Americans in Paris

Smokestack chasing is so 20th century. Or is it? The presence of state economic development officials--and even a few governors--at the Paris Air Show indicates that efforts to woo business have risen to new heights. Today's New York Times reported delegations from Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Maryland, New Mexico, South Carolina, Washington, and the city of Cincinnati all had booths touting themselves as hospitable to foreign investment and the aerospace industry in particular. It would be worth going just to hear Alabama pitched as "super pour le développement économique" in a Southern drawl.