I know about Calumet area
[QUOTE=kygorski;555891]Our declines in some industries began before nafta. Most of it came from BOTTOM LINE. yes the bean counters didn't reinvest in the industry they worked for.Then the rural vote [ agra business] ended some of it. I know you never heard of the calumet region, it was in chicago, and nortern indiana. There were 8 steel mills there, employing thousands. Then the "farm vote" allowed european steel producers to dump steel into america, so that they could export farm commodities. There were5 oil refineries there also. that area was the hub of the american rail road industry. Almost all of that was gone before NAFTA. Remember "junk bonds" a wall street scheme that let thieves buy companies, raid the pension plans, and then close the company. the employees in most cases lost most of their pension benefits, because ERISA couldn't fund them. I guess what I'm saying is that country has lost it's financial morality, people don't matter, the bottom line does. And the bottom line now hides it's assets over seas.Yes,America is still great, but it was better then.But things change, sometimes for better sometimes for worse. We adapt.[/QUOTE]
I went to school up North and many of the guys that I knew were from Northern IN and some of them worked in the Steel Mills up there and played Football for Purdue University.
Dumping steel after using cheaper labor was indeed a factor. I know about the Steel mills because they were some of the greatest sources of Air Pollution and Water Pollution. Yes they provided a lot of good jobs but they also helped to destroy the environment and increase pollution in Northern IN.
They could still be in production if they paid less to the workers and didn't pollute as much. IE they could have controlled their emissions better. But it was just easier to send the work overseas and let them destroy their environment over there. And they had tons of cheap labor and no labor laws. Kids could work all night long and no one cared.
