I quite distinctly remember reading news articles in the mid-90s about how crazy and unfair it was for southern states to "give away" money and rights trying to attract car companies to locate there. It was, after all, just corporate welfare, pure and simple. How dare they provide billions of dollars in tax incentives to companies making a profit!

Well, I don't expect anyone on the left side of the aisle to change their tune, but at least I'll have the ammunition to shoot down those ridiculous assertions.

The story makes me think about a related "how dare they!" scenario, legalized "riverboat" gambling. Mississippi "fell" to temptation, while Arkansas remained "pure." Ten years later the differences between the "is-this-1958-or-what?" poverty of the Arkansas side and the "was-anythiing-in-this-town-even-around-last-year?" growth on the Mississippi side was striking.

Funny that the left celebrates this as a "victory" of common sense over superstition, while excoriating what's effectively the same thing elsewhere as "corporate welfare." I wonder if they'd ever even acknowledge the distinction?