The high standard of pay enjoyed in America after WW2 was a direct result of the devastation the rest of the world suffered. They bought our products at any price. But now we are competing with the entire world, most of which has newer and more efficient factories and much lower wages.
Another destroyer was the Fed eternally printing money which made the pay saved by those workers disappear at an accelerating rate. The workers were over-promised by politicians who would not have to pay the bill or even be alive when it hit.
Then the government imposed regulations, the EPA, law-fare and other problems on manufacturers who stayed here driving them out of business. And the government is the cause behind the high and ever higher costs of medical care with regulations and laws that create reverse incentives and discourage doctors from entering the profession.
This is an entirely politically caused problem. Socialism has come home to roost.
“This is an entirely politically caused problem. Socialism has come home to roost.”
Nailed it. Thanks.
Socialism Is Legal Plunder - Bastiat
http://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-clocks/state-of-michigan-debt-clock.html
Map of bankruptcies (last updated Dec 2013)
http://www.governing.com/gov-data/municipal-cities-counties-bankruptcies-and-defaults.html
Not to worry. The BIGGER GOVERNMENT FED socialists will fix this. /sarc