GM Grows Towns, Then Leaves

General Motors was once viewed as Miracle-Gro for small towns, taking places like Ontario, Ohio from a village of 700 people in 1956 to what is now a bustling town of nearly 5,500 with the best school district in the state.

Massena. Wilmington. Mansfield. Orion Township.

The GM factories that drove these towns to prosper for decades are now closing their doors in the wake of the company's collapse into bankruptcy. The financial spine for these cities will be ripped out with the shuttering of GM factories, starting a chain reaction of lost revenue for local business and public institutions.

This ripple effect will eventually spread to the entire country, but the Rust Belt will certainly be hit hardest.

[Do you live in a town bracing itself due to GM downsizing or do you run a business that will suffer directly? Tell us about the effect that shuttered GM factories will have on your community. Email [e-mail] with your story or fill out the form below. While other news outlets create maps of GM factories going out of business (WSJ has a great one), we will be creating interactive maps of the secondary affects of GM layoffs -- the mom and pop shops that will be forced to close and the city officials forced to cut local services.]

One of the towns that will be hit hardest is Pontiac, MI, where the assembly factory for Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra will soon close, putting over 2,800 out of work. The AP reports that Pontiac's state-appointed emergency financial manager, Fred Leeb, believes that closing the East Assembly Plant will cost Pontiac about one-fifth of its $50 million general fund. That means less funding for schools, police, and social services.

Factories closing soon in other towns:

Orion, MI: faces the loss of nearly 4,000 employees at its Pontiac G6 and Chevrolet Malibu assembly plant.

Wilmington, DE: 62-year-old operation with 1,060 workers to close next month.

Mansfield, OH: 721 workers to be laid off with the closure of the town's stamping plant.

Comments

[rkimball]

my nephew in tenn. said it is devistating, the closing of gmc. this on the heels of other plant closings at john deere, caterpillar, corning, 3m & other auto related industries. some towns are completely wipped of the map & may never recover.

[zukervati]

Where's Toby McGuire and his "patriotic" commercials for the Chevy? He's looking more and more like the b/tch for the Dixie Chics!

[GoldsteinD]

What Obama is trying to do by not honoring GM bond holders ("speculators", as he calls them) of secured bonds and making sure the un-secured UAW pensions are honored might be illegal. If it's not, it should be as his success at this could very well undermine our financial system and drive the stock market way down. These so called speculators include anyone that has a 401k that invests in any mutual fund that has invested in GM. If investors see this happen, they will not have any trust in our financial system unless they have an IN with the government.

Don't worry. You won't need your savings anyway as the Great One will take care of us all. All we'll need to do is keep buying stuff. Soon, there will be a national sales tax to help us pay for the rationed healthcare we'll get

[petef59]

So, you are the only people affected by the economic downturn? And you have been lobbying endlessly for health insured people who have been denied contractually obligated services that resulted in injury and death for family members ( a practice in effect for years and publicy known)?
Or now that the behavior of corporate executives and financial markets that are really not vested in the public interest has personally affected you, you are crying for people to march in the streets?

[petef59]

Besides, your representatives negotiated a settlement.

[GoldsteinD]

I guess that makes it ok (to start nationalizing businesses). GM is doomed, no matter who is at the helm. Obama knows this. It's just payback to the union.

Keep buying a new cell phone every 6 months, eating junk food and voting Democrat. Don't bother to save any money. Your life will not change

[GoldsteinD]

btw - if the government had not decided to "incentivize" bankers to make bad mortgage loans in the first place, the financial markets would have treated me just fine

[Matthew Siegel]

Dear America,

Glad to meet you.

xo,

Globalization

[thenorthshore]

welcome to barrys motor company

"we'll try to sell cars no one will buy"

GENUINE barry BRAND SNAKE OIL... no make that GENUINE barry BRAND autos

barry: "we're doing this to save American jobs

shhhhhhhh: 2011 we'll be paying com.mies to mfg these instead of Americans"

[mouselion]

Theshorthsnore.

[StupidIsAsStupidDoes]

China is far more capitalistic than the US, which means they have a communist system in name only, its more like a corporate plutocracy. And they don't need the GM label. Waves of quality Chinese brand cars/trucks are due to hit US shores in 2010 or so.

[charger2]

Do not blame Obama for ronnie raygun and bush fuc$ups

[charger2]

Where were you 20 years ago when deregulation of everything by the rethugs was a-ok, now you blame someone who has been in office less than 150 days, gov. and the lobbyist and the big,now little 3 killed themselves , sow the wind,reap the whirl wind, the perfect storm was put in motion long before OBAMA so WTFU , SMELL THE COFFEE ,YOU Republicans got exactly what you wished for KARMA IS A CRUEL MISTRESS

[Tkevan]

I'm guessing about 20 years ago, the best part of you ran down mom's thigh. Try reading a book, studying a little. You know, try to learn something.

