the rustbelt was caused by the rest of the world catching up after being bombed back to the stone age during WW2. unions kept wages high and led to offshoring,

the rustbelt was caused by the rest of the world catching up after being bombed back to the stone age during WW2. unions kept wages high and led to offshoring, but inefficient garbage tier cars from Detroit lost ground to better engineering and no planned obsolesce coming from European and Japanese models. A lot of that came from a decline in steel, coal, and acute pain points related to the oil crises in the 70s.