In a small town, workers question the future after factory shutdowns

Access North Georgia ^ | August 9 , 2003 | The Associated Press

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

I can't believe the utter lack of vision these people have. They refuse to see the future beyond their next earnings statement.

I agree. Some people are like this.

Now, you will have to figure out what the rich will be willing to pay you to do for them. It's sad!!

Please describe a time in our history when this was not the case. You're dreaming if you think that now the "rich" are controlling everything. There has never been a better time for the common man to choose his own destiny.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

I like the selective quotations you use to make a point. Very sophmoric form of making an argument. I guess if you are holding up a select quote from Marx, you believe everything else he said with respect to communism?

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

People believed the same thing you said in the 1700's, 1800's and 1900's.

[Consort]

[independentmind]

I was simply asking a question. And, having recently moved to the South myself, I can personally testify that "anti-Catholic back-woods hicks" most certainly still exist. It's been somewhat of an eye-opener for me.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

I'll be specific.

If you are an American corporation and you ship all your jobs overseas, your entire corporation goes with it. Your executives live in the third-world squalor they exploit.

No country can import goods to the United States unless it allows FULL and COMPLETE access to ALL markets in that country. That's FREE TRADE and it does not now exist anywhere except the U.S. of A. which is now an abbreviation for "United Suckers of America."

All of you "pure" capitalists can demand pure capitalism from the third-world sewers now taking advantage of the United States in horribly lop-sided arrangements allowed by the traitorous elected politicians and corporations without loyalty or ethics. Those corporations claim to be American but would sell their own American mothers into prostitution to boost earnings-per-share.

[delapaz]

I'm not disagreeing with your point, but as a side issue, the USA does not engage in free trade, not while we protect sugar prices, steel prices, and many others. I'm just saying that if we start doing what you suggest we'll soon be asked to do the same. Which is probably politically impossible.

[delapaz]

All I can say is optimism is a very lagging indicator of a recovery. Articles like this are an indicator that we are at or near the bottom of the current economic cycle.

We've been through this before in the early 90's

[arete]

Articles like this are an indicator that we are at or near the bottom of the current economic cycle.

Oh, and were is the pent-up demand going to come from? You think that there is going to be a boom in autos and housing yet to come? What is going to drive growth? No, those jobs are gone and they aren't coming back.

Richard W.

[delapaz]

I grew up in Michigan. I know what its like to see a certain area of the country and a certain industry to get wiped out completely. And yet the country as a whole only gets economically stronger. I'm suggesting that this is what is happening. For America as a whole I believe there is much cause for optimism. I dont mean to minimize the pain of those going through hard times, again, I've seen it up close.

Oh also, We still build cars here. As those who live near Marysville, Ohio, or Smyrna, Tennessee can attest.

[harpseal]

ping

on or off let me know

[Susannah]

When our unemployment is low, I can understand why we allow jobs to go to other countries. Now, how do we undo all these agreements. NAFTA - 1993?

I wonder if the new tax package that adds income taxes to Americans working abroad is intended to punish those who take their companies out of the country.

excerpts from another article>>
"a 1999 law sponsored by the Senate opened purchases to foreign competition."

" chief congressional proponent[Duncan Hunter, California Republican] of expanding the "Buy America" law said the Pentagon's fears that it would require a program overhaul are unfounded."

[A. Pole]

it's super easy to blame it all on chicom/wto/globalists/elvis, but in the 21st century unskilled labourers without HS diplomas should stop thinking anyone owes them a job

Are you saying that if they invest years of studying and tens of thousands dollars in getting the engineering degree they will have a job?

[A. Pole]

I hired a guy to repair a leaking roof. It still leaks. I asked him to return; he "fixed it" again, and it leaks worse than the first time I called him.

Maybe this guy's real job got outsourced to India? :)

[Copernicus]

People believed the same thing you said in the 1700's, 1800's and 1900's.

Exactly! The term "Ghost Town" was invented in the American West to describe the abandoned former thriving communities that shut down when the mining operation that supported them stopped.

When did FreeRepublic become "SovietSocialist" Republic?

Best regards,

[CanadianFella]

Are you saying that if they invest years of studying and tens of thousands dollars in getting the engineering degree they will have a job?

You don't see many unemployed doctors and lawyers bumming around, do you? those people should've at least finished HS before starting bitching about lack of jobs.

[verity]

Lewis Burkett knows the answer: Life is a bitch, then you die!

[Glenn]

those people should've at least finished HS before starting bitching about lack of jobs.

You know nothing of South Georgia, it's obvious. You know less about the sorts of factories they put there. Do you suppose the Queen's seamstresses were high school grads? The cotton workers? The people in tin shops?

You do not need a high school education to work in a factory. Early in this century, a lot of men went on to become highly trained millworkers as soon as they stepped off the boat from Italy, Ireland, Whales, et al. Stop being such a snob.

[YankeeReb]

Eva Perone are you listening?

You better believe she is, she's going around the country, hawking her book of lies and trying to tap into all of the frustration out there. She'll succeed when enough engineers and tech types who are now working at Wal-Mart get desperate enough to believe in her brand of socialism.

[syriacus]

Theres a problem, though. Both of the earlier buildings, and several others around town, are sitting idle.

Intermetro closed in January 2002, laying off the last 112 people from a payroll that had once been near 200.

Interesting.

Intermetro (in Douglas, Ga) is in this list of Superfund sites.

I wonder what that is about? Was the health of folks in the area endangered?

Anybody know?

Georgia Superfund Sites -

DOUGLAS [GA]
INTERMETRO INDUSTRIES CORP
1500 POPE DRIVE