The Different States And Areas That Are Part Of The Rust Belt And How Business Has Gone Up And Down In This Region
The Rust Belt which has also been known as the Manufacturing Belt are different states in the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic and the Upper Midwest. The Fox Valley area is included in this area where a Fox Valley handyman does his Fox Valley bathroom remodeling. This entire area got that name for the various types of manufacturing plants that were sprinkled throughout especially in the steel industry. Much of this happened in Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Indiana and norhtern sections of New York. The factories are located near lakes in the region. The term, Rust Belt became popular in the 1970’s when the industry declined and several factories were closed. Rusted gates are the only thing left from these factories.
This area became the main source for industry and manufacturing because it was close to navigable waters and access to various resources. There was a big population boom that occurred bringing a lot of immigrants to these areas for work and using the rivers, lakes and the railroad helped to be perfect for shipping purposes. Things for a long time flourished in these states that were connected to the manufacturing belt.
Some of the problems started occurring when other countries such as China were able to produce itmes for much less by paying their workers much lower wages . This produced huge competition for the United States and we were not able to produce the same things for such a small amount as China could. This created outsourcing where companies started to pay people in other parts of the world to do the work for less than US workers could. The outsourcing work overseas have resulted in jobs lost for Americans.
Free trade has caused the factories to {struggle financially|have financial difficulties in this region. Industries learned that steel could be produced for a lot less in third world countries than in the US so they started to get it from there rather than in this country. By getting the supplies via free trade from other countries it has completely changed the supply and demand element. With no supply of steel here in the US, there is no demand for it either and the cycle goes on to where we must rely on other countries for certain products. This also, has created hardship on this region.
A lot of people have also been spreading out from the bigger metropolitan areas that are in this region like Chicago, Duluth, Philadelphia, Buffalo and Pittsburgh deciding to go out into the suburbs where it is more affordable than in these downtown areas. This has made less work and jobs in the downtowns and more opportunities out in the suburbs that have no relation to industry as it had always been before. This rust belt region has recently risen in jobs since 2008 with some new industries happening. They are dealing with biotechnology IT and hydrogen cell development as well as some other newer businesses. This has been a great boost for this region and the people here are hopeful that it will thrive again like it did prior to the 1970’s.