Could the solution to Michigan's moribund economy be water? Lake water, specifically. You know, the stuff that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald. Edward McClelland at salon.com reports that Michigan could become an oasis for parched Sun Belters:"For the last half-century, the Great Lakes states have been on the losing end of a migration that would have baffled our nomadic ancestors. Ignoring thousands of years of prophetic wisdom, from Moses to Sam Kinison, Americans have been moving away from fresh water and into the desert. In the most recent Census Bureau survey, the two fastest-growing states -- Nevada and Arizona -- were two of the driest. Michigan and New York, states awash in water, actually lost people. Some of these migrants were looking for work, following factory jobs down South. But others just couldn't stand the gloomy Northern winters."Now, those cold-weather refugees are discovering that the climate that's so well-suited to year-round golf is not so well-suited to providing millions of people with life's most essential element: H. Two. Oh."
I am certain that large chunks of the country will be after our water. In fact, the city of Chicago had to be stopped from pumping water out of Lake Michigan and selling it. I am most concerned that the Feds will trump up some "national emergency" around the issue and just take the water. All hell would break loose, but I won't be surprised when it comes to pass.
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