[Cloud9]

Detroit died because the globalists off shored our heavy industry. They made a lot of short term profits, but they hollowed out our heavy industry. When you see Bridgeport milling machines being sold for scrap you know the infrastructure has bone cancer.

[Fishman]

"Technology and infrastructure leapfrogged Detroit and moved elsewhere. Such is the "Creative Destruction" of Capitalism"
NOPE, Democratic mayors, persistently elected caused the decline, just a variation of Blue State disease

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '
')Do not answer that the Unions were the fault.

[The Practician]

Goddammit, this is PEAK OIL Dot Frickin' com and you fools are lamenting that the death of heavy industry, specifically the bloody automobile industry, destroyed the American economy? Do you still not understand the crushing inevitability of all this?

JFC!

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('The Practician', '.').. the death of heavy industry, specifically the bloody automobile industry.... Do you still not understand the crushing inevitability of all this?

[Newfie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('The Practician', 'G')oddammit, this is PEAK OIL Dot Frickin' com and you fools are lamenting that the death of heavy industry, specifically the bloody automobile industry, destroyed the American economy? Do you still not understand the crushing inevitability of all this?

JFC!

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', '
')FWIW, I agree.

[The Practician]

Wow, Plant, are you trying to tell me cheap energy in increasing ammounts is good for the economy? Who knew! Good thing the gas boom is going to last forever....

From that Gas industry puff piece you linked:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')ere’s another industry you can add to that growing list of winners from the natural gas and fracking revolution: steel.

The sector continues to benefit from rising demand for tubular steel products used in pipelines, drilling equipment and rigs. At the same time, steel producers are enjoying the low price for natural gas by using it — much to coal’s chagrin — at new direct-reduced iron (DRI) plants. That’s providing big cost savings and expanded margins.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('The Practician', 'W')ow, Plant, are you trying to tell me cheap energy in increasing ammounts is good for the economy? Who knew!

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', ' ')Obama claims we have 100 years of NG----and there are still a heck of a lot of basins to explore.

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'O')bama gave Chrysler-Jeep to Fiat, and now FIAT is building a giant JEEP manufacturing plant in China while Obama and his minions cheer them on.

[Newfie]

Obama did it. I don't know what it is but Obama did it.

[sparky]

.
actually , beside the numerous ghost towns , there is quite a lot of cities which have deperished.

a curious example is Rome , it went from an imperial metropolis of ~1 million to a few thousands mining the mountains of marble for the next 800 years , then a very comfortable living as the papal city
and now the taxpayer funded capital of a major state
next century , something else ..... talk about survival

[Cloud9]

It is interesting when you think about it. Religion was the fall back social structure when the imperial state failed. Those 800 years were not all wine and roses. The Vandals gave us a new word. Edward Gibbon is a great read.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', '.')
actually , beside the numerous ghost towns , there is quite a lot of cities which have deperished.

a curious example is Rome , it went from an imperial metropolis of ~1 million to a few thousands mining the mountains of marble for the next 800 years , then a very comfortable living as the papal city
and now the taxpayer funded capital of a major state
next century , something else ..... talk about survival

[Pops]

Man, PO.com has come to quite a pass when not one subject can be brought up without it instantly degrading into a partisan rantfest. No wonder there is little participation here.

Anyway, I'll vote for containerized shipping and computer networks.

Capital has from day one arbitraged labor - paying less for labor than the labor produced is the definition of profit. America was founded by capitalists exporting labor to exploit the resources here. The New England mills were imported from Olde England before they were exported to the south until they were outsourced to Asia.

It took containerized shipping to reduce the price of transport to a level that allowed capital to access overseas labor and it took computer networks to enable real-time logistics control on the other side of the world.

Geographic specialization is the logical outgrowth of cheap energy.

[The Practician]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '
')
I'm still waiting for you to answer my question----you said heavy industry, and specifically the bloody automobile industry, are about to die. When will this happen, in your opinion? Will it be dead by 2015? 2020? 2030? When exactly?

[dolanbaker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')nyway, I'll vote for containerized shipping and computer networks.