Writing in Reason magazine, Matt Welch discusses how Long Beach coped with the loss of the Navy and downsizing at McDonnell Douglas and then Boeing. He praises the city for not asking for the handouts going to U.S. automakers. He writes:
Government policy, and lack thereof, played an important role in the speedy recovery and economic transformation of my hometown. Though the Naval Shipyard closure was widely seen as a grievous blow, federal rules forbade the expenditure of municipal funds to keep the base on life support, and so the city set about selling off (and even donating) all the property to private interests who have made more efficient use of the land and equipment. Meanwhile, McDonnell Douglas (which Boeing bought in 1997) was allowed to suffer for its many missteps in the commercial airline market rather than receive a series of bailouts. Although the defense contracting side of Boeing is still the city's largest employer, and thus subject to unreliable political appetites for C-17 cargo planes, the municipal economy is now almost unrecognizably diversified.
Whether or not you agree with Los Angeles-based Reason's Libertarian positions, Welch makes some excellent points in an article that provides strong historical perspective on what happened here and how it relates to what's going on now in Detroit. He grew up in Long Beach about a mile from Douglas.
Read his piece at http://www.reason.com/news/show/133807.html
