Long Road Ahead

[Alvin Neal]

Somewhere along the way, Detroit became our national ashtray, a safe place for everyone to stub out the butt of their jokes.

Every American should be sickened by the news that Detroit is bankrupt. What was once the envy of the world for its pioneering automobile industry has become an also-ran on the world stage. Detroit was once the most prosperous manufacturing city in the world.

In the 1950s, Detroit was a major American city with a dynamic labor force built on the manufacturing miracle that won World War II. Its factories quickly converted tanks, planes and artillery shells into trucks, automobiles and refrigerators that baby boom families demanded. Everyone had a good paying job. Detroit Iron had no competition. Its burgeoning middle class was the model of the world with excellent public schools and universities. It was the 4th largest city in America with 2 million inhabitants, with the world’s most dominant industry — the automobile.