Taxpayer money to re-train investment bankers?

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently announced that the city would like to spend $45 million to retrain laid-off financial industry workers and provide capital and resources for businesses they might start. The New York Times reports that the city is hoping to gain access to $30 million of federal incentives to attract businesses to New York City.

Coping With the Economy

Wait. Stop. Hold up. Does Mayor Bloomberg mean to tell me that after the New York City financial geniuses ruined the economy and then used taxpayer funding to pay themselves bonuses and save their jobs, taxpayers are now supposed to send them more money so that they can start their own businesses, find new jobs, or gain skills that actually have value beyond the Alice in Wonderland world of financial engineering? In making the case, the city reports that the financial services industry has "been central to the health of the U.S. economy." What? Isn't that kind of like saying that tobacco has been central to the health of lung cancer patients?