GM Layoffs Latest Economic News to Hit Michigan
Stephen Henderson speaks with an auto journalist and an MSU economist about the myriad news that will affect our local economy.
General Motors announced devastating news on Monday. They are expected to layoff more than 14,000 workers, and close several plants in the United States and Canada.
That means as the holidays get started, a lot of people will be scrambling for ways to keep their financial lives together. And this couldn’t hit any harder than it will in Detroit.
The Poletown plant in Hamtramck, a stalwart that this city helped create by sacrificing a neighborhood, is one of the plants that will close.
Lordstown, Ohio, where a plant has existed since 1966, will also lose its GM employer.
The auto industry has always been cyclical, of course. We’ve been here before.
But the context of these cuts is a little different. They are the first major reductions since the auto bankruptcies and the industry’s incredible rebound.
And the cuts come as President Donald Trump fuels a bitter trade war with China that all three major American auto companies have said is hurting them. GM alone says it’s lost a billion dollars to increased import taxes.
TheDetroitBureau.com Publisher Paul Eisenstein and MSU Economist Charles Ballard join Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson to talk about the uncertainty faced by so many in our community, and around the nation.
Click on the audio player above to hear the full conversation.
