On December 19th, Ford closed the doors of their
St Paul auto plant, ending 800 jobs and 86 years of history. The plant was closed as part of Ford's move to end the Ford Ranger in North America, a truck that will still be available
overseas. Born of the 80s gas crisis, the Ranger has been Ford's compact truck for almost forty
years.
Ford blames demand for large trucks and the shrinking gap in price between the compact and full-sized truck markets, spurring
concern about the future of the compact truck market in North America.
posted by Stagger Lee
on Dec 23, 2011 -
93 comments
Blogging the Hugos: Decline (
part 1,
part 2,
part 3), is a series of blog posts covering some dystopian trends in recent Hugo nominees and itself
winner of the of the BSFA award for non fiction. Meanwhile the 2011 Hugo finalists
have been announced, with Mefi favorites featuring strongly: In Best Novella
The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang (
previously), In Best Short Story
The Things by Peter Watts (
previously). Doctor who features heavily under Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form (
too many posts to mention), but has strong competition from
Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury.
posted by Artw
on Apr 24, 2011 -
27 comments
The American Century, proclaimed so triumphantly at the start of World War II, will be tattered and fading by 2025, its eighth decade, and could be history by 2030.
posted by Joe Beese
on Dec 8, 2010 -
80 comments
Spending years clarifying my observations of the community and putting them down on paper slowly revealed a society beset by a fatal condition; an affliction that has been destroying us at an ever increasing rate for two centuries and must eventually return us to barbarism. A final result that should be no surprise, as it has overtaken every other civilization; a fate that appears as inevitable and as irreversible as old age with its increasing feebleness and dementia. I was no longer interested in why our bureaucracy was full of incompetents? but why our society was full of incompetents? My original aim to improve my community with technology was replaced with answering the question, why does a community age like any other creature?
Philip Atkinson knows: civilization is in decline. And he's determined to
tell you about it. Find out the truth about
Nelson Mandela,
AIDS,
obesity,
parenting,
standard weights and measures, and, of course,
the Ten Commandments. We're
screwed, guys. Sit down,
read a book, and
watch it burn.
posted by nasreddin
on Aug 22, 2007 -
44 comments
THE EVOLUTION OF GLOBAL POLITICS. University of Washington Professor George Modelski is credited with developing the concept of world leadership. There have been five world leaders: Portugal, the Netherlands, Great Britain I, Great Britain II, and currently the USA. Some scholars in political science and history are pointing towards U.S. decline and a takeover by a
United States of Europe...
posted by j-urb
on Dec 12, 2005 -
46 comments
Is this the last days of the Empire, or just the beginning? America the most powerful country since Roman Empire.
I for sure hope that the good old US of A don´t meet the same destiny as the Roman Empire...But!?
Has there been any country (empire) that survived being the biggest and best(?). Usually i read a lot about Swedens time of glory some couple of hundred years ago, now hoping that my grandchildren won´t read the same about the States.
Should we be worried about what the history tells us?
posted by Ulwen
on Feb 10, 2002 -
68 comments
