Big-Project Binge Fueled Motor City’s Meltdown

March 21 (Bloomberg) -- When I hear free-spending nationalleaders call for more infrastructure investment, I think ofDetroit’s absurd People Mover monorail gliding above emptystreets. That’s unfair, I know. Yet the city’s epic tragedy,which entered a new stage last week when Mayor Dave Bing lostfinancial control, provides broader perspective on the potentialconsequences of mixing economic distress with bad policy making.

Here are five somewhat contradictory lessons from the MotorCity’s sad history that relate to the larger national debateabout America’s future.