Week. Xt people would just walk right across the street, two weeks theydraduation, and have a job. And when i was going to school, fumesmber inhaling paint as i ran on the track. There was there was just this sweetish chemical order. Seeing workers standing on the balconies, during friday night football games, watching from across the street. Of course, there was a bar from every entrance. Introduction to the immigrant,ut an because an american consul told him the most jobs were in figured that was the most promising place. By the time i started high school, the Unemployment Rate in 14 . Gan was and one of our chemistry hishers used to begin classes by telling us, it used to be that you didnt have to study here, because you could just walk across the street and get a good job. But those days are over. To you guys are gonna have study hard and go to college. So i studied hard and i went to college. Get after that, i didnt good job. I got out of college in the early 90s when there was an
For a complete schedule visit booktv. Org. Now on booktv, Edward Mcclelland reports on Americas Industrial midwest, also known as the rust belt. The author examines the regions oncepowerful Manufacturing Centers and how their demise has resulted in the exodus of local populations in search of employment. Its about an hour. [applause] thank you. That was a really good introduction because it segways right into what i wanted to talk about at the beginning which was the fisher body plant in its heyday. It was, i went to high School Across the street from the fisher body plant in lansing, michigan, and it was perfectly integrated into the industrial life of the state. The high school was part of the supply chain. It would provide the workers for industrial labor. And there was a saying that you had a diploma in your hand one week and a ratchet in your hand the next week. People would just walk right across the street two weeks after graduation, and theyd have a job. And when i was going to
You just cant walk into General Motors. Larry eventually made it to General Motors but i think it took him 10 years also working another smaller concerns and still not in actual employee but a fireman and works for the subcontractor. And the other graduated in 1965 in the job search consisted of cutting classs to apply all auto plants in to hold down in town hall it was no coincidence that when the vietnam war was cranking up it was the perfect war for General Motors because it was big enough to provide 750 million per year of defense contracts but not so big that it could not build cars light in world war ii. So 65 to 69 not a single month when the Unemployment Rate was higher than 4 in the United States for you could not be as lacquer the hippies had to create the alternative morality to justify themselves. So dog got married and bought a house and he was 20 and went on to work 37 years of General Motors the course was set right out of my school he thought the baby boomers would be t