Two recent articles in the Detroit Free Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette point out, the steel industry has truly taken a beating in this recession.
According to the Free Press, “The steel industry has been hit hard by the recession and the automotive industry’s turmoil, prompting the United Steelworkers to become leading national advocates for federal support of the automotive industry.”
It continues, “U.S. steel plants are operating at 38% of capacity, and tire plants are operating at about 50% of capacity, said Leo Gerard, president of United Steelworkers.”
The union president told the …

  We all knew it was coming and now it has: GM is bankrupt.
  The quintessential American automaker entered Chapter 11 this morning. It is $172 billion in debt, according to The New York Times.

  GM has announced plans to close 12 factories in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Delaware and Tennessee.
  The government’s going to give GM another $30 billion to get it through what President Obama hopes will be a quick restructuring.
  Mercifully, at least GM has promised to keep its headquarters in Detroit, The Times reports.
  Chrysler, meanwhile, is expected to emerge from …

   The city of Warren, Michigan is making a bid for bankruptcy-bound General Motors, The Free Press is reporting.

   The Detroit suburb is home to GM’s Tech Center.
   Multiple news organizations are reporting the embattled auto giant is considering leaving the Motor City.
   GM purchased its glass-towered headquarters building, Detroit’s Renaissance Center, for $625 million last year.
   Meanwhile in Youngstown today, workers at the Lordstown Plant were awaiting the results of negotiations over concessions. Retirees told The Vindicator, the deal could have been worse, but there’s no guarantee the contract will survive bankruptcy.
   …

The Federal Government will steer $50 million in assistance to communities with auto plants that have experienced significant layoffs, The Associated Press reports.
The money will come from federal stimulus funds and be used for job training and placement.

The New York Times asked a number of economists to respond to the question, “do we need a domestic auto industry? Many American manufacturing industries, like textiles and electronics, long ago moved to other producing countries. Why is the auto industry different?”

I know this is a few weeks old, but it took me awhile to get through it all.

Chrysler will soon be closing almost 800 of its dealerships.
Those on the chopping block represent almost 25 percent of the company’s dealers, the Detroit Free Press reports. “Some of the 789 dealerships slated to close have survived world wars, recessions and Chrysler’s 1981 federal loan guarantee. Many are family owned.”

This is an interesting article from The New York Times about Vauban, Germany- an experimental suburb with few cars.
It is home to 5,500 residents, according to the Times, all living within a rectangular square mile. The community “may be the most advanced experiment in low-car suburban life,” according to the story.

An economic slump.
Detroit and the auto industry in crisis.
The country taking a hard look at its dependence on foreign oil.
No, I’m not talking about the current crisis we’re engulfed in. Author David Halberstam described this very situation in his 1986 work The Reckoning.

A sad story about Toledo in Sunday’s Washington Post.
The article describes how the downturn in the economy is hitting white-collar workers- hard. (I should know, I’m one of them!)
“In this corner of Ohio, the workforce is contracting at an alarming speed, with unemployment climbing to rates more typical of counties in Appalachia,” the article states. “In March, unemployment in Toledo reached 12.6 percent, an increase of more than 50 percent over March 2008.”

Today’s New York Times has a story on how the auto-industry downturn and layoffs have even impacted some of Detroit’s wealthiest suburbs.