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It's definitely difficult to "trust" the numbers when it's not what you're seeing around you. This week, in Detroit, two major employers made disturbing announcements.
Rouge Steel, a major steel supplier to the auto companies declared bankruptcy and announced a plan for Severstal, a Russian steel company, to buy them. Who would have ever thought that a Russian company would be buying out a US steel company? Expected job loss - 1000 employees.
Compuware, a HUGE employer in Detroit who just built a big new shiny complex in the downtown area announced pay cuts across the board. The CEO took a cut from 900,000/year to 300,000/year. Employees making less than $60K per year will lose 5% of their pay and employees making more than $60K will lose 10% of their pay. I don't think their mortgages, heat bills, etc are going to go down so they will definitely not be spending as they used to!
Five of my immediate neighbors are laid off and have been laid off long enough that they are no longer getting unemployment.. it's become a running joke that only the women on our street seem to work. They were all auto workers making 6 figures with overtime and definitely aren't finding any jobs that pay even close to that.
Could the GDP be up because Haliburton is making so much money these days????
Dee
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