Put away your pencils and calculators. Lock up the accountants and economists in a closet. The solution to the auto industry’s woes has been found and it comes to us courtesy of John Cole. (Hat tip to James Joyner for pointing the way and providing additional snark.) We have been repeatedly reminded – generally by Republican congressmen – that Iraq is shaping up quite nicely, with civilian death rates falling below those of many American cities such as Detroit. Motor City also has a lot of Muslims and problems in the area are mounting. By now I think you all know what we need to do.
We need to invade Michigan and rebuild the state from the ground up. We will be greeted as liberators, we have clear supply lines, and we can easily rebuild the auto industry with the kind of money we spend on other countries we invade. Hell, our new Secretary of State, Hillary of Clinton, spent the better part of the past year fighting for the rights of average folks from Michigan, so think of the good will we have with the public. This is very doable. Just tell Congress we will give KBR no-bid contracts to fix Detroit.
And citizens of Baltimore, Atlanta, St. Louis, and DC- you better get your shit together or you are next.
It’s also worth noting that, once the Michigan National Guard has been defeated and a new transitional government put in place, (how long should that take? Two weeks tops?) we will have our forces ideally situated to move on to Illinois. Given the current polling numbers, removing Rod Blagojevich from power and sending him into hiding in some spider hole in the Southern portion of the state should prove immensely popular and the residents will spread flowers in the streets before our troops.
Call Congress today and spur them to action!
The plan has a built in PR advantage. Car and truck bombings can be explained away as part of the plan to increase production.
I will happily enlist in the armed services so I can serve PROUDLY in Operation: Michigan Freedom. That tyrannical Detroit government (as well as their equally biscuit-headed suburban governments) need to GO! Caution though. No rush to downtown Detroit. Start at Wayne Counties edges and work our way in. Won't have too many problems working our way in until we actually hit the city limits. Then the “despair and hopeless tanks”, “corruption bombers”, and “pimping their citizens militia” will be there in full force.
Going to be a tough slog but we're Americans, darn it! RESOLVE!!
Realistically, any full-strength “Marshall Plan” to remove the rot and rebuild Cyanide Nation areas should include federal receivership and demotion to territorial status (with removal of Congressional representation) for those places that require not merely rebuilding, but in fact, re-education (and making them into modern Americans).
As for car and truck bombings, well, now we have a use for all the surplus, unwanted Detroit automakers' products.