Few places are more emblematic of the rise of American manufacturing, and its gradual decline, than Moraine, Ohio, a once-bustling industrial suburb of Dayton.
In the weeks between Barack Obama’s election and his inauguration, General Motors closed the last big factory in Moraine, a four-million-square-foot plant that churned out SUVs. The 4,200 men and women who had worked there before the recession, representing nearly 2 percent of the workforce in Moraine and the surrounding communities, lost their jobs and their wages.
The president never sought to reopen the factory, even after the federal government became controlling shareholder in General Motors during the auto bailout. What he has done instead is try to ease some of the pain by sending an ambassador as a salve for the community’s wounds.
Read the full article from the New York Times by clicking on the link below:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/business/economy/06stimulus.html