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http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg Perhaps because things were so good for so long, it took a long time for industrial states to recognize the peril. (http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2171)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/wheat_farmer.jpgKeith Schneider - YALE (http://e360.yale.edu) - Jul 19, 2009

Let's hope things turnaround --Ed.

No region of the United States better understands the potential wealth generated by commanding new markets — and the consequences of failing to compete when they change. The Midwest, after all, invented the production practices, made the steel, supplied the vehicles, and manufactured the parts that produced America’s energy-wasting, drive-through economy of the 20th century.

The result in Michigan, Ohio, and other Midwestern states was a way of life that for six decades consistently made it possible for men and women — with and without high school educations — to earn wages that kept new cars in the driveway, handsome boats at the marina, and comfortable second homes on lakes and rivers.... http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2171

I always knew something was wrong when the news interviewed a lady working at the new F150 plant back in 2006. Her job: install tail gates. Her education: High School. Her pay: $34/hr IIRC or something crazy like that. That was her pay, not what she cost the company either. That rang my bell. I was a senior in college and looking at jobs that weren't paying anywheres near that... and I was hoping to buy a new Ford Truck within the next year. Uh... now I drive a rice cooker, and still am no where near $34/hr. Hate to say it, those unions are killing themselves and doing nothing but hurting the country. I'm all about made in the usa, but seeing things like that makes you sick, to see how out of touch with the rest of the country those folks are.