[factoryrat]

Michigan used to be a manufacturing powerhouse. It is not anymore. What ever perceived growth there may be is just the “dead cat bounce”. The economy there revolved around the auto industry, and related industries, mainly parts operations, machine tool, automation, steel, and low & high end engineering. Now all that is left are the people who couldn't leave after two decades of recession, failed bankrupt cities, and land so worthless, the local governments can't even give it away.

I was born and raised in Michigan, and watched to total destruction as company after company fell to the quest for relocating operations to foreign lands that would do it cheaper than us. I guess that our fatal flaw was that we could never compete with labor from china, mexico, or india.

But as a condolence, all of those American workers that were so unceremoniously dumped at the curb in the quest for profits, will bleed those same corporations dry through unemployment, welfare, and SSDI through taxation of the rest of the workers and companies still residing in the US.