[druluv]

Why would GM Downsize? The US owns this company. If every one buys a car from GM it makes money. At the very least, all goverment cars should be made from this factory.

The profits made from GM should be used to fund projects that the taxpayers ask for during the election.

There a lot of poor people that need jobs, give them jobs they will buy GM Cars.

Our Reps should be fighting for factories in the poor tax payer districts.

[GoldsteinD]

your plan is out of luck. those poor districts will be in 2nd and 3rd world nations, offshore. GM can't make it here. labor is too expensive

[Viper]

This has happened in the south when we outsourced the textile and Garment industries­..

This has happened when we outsourced the ship building industry.

This has happaned as we outsourced high tech manufacturing.

This has happened as we outsourced Applicance MFG.

This has happened as we outsourced commercial electronics.

Its happening as we outsource programmin­g...

This has happened as our southern states have paid for the plants of Foriegn Auto MFGs ... is that socialism.­... paying for the plants ... waiving taxes and etc?

Still waiting for the list of countries that have paid GM/Ford or Chrysler to build plants say in Japan , or China or Korea or Germany... so we can compete against there CAR MFGs.

Regards

[patrickmcdougal]

You guys down south loved it when you took our automotive jobs from Michigan by offering cheaper labor. Now the same is happening to you and act outraged.

[scottarino]

Civil War's over dudes.

[Tkevan]

You folks might do a little research on Brian Deese. This genius is who Pres. Obama put in charge of the dismantling of GM. WTF??? Hasn't even made it out of college, has no business experience, looks never to have held a private sector job. No Auto experience.

Again I ask, WTF???

[charger2]

HEY DUDE, look at what the best and brightest did.can he do any worse ??????????­??????????­???

[Tkevan]

"HEY DUDE"???

Ok.

The answer is .........Y­es, yes he can do worse.
It's like saying "gee, my doctor screwed up, guess I'll go to the guy who fixes my air conditioning next time."

[mouselion]

These plants and equipment should be leased to employee-founded corporations with low interest government loans. The former employees should form independent employee-owned car manufacturing plants and lease green car and machinery manufacturing licenses.

This would be a better use of tax-payers' money instead of pouring it into GM, and, it would give us the type of cars we need for a better future than the car dinosaurs are willing to go with.

[Viper]

I think you have zero business experience in all likelyhood­...

NO ONE is buying those fuel efficient tiny cars. Toyota sales are down 53% world wide.

Its average fleet mileage is lower than GM!

You need global economy of scales, not something a micro factory concern has...... You need goverment single payer healthcare.

Regards

[mouselion]

Car sales of ALL kinds are down worldwide.
And, yes, I think universal healthcare would help the situation immensely.
However, the giant dinosaur model that worked forty to seventy years ago is not able to keep up with the demands of re-tooling for green manufacturing. It deals best with a static approach. Green technology is not going to be one-time change -- rather it will be an on-going evolution, from here on out.
Smaller concerns -- some will fail, others will flourish. All will be able to take advantage of regional needs. The point is, if one plant goes down, it doesn't take the entire national economy to the precipice along with it.

[zitlight73]

And now the Obama Banking Mafia"s car czar Rattener is going after GM health and pension funds in order that Citibank and JP Morgan can get back all of their $6 billion dollar loans according to Greg Palast's report. Which is as illegal as going after the workers' savings accounts, maybe that's next.

[burt2009]

Hell, Obama can do whatever he wants and its legal. Its all that hope and change you libs voted for, lost hope and left with little change.

[charger2]

Burt 2009 ,where was your outrage for the last eight years when DUBYA WAS PRESIDENT, You and that's right you Republicans but us in this sh#t ho#e, Obama now has to use a GIANTpoop scoop to fix your great economy us LIBS inherited . YOU wanted Bush IN the worst way and that is what you got, Iwould LMAO if it was not so pathetic

[JoeBlough]

Bush said,"If the president does it, it's not illegal".

[tydicea]

Not long ago a manager I worked for told the entire department, and I quote, ''in America it is only illegal if you get caught.''

[tydicea]

Empires rise and fall....no­thing forever, and the control one thinks they have over their lives only an illusion.

[bikerdude]

This all happened to a lesser degree when the high tech landscape changed. Companies like Wang and Digital Equipment Corp., we having to build new facilities because they had hired every qualified person in a particular area. When the bubble burst and they all started downsizing, these towns really suffered. Fast forward a few years and towns like Nashua NH were flourishing again because the core talent started new smaller businesses and began hiring. I hope something like this can happen with the auto stuff. Michael Moore's article the other day talked about re-configuring production lines to build "green" energy products and other initiatives to help us lessen our dependence on oil and our relentless destruction of our environmen­t...It will take forward thinking people and industry folks who are willing to work with this start up endeavor..­..

