[quote=Hobie] relax the constraints of energy production and Motor City will return as we will always need lots of new cars/trucks.[/quote]

Really? How many people want to move to the rust belt? If you look at any representation of population change by state the northeast is losing population and the southwest is gaining. Michigan is perpetually overcast and humid, with hot summers and cold snowy winters. With auto manufacturing plants all over the country, Detroit’s rebirth is unlikely.

This is not the first time this has happened in Michigan. The capital of the state was at one time suggested to be Calumet. Have you ever heard of it? It’s in the upper peninsula and was the seat of the mining industry in Michigan, which was huge up until about 1900. According to Wikipedia:

“Copper mining in the Upper Peninsula boomed, and from 1845 until 1887 (when it was exceeded by Butte, Montana) the Michigan Copper Country was the nation’s leading producer of copper. In most years from 1850 through 1881, Michigan produced more than three-quarters of the nation’s copper, and in 1869 produced more than 95% of the country’s copper.”

The mining companies pulled out, moving to Arizona and other parts of the southwest; Calumet (and the rest of the area) imploded and never came back. Detroit is obviously much larger, but I believe the same will happen there. Industries change, and areas that depend on single industries are vulnerable.