And Walmart is China's 8th largest trading partner rumoured to have 750
factories in China. Some of these factories are next to prisons. I have no
confirmation of these facts. The U.S. trade deficit is 55 million dollars
per hour or over a billion dollars per day. Walmart has changed the face of
retailing in America and the world. Ironically, the Walmart emblem contains
an American eagle. Something to think about the next time you go shopping.

Farmer John



" wrote in message
...
Factory Closures Devastate U.S. Towns

By Andrea Hopkins

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

When Jerry Wilmouth moved to Galesburg, Illinois, five years ago,
everyone told him to get a job at Maytag Corp.'s MYG.N refrigerator
plant.

Maytag paid the best, they said, and the 50-year-old factory was the
lifeblood of the city.

Now, Wilmouth and 379 others are spending their first week of life
after Maytag -- the first of 1,600 workers to be laid off between now
and the end of 2004, when the plant closes for good and Maytag moves
the work to Mexico.

The 46-year-old father of three said he has little hope of finding
work in Galesburg to match the $15 an hour he made on the assembly
line, and now his 17-year-old daughter is thinking about joining the
army to pay for college.

"Every decent-paying job in the area is going, going or already gone
and I'm faced with taking a job for $6, $7, $8 an hour," said
Wilmouth.

The loss of 2.5 million manufacturing jobs since January 2001 has
devastated factory towns across middle America, where once-dominant
local employers are pulling up stakes and heading to Mexico or Asia in
search of lower costs and cheaper labor.

The exodus of 1,600 Maytag jobs is only the tip of the iceberg in
Galesburg.

Everyone from sheet metal suppliers to local firms providing toilet
paper and light bulbs rely on the plant for business in the town of
about 33,700 about 150 miles southwest of Chicago

According to a study by the Institute for Rural Affairs at Western
Illinois University, the Maytag plant is the dominant industry for
nine surrounding counties.

For every Maytag worker laid off, nearly three other jobs will
disappear as the loss of so many high-paying jobs ripples through the
economy -- taking total jobs losses to 4,166.

"Never in my life have I lived in a place that is sort of going
backwards like this," said Chris Merrett, an associate professor at
the institute.

"Along with agriculture, this kind of manufacturing was the economic
base and those jobs are going elsewhere."

PINK SLIP DREAMS

Since the end of the 2001 U.S. recession, job losses have ballooned in
many sectors despite economic growth.

This "jobless recovery" has drained one in six factory jobs, squeezing
many of the nation's more highly paid workers.

Manufacturing pays an average $45,580 in annual wages -- about 17
percent higher than the average U.S. job, according to the National
Association of Manufacturers.

The layoffs have carved a swath of unemployment through the Midwest,
where cornfields made way for factories after World War II as industry
shifted from big cities to comparatively low-cost rural areas.

In Wichita, Kansas, some 11,000 aerospace workers have lost their jobs
since 2001 as employers outsourced both parts supply and assembly
overseas, sideswiping the local economy.

Carolyn Summers, a 41-year-old mother of two was laid off from her job
at Boeing Co.'s Witchita plant BA.N two years ago, and she mourns the
devastation she has seen.

"I see so many people that I worked with at Boeing, and they're still
unemployed just as I am," said Summers.

She blames free trade and President Bush for allowing U.S. companies
to outsource overseas.

"I wish the government would really see what it is doing to the
American people. We built this country, and I feel that they're
letting it turn into almost a ghost town," she said.

A single mother, Summers most regrets the impact the loss her
$18.67-an-hour job has had on her 21-year-old daughter, who was away
at college studying nursing when the pink slip came.

She now works at Wal-Mart to pay for her part-time studies at
Wichita's local community college.

"That's one dream you're always saying -- 'My child is going to go to
college'," lamented Summers.

"All my American dreams just seem to (have been) written on a pink
slip."

And Walmart is China's 8th largest trading partner rumoured to have 750
factories in China. Some of these factories are next to prisons. I have no
confirmation of these facts. The U.S. trade deficit is 55 million dollars
per hour or over a billion dollars per day. Walmart has changed the face of
retailing in America and the world. Ironically, the Walmart emblem contains
an American eagle. Something to think about the next time you go shopping.

Farmer John



" wrote in message
...
Factory Closures Devastate U.S. Towns

By Andrea Hopkins

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

When Jerry Wilmouth moved to Galesburg, Illinois, five years ago,
everyone told him to get a job at Maytag Corp.'s MYG.N refrigerator
plant.

Maytag paid the best, they said, and the 50-year-old factory was the
lifeblood of the city.

Now, Wilmouth and 379 others are spending their first week of life
after Maytag -- the first of 1,600 workers to be laid off between now
and the end of 2004, when the plant closes for good and Maytag moves
the work to Mexico.

The 46-year-old father of three said he has little hope of finding
work in Galesburg to match the $15 an hour he made on the assembly
line, and now his 17-year-old daughter is thinking about joining the
army to pay for college.

"Every decent-paying job in the area is going, going or already gone
and I'm faced with taking a job for $6, $7, $8 an hour," said
Wilmouth.

The loss of 2.5 million manufacturing jobs since January 2001 has
devastated factory towns across middle America, where once-dominant
local employers are pulling up stakes and heading to Mexico or Asia in
search of lower costs and cheaper labor.

The exodus of 1,600 Maytag jobs is only the tip of the iceberg in
Galesburg.

Everyone from sheet metal suppliers to local firms providing toilet
paper and light bulbs rely on the plant for business in the town of
about 33,700 about 150 miles southwest of Chicago

According to a study by the Institute for Rural Affairs at Western
Illinois University, the Maytag plant is the dominant industry for
nine surrounding counties.

For every Maytag worker laid off, nearly three other jobs will
disappear as the loss of so many high-paying jobs ripples through the
economy -- taking total jobs losses to 4,166.

"Never in my life have I lived in a place that is sort of going
backwards like this," said Chris Merrett, an associate professor at
the institute.

"Along with agriculture, this kind of manufacturing was the economic
base and those jobs are going elsewhere."

PINK SLIP DREAMS

Since the end of the 2001 U.S. recession, job losses have ballooned in
many sectors despite economic growth.

This "jobless recovery" has drained one in six factory jobs, squeezing
many of the nation's more highly paid workers.

Manufacturing pays an average $45,580 in annual wages -- about 17
percent higher than the average U.S. job, according to the National
Association of Manufacturers.

The layoffs have carved a swath of unemployment through the Midwest,
where cornfields made way for factories after World War II as industry
shifted from big cities to comparatively low-cost rural areas.

In Wichita, Kansas, some 11,000 aerospace workers have lost their jobs
since 2001 as employers outsourced both parts supply and assembly
overseas, sideswiping the local economy.

Carolyn Summers, a 41-year-old mother of two was laid off from her job
at Boeing Co.'s Witchita plant BA.N two years ago, and she mourns the
devastation she has seen.

"I see so many people that I worked with at Boeing, and they're still
unemployed just as I am," said Summers.

She blames free trade and President Bush for allowing U.S. companies
to outsource overseas.

"I wish the government would really see what it is doing to the
American people. We built this country, and I feel that they're
letting it turn into almost a ghost town," she said.

A single mother, Summers most regrets the impact the loss her
$18.67-an-hour job has had on her 21-year-old daughter, who was away
at college studying nursing when the pink slip came.

She now works at Wal-Mart to pay for her part-time studies at
Wichita's local community college.

"That's one dream you're always saying -- 'My child is going to go to
college'," lamented Summers.

"All my American dreams just seem to (have been) written on a pink
slip."