We resurrected and renamed Sam Halser's Trifles blog for presenting the 3,000+ pages he wrote before going off to prison. We also have letters from Hasler. Hasler wants to profusely apologize to friends, family and acquaintances for their embarrassment. More details in the future. We will publish all this and more weekly. Stay tuned. Subscribe to our e-mail updates. Bookmark us. Add your comments.
Indiana Manufacturing Jobs Drop Nearly 8 Percent According to Industrial Directory: "The Directory reports Indiana suffered a 1% loss in manufacturing employment between 2005 and 2006, a loss of 2.4% between 2006 and 2007, and a 2.2% decline over the 2007-2008 survey period.
Manufacturers' News reports Indiana is now home to 10,748 manufacturers employing 610,491 workers.
'As with the entire nation, the recession continues to chip away at Indiana's core sectors. The auto industry has taken the greatest hit, while the faltering housing market has affected industries such as wood, furniture and building products,' says Tom Dubin, President of the Evanston, IL-based publishing company, which has been surveying industry since 1912.
MNI reports a quarter of the state's losses were felt in the auto industry, which tallied a loss of 12,814 jobs or 14.4% over the year following layoffs and closings at RV manufacturers and suppliers such as Monaco Coach Corp, Starcraft RV, Travel Supreme and Newmar Corp., as well as continuing cuts at the Big Three and their suppliers. The auto industry currently accounts for 73,364 jobs, while the transportation equipment sector as a whole employs 90,660. One bright spot in the auto sector was the opening of a new Honda plant in Greensburg that will be producing fuel-efficient vehicles."
Latest new courtesy of The Indianapolis Business Journal - Hubler of Shelbyville on GM closure list: "Hubler Chevrolet Center Inc. of Shelbyville and several other General Motors dealerships in Indiana are on the chopping block after receiving notice Friday that their dealership agreements would not be renewed when they expire late next year.
But most dealers are keeping quiet about the notifications as they hold out hope they can persuade GM that they deserve to stay open.
Nationally, about 1,100 GM dealers have received notice. But unlike Chrysler LLC, which released a list Thursday of almost 800 dealers it plans to terminate, GM is keeping its list secret.
Joe Munson, vice president of Hubler Chevrolet told The Shelbyville News that he was surprised to receive the closing letter, particularly because of the strong sales his dealership has logged since opening in Shelbyville in 1988." comes from workforce.com:
"Employing the efficiency of an automotive assembly line, General Motors has laid off close to 3,400 salaried workers in recent months, moving individual employees from their desks and out the door in a half-hour’s time.
The GM layoffs are part of a last-ditch effort to “right-size” its workforce in order to avoid the kind of bankruptcy filed by Chrysler on Thursday, April 30. Yet it looks like the latest round of layoffs is just that—the latest round, giving employees who remain at GM little relief. May 1 marked a soft deadline for accomplishing the first round of layoffs. It also marked the beginning of a pay cut—3 to 10 percent, depending on a person’s rank—for many of the remaining 26,250 salaried workers in the U.S. Now the company is looking to its next major deadline of June 1, when, according to a regulatory filing last week, GM said it would run out of cash unless it receives more financing and debt relief. In the filing, GM said it expected additional manpower reductions among its salaried workforce. The company also said it would trim its hourly workforce by 7,000 more than it had outlined in its first restructuring plan submitted February 17.
Then there was Experts say GM bankruptcy almost inevitable from The Muncie Star Press To remake itself outside of court, GM must persuade bondholders to swap $27 billion in debt for 10 percent of its risky stock. On top of that, the automaker must work out deals with its union, announce factory closures, cut or sell brands and force hundreds of dealers out of business -- all in three weeks. "I just don't see how it's possible, given all of the pieces," said Stephen J. Lubben, a professor at Seton Hall University School of Law who specializes in bankruptcy.
Meanwhile. Anderson's GM retirees shiver but not with anticipation.
The Future of the American Dream from The Nation
"Here is the grand vision I suggest Americans can pursue: the right of all citizens to larger lives. Not to get richer than the next guy or necessarily to accumulate more and more stuff but the right to live life more fully and engage more expansively the elemental possibilities of human existence. That is the essence of what so many now seem to yearn for in their lives. People--even successful and affluent people--are frustrated because the intangible dimensions of life have been held back or displaced in large and small ways, pushed aside by the economic system's relentless demands to maximize yields of profit and wealth. Our common moral verities have been trashed in the name of greater returns. The softer aspects of mortal experience are diminished because life itself is not tabulated in the economic system's accounting."
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