The Dark Ages to return in Detroit?

Detroit maybe going dark. In order to save on replacement and energy costs the city of Detroit may not  repair the 40 percent of its streetlights that don't work currently and may shut off many others that do. It looks like we're moving back into the dark. That's the proposal anyhow. [Bloomberg]

Libertarians hate us. Really, really hate us.

One Daniel J. Mitchell posting at the Cato Institute blog enjoys the fact of Detroit's economic decline and the suffering of her people. It deeply engages Mitchell's sadism: "Detroit is a miserable case study of big government run amok, so I enjoyed a moment or two of guilty pleasure as I read this CNBC story about the ongoing decay of the Motor City." [link in original]

Doctor Mitchell then goes to explain how Ayn Rand's screed about industrial decline Atlas Shrugged predicted this outcome way back in the 1950's. Yeah, sure she did. She just knew, even then, at the peak of America's post-war industrial zenith that market forces were going use their invisible hands to dismantle Detroit's manufacturing economy and hand it all over to the Chinese. Mitchell cites no evidence in his post for this astonishing gob of spit he hurls at Detroit but instead uses the rest of the post  to defend Ayn Rand's literary reputation. Again astonishing.

I hope nothing bad ever happens to the tony D.C. suburbs where Mitchell likely lives. Cuz then Danny boy will truly experience some schadenfreude. Count on it.