I agree it would have been great to get that plant and it's a shame that didn't come to pass. I don't know the backstory on the issue well enough to comment on it, sorry. It occurs to me it's a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg question, though -- which comes first, jobs or housing? Obviously, a community needs both, but getting one without the other is still better than getting neither, I think.

Also, Detroit's problems go back a lot further than Clinton. The oil embargo of '74 and the lines to buy gas sent people scrambling for economical foreign-made cars. The Big Three had become a dinosaur that simply couldn't turn on a dime and adequately meet customer demand; they bled market share. Quality was an issue as well. When I graduated from high school in 1984, there were virtually no jobs for young people and skilled tradesmen were washing dishes and running cash registers to put food on theirs families' tables. Tough times!