Sunday, March 02, 2008

Changes


Changes since moving to Detroit in 1997 . . .

Mergers and acquisitions. Lots. The end of analog, takeover by digital.

Gone: Jacobson's (Jacobson Stores), Hudson's (The J.L. Hudson Company), Farmer Jack, Harmony House Records, Sam Goody, Arbor Drug, Pioneer Drug.

In decline: Sears, K-Mart, Polaroid, casette tapes, land line phones, letter writing, the American auto industry and manufacturing base, the US dollar, the ecosystem.

On the rise: cell phones / mobile wireless devices, digital TVs, laptops, on demand ordering, online banking, blogs and digital publishing, email, obesity, gas, heating and shipping prices, chain drug stores, super-size warehouse stores, competition from outside the US, the Canadian dollar, the cost of living, unemployment and underemployment, casinos, debt, foreclosure, bankruptcy, flexible living arrangements, Independents.


Detroit leads the way in overall decline of the American Dream.


Making the South look all the more attractive as an alternative. . . . .

Today's Rune: Signals.

4 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

Plenty of stuff in the south to complain about. Those things having to do with people that is.

Lana Gramlich said...

I'm often amazed at both the good AND bad that's gone down during my lifetime.

Luma Rosa said...

It is an art to make good choices! Nor in such a way to the north, nor in such a way to the south, the times, the half good term week! Beijus

Anonymous said...

Ah, here in Carolina right now it is in the 70's, daffodils are blooming, trees are waking up from a winter sleep, the peacock comes to be fed. It is good to be alive no matter how crappy the world is right now. Life is one hell of a rollercoaster ride, so hang on to your hats and hope for the best.