Hm. Some of the stuff you say has me concerned but others I have a hard time getting on board with.
First, for some reason, people around here equate "service sector" jobs to pushing fries at McDonalds. And I take issue with that. If that's not what you mean, then I'm sorry in advance for setting up a straw man argument.
The service sector is the primary engine of the USA GDP. It makes up over 2/3 of our production. While some people think of Burger King when they hear "service sector", I hear information technology, consultancy services, retail, technical, and professional services. This is the heart of the modern day economy. This is why cities with highly educated workforces have so much money...the people high levels of education do this stuff. You add financial and insurance services, you get New York and Chicago.
If this is the future of Detroit, that's the future I wanna sign up for.
Warehouses and factories will eventually become more obsolete. They won't [[and shouldn't) disappear completely, but the future of this country's economy is not going to be based on making and shipping stuff. Other [[lesser paid) countries are going to make the things. Higher paid countries are going to invent and improve the things.
So when I hear about warehouses disappearing, I don't think about "losing our soul", I think about "shedding the past". When I think about NYC or Chicago or San Francisco or Dallas, I don't imagine shipyards and factories and giant plants. I imagine centers of finance, creativity, innovation, invention.
By the way, this is how Detroit became one of the wealthiest cities in the world in 1950. We were the hub and center for innovations in engineering and finance. If we want to escape the identity of one of the poorest American cities, we need to embrace that creative spirit again.
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