Was the economy in the Midwest in such a shambles when Obama left....?

[c-rational]

5. I am currently reading "The Unwinding - An Inner historry of the New America" by George Packer

courtesy of another DU poster. The forces of ruin for much of the midwest (read industrial America) were planted decades earlier. And recent posts appear to debunk this notion that voters in 2016 voted the way they did out of economic anxiety, rather it was deep seated racism, although i will say that most of America never recovered fully from the 2008 financial crisis - Wall Street did well at the expense of Main Street.