Flint, Michigan looks bad. But how 'bout your own backyard?

Flint, Michigan looks plenty bad, but what should scare us more is that Flint-like collapses are spreading.

It's not just the auto industry that's shriveled or moved offshore. All types of industry have downsized, packed up or simply shutdown all over America.

Look closely where you live, you'll likely see troubling signs there too. Maybe not to the extend of collapse, but economic contractions can be clearly noted.

Here's a photo of a vacant industrial site I spotted in Lawrenceville, Georgia a few months back. Note that it even has rail access (seen in the foreground):

And not far from that industrial site, I spied a partially vacant office building not shy about advertising its need of a primary tenant:

The shrinking economic base isn't just confined to the rust belt anymore. Some places are still lucky enough to pass things off as "doldrums," or still explain decline as a temporary downturn. Other communities, however, are now beginning to realize what's happening to them may be irreversible trends in a fundamentally transforming America.