[Milton Miteybad]

I thought then that I had witnessed the passing of an age, as with all the environmental hoops today, those factories were NEVER coming back.

A clean environment, while desirable, is a very costly proposition. What is that cost? The jobs and payroll associated with the industrial facilities that were forced to close because the costs of compliance with environmental regulations have rendered them uneconomic. And you're right...those jobs cannot and will not ever come back. If those razed facilities were uneconomic 20 years ago, it's not going to make any sense to try and rebuild them from the ground up today, of course.

[central_va]

Bunk. Those factories moved for cheap labor. The EPA and OHSA were use as scapegoats to fool "movement conservatives" into thinking selling out America was a good thing. Fools.

Thanks Rush for playing your part.

[Oatka]

If those razed facilities were uneconomic 20 years ago, it's not going to make any sense to try and rebuild them from the ground up today, of course.

It wasn't the environmental problems that shut them down, it was, as central_va commented, "greed and the attraction of third world labor. Getting to sell in a first world market paying third world wages is a good gig if you can keep it."

Aye, there's the rub - when most are living hand-to-mouth, there's no disposable income left for anything but necessities.