Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas, Mitchell Schnurman Column.

By Mitchell Schnurman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Mar. 3--Even if you hate corporate welfare, you might like this deal.

Texas is giving a $35 million grant to Vought Aircraft Industries, and in exchange, Vought is bringing 3,000 manufacturing jobs to the Metroplex.

That may sound like a form of legal bribery, but in polite circles, it's known as economic development.

And the bill comes to $11,667 per job, in taxpayer money.

The total public costs will be higher, after adding the value of tax abatements and infrastructure improvements, including the cleanup of an adjacent airfield.

But the price will still be a bargain -- a steal, in fact, in a world where communities cough up 10 times as much, even 100 times as much, to …