Requiem for an Industrial Heavyweight

Detroit, Michigan - Franny Wentzel - Tuesday, December 7th, 2010 : goo

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"Detroit's sprawling Willow Run is evidence of Michgan's manufacturing versatilit. During war years, Liberator bombers rolled off the assembly line at the rate of one an hour. Today its facilities have been reconverted to the making of Kaiser-Frazer automobiles."

So said 'Look at America' over 60 years ago.

GM is finally closing the storied plant - which was down to only 300 or so employees - as part of their restructuring programme of 2009. During the war years they had to set aside a section just to house the hundreds of pilots that showed up to take delivery of their new planes. So large was the plant - with its own aerodrome - that they had to work a right angle to the assembly line to avoid building into another - higher tax - county.

Today, equipment that helped build a nation is now being auctioned off at bargain rates - if they can find a buyer at all. GM will make a few dollars towards paying back its government loans. One wonders how the Inner Party expects to redistribute wealth in a country that increasingly doesn't make anything anymore.

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