What was almost universal among those who spoke to the WSWS was deep concern about the economic situation and opposition to the measures taken by the government in response to the financial crisis, including the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. These sentiments largely transcended political affiliation.

Detroit has been devastated by decades of economic stagnation and job destruction. Once a booming center of auto manufacturing, the Big Three have systematically eliminated hundreds of thousands of jobs in the area. The state of Michigan has lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs in the past eight years alone. Its official unemployment rate stands at 8.9 percent, a figure that will certainly soar over the coming months.

Detroit has the highest rate of home foreclosures in the country, with nearly 5 percent of homes in the metropolitan area in some state of foreclosure in 2007.

The looming economic crisis, which threatens to send the country into deep recession or depression, will have incalculable consequences. There is some talk that General Motors might buy up Chrysler, raid its cash fund, and eliminate almost all of its production facilities. GM announced last week that it would lay off 1,600 more workers, including 1,200 in metro Detroit500 of these in Hamtramck, two days before Christmas.

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