How's your economy holding up, Michigan?

This is a post of such high quality and that contains so much absolute truth, written in such an eloquent and yet concise manner, given all the information it communicates, I had to check twice to see if I had wandered onto another site.

Quote from Rabbitone:

I paid a price to pay for sticking it out in Michigan. To see most of my family I have visit my grand kids on the east coast, my cousins in Florida and my wife’s family in California. But I consider myself lucky. I was able to survive here because I had a computer specialty that lifted me to an IT manger and supported me until I retired to trade full time and spend quite summers at a small cottage on a little lake….

Michigan has suffered and will continue to suffer for decades. This problem is bigger than Michigan. Many of the states in the Midwest have similar problems. Soon it will spread accross the entire land.

Michigan does not want to fail as some suggest. That is a misnomer. Michigan just happens to be the poster child for what is happening behind the scenes.

I’m surprised how few really understand what is happening to America. If you read history you understand. America’s industrial base has been dying for years just as Britain’s did after the industrial revolution. We are now watching the spiraling decay of America’s manufacturing base that climaxed after WWII and started its downward spiral in the 1970s. The simple fact is we can no longer support American manufacturing when global industry is flourishing with cheap materials, low wages, inexpensive shipping and free trade that piles up these goods on our shores.

Don’t believe me? Look at your shoes. Yours are probably all Chinese. Few shoes today are now made in America. Then there are your clothes…..Next the electronics… When is the last time RCA made a TV here…. That’s how it happens. The cheap goods die first in the production chain as they work their way up the ladder to higher priced goods.

I have spent my entire life here in Michigan watching and studying this decay process. Most of my family has left the Detroit Metro area long ago because they could not find jobs here. This has been going on for years. Detroit has sent 10’s of thousands out of the state. It started when “robots” took over plants in the 1980s. Now it is going full throttle with the constant downsizing of GM, Ford, Chrysler every 3 or 4 years since the early 1980s.

We are now demolishing heavy manufacturing in America at a record rate. Have you watched the Komatsu’s steam shovels replace the Cats in construction? Soon it will be Chinese bull dozers.

The only thing keeping this aging industrial juggernaut from crashing is the U.S. government support and the falling dollar (making some of our well manufactured high priced goods cheaper). Don’t get me wrong not all American heavy manufacturing is going away today. It just gets harder and harder for them to survive the downturns. Look no further than our steel industry and the subsidies it continues to demand to make it through the slow years.

Michigan is in the heart of this demolition of heavy manufacturing. Michigan was built with blue collar swear and tears in to an industrial power house that included much more than the automobile. The “Tool and Die” industry, as Howard Hughes called it was centered here in the midwest and built the production lines in every thing from auto plants, tank plants, jet fighter plants to ship yards in the shortest time on earth. Now I drive by rows of for sale signs from this hidden industry. They are now a dying breed. If they go the auto industry as we know it will also die.

On a side note…Michigan will continue to downsize and lose people. But, we are not going to be at the poverty levels in our suburbs I hear people scoffing at. Yes, the central city does have its $7500 to $10,000 homes. But, that is not the case in the suburbs.

It is now time for the auto industry to pay completely for “holding on” through the demolition of heavy manufacturing process. The auto industry will come out of this a shell of its former self. The cruel talk from Washington reminds me of the movie “Gone with the Wind.” We, like the south in the civil war, will be marched on and trampled only to be rebuilt into an entity with little voice left.

But this won’t stop in Michigan. Globalization will leave America a shell of it former self. We will begin to be more and more spoon feed what the global palate says we can have. To Michigan’s detractors I say “Be prepared your turn is next.”
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Awesome post, I wanted to put this info myself. Just too lazy and I could not have done it better anyway.


Quote from Rabbitone:

I paid a price to pay for sticking it out in Michigan. To see most of my family I have visit my grand kids on the east coast, my cousins in Florida and my wife�s family in California. But I consider myself lucky. I was able to survive here because I had a computer specialty that lifted me to an IT manger and supported me until I retired to trade full time and spend quite summers at a small cottage on a little lake�.

Michigan has suffered and will continue to suffer for decades. This problem is bigger than Michigan. Many of the states in the Midwest have similar problems. Soon it will spread accross the entire land.

Michigan does not want to fail as some suggest. That is a misnomer. Michigan just happens to be the poster child for what is happening behind the scenes.

I�m surprised how few really understand what is happening to America. If you read history you understand. America�s industrial base has been dying for years just as Britain�s did after the industrial revolution. We are now watching the spiraling decay of America�s manufacturing base that climaxed after WWII and started its downward spiral in the 1970s. The simple fact is we can no longer support American manufacturing when global industry is flourishing with cheap materials, low wages, inexpensive shipping and free trade that piles up these goods on our shores.

