John Gallagher's article in the Sunday Free Press, "UAW talks no longer take center stage in US" in many ways begs a larger question, does Detroit [metro] as 'motor city' or automotive as a dominant factor in our local economy matter that much any more? The talks might be even more diminished if it were not for the ongoing UAW/FCA and now GM scandals.

Striking in that regard is how little automotive figures in both the national and state economies. "Charles Ballard, a professor of economics at Michigan State University, notes that in 1965 the motor-vehicle sector was 2.6% of U.S. total economic output and 25.1% of Michigan's total output or gross domestic product. But by 2017, that was down to 0.8% for the U.S. economy and just 8% for Michigan".