Re: USA probably at the root of it
This is fundamentally a situation everywhere you have places depending heavily on an industry that becomes uneconomic.
In Nakskov, Denmark, and Malmö, Sweden, large shipyards were closed in the 80es with devastating effects. But even without the political side you had in the UK, it is a question how long you keep subsidising industries without realistic future.
In Denmark there was never much state ownership of industry, which made it politically easier. Subsidies were in form of good contracts (the ferries that kept the shipyards going were were well build, works of beauty) dished out with an eye on geography, but eventually it stopped.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
