[quote=harvey]You can speculate for as many paragraphs as you like.

The only way that jobs are going to come back to the industrial midwest are through some combination of:

1) Dramatically lower wages
2) Trade barriers
3) Elimination of environmental protection

#1 accomplishes nothing

#2 hurts more than it helps

#3 sounds tolerable until you’ve lived it first-hand, and still requires 1 and 2 to be effective[/quote]

I don’t think industrial jobs will ever come back to the Midwest because of mechanization and outsourcing. Also if it does, it will never be like the 70’s and early 80’s where factory workers were getting paid 6 figures due to the unions and non-competitive foreign products. Despite this, cities like Detroit are now growing again and property values are growing as well. My sister just purchased a refurbished loft style condominium in a high rise for over $250k. Rent comps within the building are running between 2500-3000 a month and the available units get picked up quick. Companies such as Quicken have come in and incentivized workers by paying for their rent, or covering some of the down payment to do so. Anyways, just wanted to say that the those industrial cities are starting to right size and fill up again with professionals.