"Will the rest of the US end up like Detroit?"

I think that question is at the nub of a 'frontlash' that is bringing a lot of Jay Leno style sympathy toward Detroit.

For years we have watched the slow motion destruction of our manufacturing base and consequent humbling of our work force, middle class and status. We were derided. Unions were blamed, management was blamed, Detroit was blamed, Michigan was blamed.

Now that our one state recession is national, even worldwide, and blush is off the blossom of the concept that shifting electrons to create trillion of empty dollars by the financial products industry, the rest of the country is learning that you have to produce tangibles if an economy is going to survive longtime.

Finally we aren't being seen as the blamee and are being understood as the victim of unregulated and unbridled capitalism and trade policy.