On Sept. 15, 2008, global financial service firm Lehman Brothers filed bankruptcy and the entire economy was sent into a tailspin.

Lehman was the tip of the spear of the banking crisis that exacerbated Michigan's "Lost Decade." The state lost more than 800,000 jobs between 2000 and 2009 as the subprime housing bubble burst, sending hundreds of thousands of homes into foreclosure as the automotive industry collapsed among the rubble, leading to the bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler.

Ten years later, things are looking up. Michigan's gross domestic product per capita is up 21 percent from its annual low in 2009, and up 2 percent from its peak in 2005. Michigan hit bottom and the automotive industry's rapid recovery out of the bowels of the Great Recession For instance, General Motors' market cap has nearly doubled since its low in 2012, thanks to record sales in 2015 and 2016.

But despite improved business operations and a strong automotive sector, the question looms: Are Michiganders better off now than before the economic collapse a decade ago?