"But we aren't as bad as Michigan!"

The Louisville Courier Journal on Monday trumpeted the arrival of two dozen auto workers from Michigan, calling them "economic refugees." Policymakers here would do well to ignore the cheerleading and, instead, focus on strategies for growth that might keep more of our own people from seeking economic refuge elsewhere.

Really, if doling out economic development deals were actually key to widespread prosperity, Kentucky would already be one of the wealthiest states in the nation. And Michigan would be wealthier still.



Getting Kentucky's political class out of the business of attempting to pick winners and losers in the marketplace with our tax dollars can't happen soon enough. The irony of allowing people who can't stop spending even when the money is gone to make actual business decisions is too expensive to keep missing.