that Willow Run, Warren, and Center Line were at least as vital as Detroit when it came to vanquishing the Nazis. Neither Ford nor Chrysler have ever had their headquarters in the city, and much of what remains of the industry within the borders of Detroit are merely blighted remnants--their facades scarred, shuttered and burned.

If the city of Detroit ever had deserved financial benefits on the coattails of its cottage industry, it was back in the day before the city began trying its hardest to choke that part of the golden goose still stupid enough to nest within the city. Predictably, over the past few decades the city of Detroit has taxed, regulated and browbeaten those same companies whose history Ms. Watson would now love to cash in on.

While the labor movement has had a large toehold in Detroit for decades and did help to create the 40 hour work week, its brazen anti-business sentiment has also been instrumental in driving once dependable automobile manufacturing jobs out of state and country. Detroit and the UAW like to claim credit for the 40 hour work week, but they could just as justifiably claim credit today for helping create the zero hour workweek now enjoyed by tens of thousands of formerly employed workers.

As far as the middle class goes, Michigan's per capita income lags the national average.

Ms. Watson is burning an ugly candle on both ends. She wants to cash in on the memory of an industry whose history all progressives are at odds with, have her city take undeserved credit for the creations of that industry, and wants to claim victory status for the citizens that live among the industrial ruins--ruins the city she helps govern has helped to create.

Cha-ching!