[wdw505]

i will not buy another vehicle made by government motors....­....not now not ever......­...when the government gets out of the picture we can talk......­..

[burt2009]

When the government dictates what kind of car can be made and imported to the U.S. there won't be any talking left. Don't forget, we must sacrafice for our government and bow to the greenies.

[wdw505]

no, then i will drive my 2008 until the wheels fall off.......­.

[gifu]

Think 7 generations ahead of yourself and get back to us, please.

[AsISaid]

OK, buy a foreign product that is supported by a foreign government. You have no idea what you're talking about - and, I would venture to say, you haven't purchased a new American car anytime anyway.

[burt2009]

I did. It was made in Canada.

[wdw505]

yeah you just keep believing that......­anyway ford still exist free of government­.......i don't know what cars are acceptable to me yet as i have not purchased a ford in 20 some odd years

[bikerdude]

See ya...What a head-in-the-sand attitude.

[aycarumba]

The best way to get the government OUT of GM is to BUY a GM vehicle.

[patrickmcdougal]

So you won't support American workers?
The I only care about myself society!!!
that'll turn out well.

[aycarumba]

I completely agree with your sentiments. It's immediate gratification without regards to long term ramificati­ons...like having 2-up at Angelos.

[AsISaid]

Sadly and unfortunately, this is not a new or extraordinary story. Not that long ago, the same happened to other cities heavily dependent on major manufacturing in Ohio - Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown - each has been devasted by plant closings (some without the benefit of cutbacks prior to simply closing and locking up the plants) when the steel industry and rubber industries just up and left town.

Some of this had to do with the tax structure (mostly under Reagan) that rewarded companies for closing old plants in favor of moving to the sunbelt. The Reagan tax changes also made it more viable for these industries to invest profits - and some companies were indeed profitable - into other areas outside of their particular industry, such as real estate development, shipbuilding and the like. As a result, these companies failed to reinvest in their companies, falling behind foreign competition that was subsidized by foreign governments that built new, modern, and more productive plants and equipment.

I feel very, very sad for these communities, the workers, their families, and all the small businesses that feed off these plants - and the pay spent by the workers to keep these small businesses running. Ohio just lost NCR to Georgia, causing another 1,200 workers to lose their jobs. Our older, midwestern states - those that built this country - are being brutalized.

[Christopher in NYC]

Exactly. The same thing happened to the towns associated with the death of the US steel industry.

Billy Joel even wrote a song about it the 80's called, "Allentown­."

[charger2]

You are correct ,what about Akron Ohio, WHEN ALL THE TIRE COMPANIES LEFT AND WENT DOWN SOUTH FOR TAX CUTS,FREE RAILROAD SPURS, LOW WAGES LAND GIVEN BY THE STATES TO BUILD FACTORIES , that was the the Death of the tire industry ,growing up I saw parking lots for employees larger than 5 city blocks,Hit college all was gone, a ghost town

[SammyD]

What is really sad are the leaders who have sat on their fat govenment paid butts in Ohio. The leadership in the past 3 decades has done nothing except to ask for more welfare. They have what they wanted.

[patrickmcdougal]

Why does this come as a surprise to everyone. Did everyone think that Flint (the city that gave birth to GM and then GM birthed the city) was a fluke? Nobody even want's to talk about Flint,, oh poor poor Cleveland, give me a break. Nobody cares until it actually lands on their doorstep.

[AsISaid]

As with Flint, Cleveland and other cities in Ohio have been devasted for years. No argument there in the least. But at least have the courtesy, as I have tried, to acknowledge a number of cities are experiencing the same thing. A worker whose job is gone forever is impacted the same regardless of where that worker lives. Same goes for the city impacted and the small businesses that suffer as a result. It's all the same everywhere. I don't begrudge Flint - don't begrudge Cleveland.

This just didn't happen to Cleveland - this is just another chapter of plant closings in that area.

[victorsays]

Wall Street really did it this time. I can remember $100 billion dollar bonus on Wall Street. The whole system is a scam.

[burt2009]

After Bush and Obama poured billions into the auto industry because it was too big to fail, GM no claims bankruptcy and Obama tells those going to be laid off they must make this sacrafice for the good of larger future government.

[americaismyhome]

I bet if it was you or someone in your family making the "sacrifice" you might have a little different perspective.

[wdw505]

No, I'll bet not as all the people in my family less one have higher education. That being said none of my family ever needed to turn bolts.