Obama to visit job-starved Elkhart, Indiana
ELKHART, Ind. -- Derald Bontrager's mom and dad started the RV company he now runs with his brother in 1968. For nearly four decades, the family could hardly make pop-up campers, travel trailers and motor homes fast enough for their eager customers. Today, the once-thriving company is in a free fall.
In the past eight months, as gas prices soared and credit dried up, "the market just went away," Bontrager says. He and his brother have had to lay off half their workforce, more than 1,000 employees, including 250 last week. And he knows the men and women he sees in church and at the store won't be able to find other work.
"Wilbur (his brother) and I personally know many of these people," Bontrager says. "That's what stings the most, having to take away their livelihood."
Layoffs are happening across the USA — but nowhere as fast as in this once-thriving area that used to be known as the "RV Capital of the World." One year ago, unemployment in Elkhart County was at 4.7%. Today, it's the highest in the nation at 15.3%, fueled largely by the rapid decline in the recreational vehicle business.
On Monday, President Obama will travel to this depressed northern Indiana city to highlight what's at stake as his $800-billion-plus economic stimulus bill is debated in Congress.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says Obama wants to go where the nation's economic problems are "acute" as part of his "his effort to convince Congress to move swiftly."
This area did not vote for Obama in November, but The Elkhart Truth newspaper is on board with that message now. "President Obama needs to help Congress understand that the stimulus package isn't about politics. It's about survival," the newspaper said in a Sunday editorial.
Monday's visit will be Obama's third trip to Elkhart — he stopped by twice during the presidential campaign — but his first trip outside Washington as president to meet face-to-face with average citizens.
Free tickets to the Concord High School town-hall-style meeting were handed out first-come-first-served starting at noon Saturday. People were lined up before 7 a.m. and the tickets were gone by early afternoon.
Related Stories
ABC News Live