The Leading Edge of Deindustrialization

The gravity of a thing is not always self-evident. If Marcus Aurelius didn't write that in his Meditations, he should have.

'Marina and maritime officials around the country say they believe, however, that most of the abandoned vessels cluttering their waters are fully paid for. They are expensive-to-maintain toys that have lost their appeal.'
www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/business/01boats.html?_r=4&hp

There is an old joke among boaters that "a boat is a hole in the water, surrounded by fiberglass, that one pours money into". The story of the boats brings to mind the many 'ranches' that dot the countryside near me here in the Sonoran desert. A hundred years ago people here ranched horses on vast open range as a means of livelihood. The sale of strong horse stock every year was what supported families over generations. Now the typical 'horse ranch' is under 2 acres and the stock on it are pets kept at great expense by hobbyists and rentiers, not unlike the boats.

In John Michael Greer's book, The Long Descent, the author raises the possibility of horses and sailing vessels as part of the future's renewable sources of tractor energy. Boating hobbyists have not yet (as far as I know) taken the steps to turn their luxury craft into going concerns. Judging by the lack of 'for sale' signs along the roads here, I'm hoping the horsey set will fare better.

'Detroit was once home to nearly 2 million people but has shrunk to a population of perhaps less than 900,000. It is estimated that a city the size of San Francisco could fit neatly within its empty lots. As nature abhors a vacuum, wildlife has moved in.'
www.detnews.com/article/20090402/METRO08/904020395/To+urban+hunter++next+meal+is+scampering+by
I'm actually intrigued by the idea of going on safari in an abandoned urban area. When I was in art school, friends and I would hunt for rats in Philly's Chinatown alleys at 2 a.m. with wrist rockets.

The issue of depopulation in Motown is not limited to the rusty city itself:
'Since 2001, migration has cost Michigan 465,000 people, the equivalent of the combined populations of Grand Rapids, Warren and Sterling Heights -- the state's second-, third- and fourth-largest cities...Those leaving Michigan are the people the state most needs to keep -- young and college-educated. The state suffered a net loss to migration of 18,000 adults with a bachelor's degree or higher in 2007 alone -- the equivalent of half the staff of the University of Michigan crossing the state line.'
www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090402/METRO/904020403/&imw=Y

How many other states whose economies were/are based on centralized heavy industry and manufacturing are going to feel the same crunch as Michigan, being left more and more with an aging population and no one to work, care, or pay for it?

Naoi Beanachatai,
Eremon