Don�t believe me? Look at your shoes. Yours are probably all Chinese. Few shoes today are now made in America. Then there are your clothes�..Next the electronics� When is the last time RCA made a TV here�. That�s how it happens. The cheap goods die first in the production chain as they work their way up the ladder to higher priced goods.

I have spent my entire life here in Michigan watching and studying this decay process. Most of my family has left the Detroit Metro area long ago because they could not find jobs here. This has been going on for years. Detroit has sent 10�s of thousands out of the state. It started when �robots� took over plants in the 1980s. Now it is going full throttle with the constant downsizing of GM, Ford, Chrysler every 3 or 4 years since the early 1980s.

We are now demolishing heavy manufacturing in America at a record rate. Have you watched the Komatsu�s steam shovels replace the Cats in construction? Soon it will be Chinese bull dozers.

The only thing keeping this aging industrial juggernaut from crashing is the U.S. government support and the falling dollar (making some of our well manufactured high priced goods cheaper). Don�t get me wrong not all American heavy manufacturing is going away today. It just gets harder and harder for them to survive the downturns. Look no further than our steel industry and the subsidies it continues to demand to make it through the slow years.

Michigan is in the heart of this demolition of heavy manufacturing. Michigan was built with blue collar swear and tears in to an industrial power house that included much more than the automobile. The �Tool and Die� industry, as Howard Hughes called it was centered here in the midwest and built the production lines in every thing from auto plants, tank plants, jet fighter plants to ship yards in the shortest time on earth. Now I drive by rows of for sale signs from this hidden industry. They are now a dying breed. If they go the auto industry as we know it will also die.

On a side note�Michigan will continue to downsize and lose people. But, we are not going to be at the poverty levels in our suburbs I hear people scoffing at. Yes, the central city does have its $7500 to $10,000 homes. But, that is not the case in the suburbs.

It is now time for the auto industry to pay completely for �holding on� through the demolition of heavy manufacturing process. The auto industry will come out of this a shell of its former self. The cruel talk from Washington reminds me of the movie �Gone with the Wind.� We, like the south in the civil war, will be marched on and trampled only to be rebuilt into an entity with little voice left.

But this won�t stop in Michigan. Globalization will leave America a shell of it former self. We will begin to be more and more spoon feed what the global palate says we can have. To Michigan�s detractors I say �Be prepared your turn is next.�
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Quote from ByLoSellHi:

This is a post of such high quality and that contains so much absolute truth, written in such an eloquent and yet concise manner, given all the information it communicates, I had to check twice to see if I had wandered onto another site.
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Thank all you for your kind words.
 
Not many realize that the Great Depression had been raging 10 years before 1929 in rural America, long before those in cities had a clue. The city slickers scoffed at any mention of the rural crisis, thinking they were immune, plus they got their food at the store, not a farm!

Then it hit. Only those that had plenty of food to eat were farmers. Ironic. Grandma used to tell me stories of the Depression, how she used to feel so grateful for food where those in the city had nothing.

My grandparents lost 3 properties in a row during the Depression, but kept on trying. Grandpa walked on foot all over the state to find work.

Most arrogant, cocky, punk kids today don't have what it takes if it gets that bad again. There will be no order. They will be stealing from those that have prepared for this unnatural disaster, as those that have prepared will be the only ones in a position to survive.



Be prepared bond trad3r. You are in line with all the other dominoes.
 
the UAW & the car companies screwed themselves. the less they sell, the higher the legacy costs are per vehicle that they produce. stick a fork in 'em. I can remember my Mom had a Union job & she was against it when they were forced to strike. She routed freight and they were replaced almost immediately by lower wage workers... She never really recovered from losing the Union job. She believed that she was fairly compensated, but the Union wanted more.

The States that survive best will have the lowest tax structure (and expense) and will be the least tolerant of welfare types & illegal immigrants. My business is suffering & I am considering retiring early or moving to my retirement area & working PT as an independent contractor.

I'm looking at WA or NV. I prefer the weather in Reno/Tahoe to WA, but I think they may have water issues. Cali is a mess.
 
There is a lot of engineering talent (people and schools) left in Michigan.

If they break the unions for good so that wages are competitive (i.e. low), the state gives the same tax breaks that southern states are giving, I can see foreign and domestic companies coming back to Michigan eventually.
 
Quote from QQQBALL:

Cali is a mess.
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Not much of a problem in So Cali. You do get messy surfing but you can take a shower right on the beach and you are ready to go. Clean as whistle. Check out La Jolla CA. Doesn't get much better than that. (if you have the cash for it).

I hope you like rain and 8 months of bad whether if you are going to WA. OR is considered to be much dryer than WA and I can tell you in OR in rains allot. I mean allot.
 
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