The weekly humor newspaper, The Onion, posted something this week that hits really close to home...

In a satirical look at the struggling state of the U.S. industrial base, they made a surprising archaeological announcement: "Remains Of Ancient Race Of Job Creators Found In Rust Belt."

Funny, but all-too-true.

As the article astutely points out, manufacturing once "provided occupations for hundreds of thousands of humans in the American Northeast and Midwest."

Referencing the 5 million U.S. manufacturing jobs lost over the past decade, the article summarizes the human toll:

According to researchers, these long-forgotten people once flourished between western New York state and Illinois, erecting highly distinctive steel and brick structures wherever they went, including many buildings thought to have held hundreds of paid workers at a time.

"It's truly fascinating—after spending a certain number of hours performing assigned tasks, the so-called 'employees' at such facilities would receive monetary compensation that allowed them to support themselves and their families."

Click here to read the full article.