What makes modern industrial history so intriguing is to watch the speed and forces which have changed societies over the last 150 years. Understanding what has happened and what is happening can be assisted by studying the concept of the Capitalist Art of Creative Destruction, which was first outlined by Karl Marx and later refined by the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter. Simplified, the basic principle of the capitalist system is that new prosperity is built when established economic orders are constantly challenged by constant inflow of new inventions that makes the existing ones obsolete. As new prosperity is created, existing prosperity based on structures becoming obsolete is ruthlessly annihilated. No judgment or standpoint here, this is just the way things are.

The monumental prosperity created during the early 1900s in the US Automotive industry by Henry Ford et. al is legendary. Determination, innovation and efficiency lead to the transformation into the modern automobile society and still today, although the US has less than 5% of the worlds population, almost 40% of the worlds cars are here.

Detroit and its surroundings was the world's powerhouse for the industry and even as late as 1950, US had more than 80% of the word's car production. The inevitable self-confidence that springs out of such a market dominance tends to become its worst enemy. When new innovative concepts of lean manufacturing and improved fuel economy, spurred by the oil crisis in the 1970s, the US car industry kind of lost its bearing and does not seem to have regained it.

However, still a huge amount of cars are made in the vicinity of Detroit, consolidation and the transformation of the car industry into more modern workshops built in the outskirts of the cities have left a large number of abandoned factories. As the workplaces move, so do people so this form of de-industrialization is certainly followed by the even more brutal de-urbanization and de-civilization.
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