Exodus from Michigan

Since 2001, more than 400,000 people have fled from the American state of Michigan in an exodus caused by the recent economic turmoil. This is the equivalent of the combined populations of Grand Rapids, Warren and Sterling Heights - the second, third, and fourth largest cities in that state. Michigan endures one of the worst unemployment rates in the United States of America. Government officials had feared that educated people leaving would discourage enterpreneurs from creating new jobs within the state of Michigan. The last time that Michigan's population reached that low was back in 2000.
Authorities in former East German cities had to literally shut off electricity to neighborhoods that they couldn't support during an exodus period that was similar to Michigan's. until then-current chairman of General Motors Roger Smith took 60000 jobs away from the area in the early 1980s. Even though General Motors was gaining billions of dollars in profits from the sales of automobiles, Smith convinced the United Auto Workers union that they were going bankrupt in order to give them hundreds of millions in aid dollars. $1.2 billion in paychecks have been lost due to outmigration to other states. The change from 2010 to 2011 only shows a 0.08% decrease in the population for that year. However, the massive emigration in previous years had already devastated Michigan's economy for people who want a steady job, a sustainable retirement, along with those who want to pursue higher education. Some of these costs won't come into effect for decades but it means higher income taxes (for those who stay behind) and deteriorating government services (for people who cannot leave the state due to various reasons). Another solution would be to cut down on expensive government mandates. The other economic sectors may find economic recovery plans of their own in the near future. Unemployment is the main factor in driving people out of Michigan. Retirement and better educational opportunities are driving Michigan emigrants out of the state; as Michigan's retirement homes and colleges fall into decay due to lack of government funding.
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One report suggested there were efforts to consider bulldozing swaths of the city of Flint and "razing entire districts and returning the land to nature" in an effort called shrink to survive. This concept is formally known as planned shrinkage; most of the houses being demolished in Flint will eventually be transformed back into forests and meadows.
There are also plans in Detroit to contract the urban sprawl by transforming its current urban grid into a collection of small urban centers surrounded by a rural setting. The inner suburban regions of Detroit are also facing massive reconstruction after the economic woes of the late-2000s began. Another element to this story are the losses of jobs in the automobile industry that are driving the people out the city. Entire blocks and neighborhoods have been converted back into prairie, complete with pheasants, grouse, and the occasional coyote. While the return of the natural wildlife and the lowered pollution levels have helped to increase the quality of life in Detroit slightly, it does not help to create jobs for the people who live in the city.
Officially, Detroit’s unemployment rate is 27%, but the Detroit News suggests that nearly half of this city’s working-age population may be unemployed. Reducing the number of buildings (and eliminating the number of established buildings for workplace sites) may reduce the chance for people to regain full-time employment in the race. Due to environmental laws, offices and factories cannot be rebuilt once the land that a building was built on is returned to its "natural state."

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