The Bloomberg Solution

    A couple months ago, on NBC's Meet The Press, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg gave, what he called, "a good example of how you can fix some of the problems in America."  "If I were the federal government," he said, "assuming you could wave a magic wand and pull everybody together, you pass a law letting immigrants come in as long as they agree to go to Detroit and live there for five or ten years."
    Luckily for Bloomberg he doesn't have to become the federal government, possess a magic wand, pass a law, or even spend his time coming up with absurd plans that force people to live somewhere they may not want to be.  All Michael Bloomberg needs to do in order to solve Detroit's problems is move to Detroit himself.  
     According to Forbes magazine, in the last five years Bloomberg has increased his net worth by $12.8 billion (and you thought there was a recession going on) to $18.1 billion.  That's a lot for a guy whose salary is only one dollar a year.  If he were to move to Detroit, just for one year, and be willing to liquidate this preposterous amount of money he's made since 2006,  and in turn pay 2.5% in the required Detroit city income tax for residents, it would result in a $320 million increase in the city's coffers.  The current deficit of $155 million would be eliminated and turned into a $165 million surplus. 
    Granted, a few hundred thousand immigrants would fit in better here than one multi-billionaire, but the fact of the matter is we already have enough people looking for work in Detroit.  If Bloomberg moved to Detroit, however, he could use the $12.8 billion to pay a quarter million Detroiters $50,000 each to build him a mansion the size of Manhattan.  He could then abandon the mansion after a year and let it feed the local economy through the normal channels, starting with the metal scrappers and the cops who protect them, moving on through the brick scavengers, guerrilla shoppers, photographers, graffiti writers, installation artists; let's not forget all the people who will commence arguing through various newspapers, websites and blogs about what should be done with the mansion; and finally the demolition crew that will come dismantle what remains, after about 20 years of course. 
    Then again, if Michael Bloomberg did move to Detroit he'd probably do what most newcomers do—keep his address somewhere else so he wouldn't have to pay his city taxes or see an increase in his auto insurance rates, therefore denying him the right to vote and actually change things, but still yammer on about his great ideas for the city.