Blue-Collar Jobs Disappear, Taking Families’ Way of Life Along

[groovedaddy]

(It's an ugly future folks, unless we do something about it!)

JACKSON, Ohio — After 30 years at a factory making truck parts, Jeffrey Evans was earning $14.55 an hour in what he called “one of the better-paying jobs in the area.”

Wearing a Harley-Davidson cap, a bittersweet reminder of crushed dreams, he recently described how astonished and betrayed he felt when the plant was shut down in August after a labor dispute. Despite sporadic construction work, Mr. Evans has seen his income reduced by half.

So he was astonished yet again to find himself, at age 49, selling off his cherished Harley and most of his apartment furniture and moving in with his mother.

Middle-aged men moving in with parents, wives taking two jobs, veteran workers taking overnight shifts at half their former pay, families moving West — these are signs of the turmoil and stresses emerging in the little towns and backwoods mobile homes of southeast Ohio, where dozens of factories and several coal mines have closed over the last decade, and small businesses are giving way to big-box retailers and fast-food outlets.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/us/16ohio.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. These stories will expand... as the bad times move east, west and south

mark my words... this is the beginning of really bad times

[atreides1]

2. To be fair

Isn't some of this misery the result of supporting the Republicans? That's not saying that the Democrats didn't turn their backs also.

[groovedaddy]

3. Absolutely, the repubs should bear the brunt of the blame

but Clinton did sign NAFTA / GATT and many Dems voted for these atrocious "free trade" agreements.
What will it take to turn this stuff around?

[physioex]

4. Ohhh I agree.....

Clinton was a centrist. And as much as I dislike Perot he was right about that "big sucking sound".

[BridgeTheGap]

5. And most of the Congress people voted on this

WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT WAS IN IT!!! Just like the Patriot Act. It's just plain nuts.

[peace13]

6. To be fair you can't blame an individual for the political climate

of the state. I too live in Ohio and have suffered under the Repug rule. I have worked like hell against it but unless I can move my business, sell my office, and home and pack up my 86 year old MIL what is a person to do? Not everyone has the luxury of moving to another state. Insult to injury the state will be cutting jobs to balance the deficit of our past Rthug administration. The debt is for the Dems to settle and the ignorant populace will blame them for the cuts. Go figure.

[hatrack]

7. Wow-wee! The NYT just discovered working-class America!

Amazing, I tell you - amazing! They sure ripped the lid off of THIS story!

Bucking for a PU-litzer.

[BridgeTheGap]

9. No kidding. But I tell you, middle class people in general (and upper class)

don't have a clue what it's like to be in the working class (unless they've been there themselves.)
A great read is "Blue Collar Roots - White Collar Dreams" on the differences between the middle class and working class.
I haven't seen the #s but my suspicion is that non-union working class people vote in far fewer numbers than the middle class.

[Raker13]

8. Same guy who voted for Bush

I would bet dear Jeffrey has a yellow ribbon and a Bush/Cheney bumber sticker on the toyota truck parked next to his red,white, and blue Harley Davidson.

Now he can be the Wal-mart greeter at the same store he probably visited so often.

Sorry for the sarcasm, I've see too many Biker ya-hoo's supporting this corrupt war mongering administration.