I wouldn't defend these guys in particular, but I will say that things were vastly different in Detroit (and the U.S. in general) 50 years ago. Those unskilled

I wouldn't defend these guys in particular, but I will say that things were vastly different in Detroit (and the U.S. in general) 50 years ago. Those unskilled people could much more easily become skilled to the point that they landed solidly in the middle class. In general, there was much more opportunity to pull one's self up by the bootstraps, more even income distribution, and true mechanisms that allowed a rising tide to lift all boats.