Automotive DesignLine Blog
Ground truth in Detroit
George Leopold
11/5/2009 11:34 AM EST
Richard McCormack, editor and publisher of Manufacturing & Technology News, a scrappy weekly newsletter that has been chronicling the inexorable decline of U.S. manufacturing, has written a sobering article based on a Google Map tour of central Detroit.
The once bustling auto manufacturing capital of the world is now filled with deserted neighborhoods, with entire city blocks of homes bulldozed. The is the reality, a direct consequence of the offshoring of American manufacturing jobs.
Read McCormack's report here — and weep.
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AlexKovnat
11/10/2009 9:12 AM EST
I read that report. Its well written. But what does Mr. McCormack want? That the American road-going citizenry be denied access to Toyotas and Hondas and European Smart Cars, to maintain existing Detroit-area autoworker communities in perpetuity? That automakers be compelled by force of law to make unprofitable high-tech small cars in UAW-wage/benefit factories?
As I see it, the most important obligation of the auto industry to society is their job to us - building decent cars for us to buy and drive. Not to provide lifelong job security or to maintain factory towns in perpetuity.
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