Finding Lost Jobs

There are many areas of the country  that are struggling with high rates of unemployment, particularly I guess, California and Michigan. Perhaps we can speak of the land of Arnold another day but for today, our focus is the former home of the American automobile industry. Michigan has taken some really big hits economically. In the last 10 years, the state has lost  870,000 jobs;some 632,000 since Gov. Jennifer(Jenny the cheerleader she is called by friend and foe) Granholm took office in 2003. The state is projected to lose another 370,000 by the end of next year. But,all is not grim. She hascreated 163,000 jobs since taking office and lo and behold, with Br’er Biden by her side announced that by 2020, some 40,000 “green” jobs will be created. Even if you are a little like me, the total of those two figures doesn’t add up to much. Remember, that is 40,000 by 2020 and who will even remember that in a few years.

The next little bit, ah, I just don’t know. Electrolux had a plant in  Greenville, about 2-3 hours from Detroit. They announced it would be closing and moving to Mexico. The Governor worked for months to persuade them to stay and they declined. She went to the plant near its  end and shared a box lunch with employees, staying until the last one left. She went home and told her husband,”What could I do to help those people?”. Well she showed she  cared in tried and true Democrat fashion. Even telling this story, she cannot keep from crying. Now, that is all well and good, but I just know about the emotional  part. Does it make those losing their jobs feel better, that maybe she has empathy? Doubtful.

Here in North Carolina, on a smaller scale we too have had an industry disappear, albeit with one lower paying jobs. That industry would be textiles. Efforts continue to replace those jobs with limited success. I fervently hope that oor Governor Bev Perdue does not follow Granholm’s example.

Didn’t Obama consider Granholm for a Cabinet post? Maybe she can be a new czar, of  something. Surely, all the czar positions are not filled.