The Fall of the American Midwest

I know what I am talking about here because I lived through it myself.

Right after WWII, the American Midwest (everything between the Appalachian and the Rocky Mountains) produced most of the world's products. Now it is best described as a Rust Belt.

One of the candidates for the Presidency, Mayor Pete, knows this and is tolerated because he speaks for it.

I was raised in Ft. Madison, Iowa, part of Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. As Midwestern as you could get. It is now part of a huge tragedy, that is unaware of itself. 

There are no Tourist Buses, exhibiting the remains of Scheaffer Pen because no one wants to see them. This would be too depressing.

The West End of the town, where we lived, was Santa Fe town, and there is even a street sign saying this. It had many small businesses, such as Barbershops and Whorehouses. It is now a slum, where the houses are in bad repair. And many of them, such as the house I was born in, are gone.

Most of the Midwestern Manufacturing has gone to China.