Factory Town Broods Over Economic Slowdown
C O L U M B U S, Ind., Feb. 16 -- In places like Skooter's Family Restaurant, amid the smell of cigarette smoke and bottomless cups of coffee, thoughts of an economic slowdown churn like an empty stomach.
Factory workers belly up to the counter for casual conversation,but in the back of many minds, from this diner to kitchen tables togas pumps and grocery store aisles across the Midwest, there'sconcern. Concern that a job may be gone tomorrow. Concern that thegood times may be winding down.
Just up the road from Skooter's, good-paying factory jobs arebeing cut at Cummins Inc. and ArvinMeritor Inc. The layoffs haven'tput much strain on the community yet, but it's enough to slow homesales, make smokeshop customers buy a handful of cigars instead ofa box, push couples to forgo their Friday night dinners out.
"Everybody's worried," said Dave Skinner, who's worked onengine blocks at Cummins for 40 years. "People that've been on thejob for 30 years are worried."
And with good reason. After years of booming economic times,sales of automobiles and other durable goods are falling, and theparts makers in the so-called Rust Belt region of the Midwest areseeing business drop.
Durable Goods Purchases First to Go
When the economy hits a bump, manufacturing states are the firstto get bounced. When budgets get tight, consumers start to pass up the durable goods that are this region's bread and butter.
"You don't have to buy a new refrigerator, you don't have tobuy a new washing machine, you don't have to buy a new car," saidMorton Marcus, an economist at Indiana University. "You canpostpone these things."
Over the past five months, layoff announcements at manufacturingplants have popped up across Indiana and surrounding states: DanaCorp. cut about 1,000 jobs in Fort Wayne. Similar numbers were lostat Outboard Marine Corp. in Waukegan, Ill., and at differentfactories in Cadillac, Mich. In Ohio, more than 20,000 workers havebeen laid off since Jan. 1, 2000.
Marcus contends that one of the key elements to the currenteconomic slowdown, particularly in the Midwest, is the skyrocketingnatural gas bills people are facing during a bitterly cold winter.
Related Stories
ABC News Live