The Transformation team, a group of Detroit area civic leaders chosen by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, are calling for sweeping changes, which include privatizing the city’s airport and eliminating the job-killing city income tax. And with Detroit facing the threat of receivership if it is unable to balance its budget, it might seem as though the Mayor, who has talked of major concessions from the city’s unions, was ready to turn a new leaf. But then again, there are the contrary signs and perhaps an alternative route, at least in the short run, to fiscal solvency. Kilpatrick is talking about requiring the city to buy more of its goods and services locally, which though appealing as local politics, will increase the costs borne by the city government. But more importantly, Governor Granholm’s proposal for a 21st Century Jobs Fund - a planned $2 billion mixture of state and private funds – to be used by the state government to create new jobs offers Kilpatrick an alternative path. Kilpatrick, well aware that Granholm is up for reelection this year and caught in a tight race with her GOP challenger, has warned the Governor that she better “engage” with Detroit if she hopes to get the black turnout she needs to return to the statehouse. A state bailout would save Kilpatrick from a bruising and probably politically damaging fight with the city's unions. Needless to say, all this is playing against the backdrop of massive layoffs in the auto industry. A similar effort at state capitalism under former New York Governor Mario Cuomo only served to hasten the decline of upstate New York. That’s probably what’s in store for Michigan if it takes a similar route.