General Motors has done it again. They have shut down a Detroit plant. The last time they dealt a big blow to a Michigan town, it was Flint in 2017.

Back in the halcyon days of the Reagan administration, corporations joined the late capitalist movement of putting the enrichment of the investor class above nearly every other consideration. This involved crushing what was left of industrial unions, stealing the pensions of retired workers through the perversion of bankruptcy laws, and, needless to say, the ruthless looting of public subsidies and tax breaks. Naturally, the public subsidies were delivered, but the promised jobs and prosperity somehow never arrived. GM was simply following the new rules of corporate citizenship when it took the public money, and then walked away when their promises came due. Surprised?