Ypsi: Auto Industry

Detroit News columnist Charlie LeDuff writes about the demise of the U.S. auto industry, as seen through the lens of the dismantling of a former Ford plant in Ypsilanti: “You can now watch the liquidation of the American Dream in real time. Any given week, the guts of a whole factory are auctioned off. Its contents are sold piece by piece and taken away for scrap or antiques or resale to foreign companies. Men with blowtorches and trucks haul off tool-and-die machines, aluminum siding, hoists, drinking fountains, salt and pepper shakers, anything that might be of some value. It is the removal of the country’s mechanical heart right before your eyes. It is breathtaking.” [Source]