The train done left the tracks......

America has gone off-track. Most polls reveal most of us believe it. Weirdly, those same polls never really get more specific as to where and how exactly we went the off these tracks, just some underlying 'gut feeling'. But this opinion sadly is now turning into fact as the data comes in that our kids won't do as well as we did.

Its also a fact that during the golden years of the American dream in our past, when you could support a family on one income and have a home with a picket fence, we bought from each other in America. In those times, we were were both the Makers and the Buyers, and we ALL benefited.

And the engine that drove the growth was the Making side. Making (or manufacturing), both big and small, filled our cities, our suburbs, and our rural towns.  Capital investment into massive capabilities were common and blue collar manufacturing work had the merit of building something of value every day and offered a clear path to prosperity for families climbing the ladder of success.

What sometimes gets missed when talking about the demise of US manufacturing jobs is truly the epic scope. Our government cites we've lost 8 million manufacturing jobs. This, though, ignores that for every one manufacturing job there are another 6.4 jobs that support that role! From the secretary up front in the plant, to the guy offloadng the trucks to the guy providing the machinery, manufacturing plants are truly the most clear economic engine fueling jobs, wealth creation, and ultimately the American dream.

Using my math above, nearly 40% of households directly or indirectly lost there source of income with the loss of manufacturing from this country.  

So when did we decide it was OK to eliminate the wealth generation for nearly half the country? How did this happen? Stay tuned.........

photo credit: historicdetroit.org