[artlogic]

Michigan is a strange place to be living right now. There's still work for skilled technology folks if you look hard enough. What we don't have is work for the thousands of jobless factory/industrial workers. Growing up in Michigan, there were still people saying "My parents work for GM in the factory, I'm going to get a job right out of highschool - 30 and out, retire at 48." Unfortunately, all these people are now learning exactly how wrong they were. The age of plentiful factory work for anyone with a highschool degree is over in Michigan, and the statistics reflect this. The state is in a painful transition period - the country is feeling the effects as well. It's the end of industrialization and the beginning of a society based on service and technology. Unfortunately, Michigan, until recently, wasn't willing to admit that things were changing. Many of the jobless are in denial - that's why we lead the nation in unemployment.