Signs of Revival in Heartland

[Tender Branson]

By GARY FIELDS

Eight months after unemployment in Elkhart County, Ind., hit 18.9% and helped make this middle America spot a symbol of the economic meltdown, people are starting to go back to work.

In November the unemployment rate in the county fell to 14.5%, the lowest since November 2008, when it was 13%. A big reason for the turnaround is the rebound in the recreational-vehicle industry, which is responsible for about a quarter of the county's annual economy.



As a result, Elkhart RV makers that were laying off workers last year are now hiring. The Keystone RV division of Thor Industries Inc. is one of them, adding about 500 workers in recent months. "It's a very positive thing for our community," said Ron Fenech, president and chief executive of Keystone.

Keystone laid off 1,000 employees as the recession took hold, cutting the staff from 3,100 to 2,100 before the recent reversal. The turmoil in the marketplace last year created a lot of uncertainty, Mr. Fenech said, but that began easing earlier this year and the buying trend has continued through the summer and fall. "I think things are positive and heading in the right direction, but we certainly are not all the way back," he said.

Nationally, the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association projects that shipments to dealers from manufacturers will increase 27% in 2010, rising to 203,000 units from 159,500. RV sales nose-dived in 2008 as gasoline prices soared and consumer credit contracted.

At one point Elkhart County had 71 manufacturing facilities that produced about 65% of all recreational vehicles made in the U.S.

For years, employment in Elkhart and the surrounding area was stable, rising from 3.3% in 1997 to 4.6% by the end of 2007. In 2008 high gas prices and the downturn accelerated that, and unemployment in the county tripled to 16% in one year. The two hardest-hit industries were construction and manufacturing.

Earlier this year, when unemployment was at its peak, many restaurant and shopping center parking lots were virtually empty.

President Barack Obama visited in February, pointing to the problems in the area to support his argument that Congress should pass a stimulus bill.

Things have improved significantly since then. Jayco Inc., another Elkhart RV company, has hired 250 employees in recent months, bringing staffing levels to 1,450 people. During the downturn it let go 900 employees and cut its daily production from 30 units to 15 on some assembly lines. Those assembly lines are now producing about 23 units per day, said Sid Johnson, the company's director of marketing.

The company now has back orders, Mr. Johnson said, adding there was "a certain amount of optimism, albeit pretty cautious, as to what we think next year will be like."

Dorinda Heiden-Guss, president of the Elkhart County Economic Development Corporation, said a positive aspect of the notoriety from Mr. Obama's visit was business interest. She said she was hoping to get 25 companies to tour the county this year and consider locating there. Through early December 59 had come, looking at buildings, meeting with local officials and, in some cases, exploring financing.

The county has more than $134 million in new projects going on from outside companies that are investing in property, equipment, buildings and other improvements. That equates to about 3,300 new jobs, Ms. Heiden-Guss said.

Electric Motors Co. hired Ed Neufeldt, a laid-off RV plant worker who introduced Mr. Obama during a presidential visit. Now the 62-year-old father of seven is helping the company, which partnered with Gulf Stream Coach, to build a prototype truck modeled on the Ford F-150 pickup truck but with an electric engine.

Mr. Neufeldt made cabinets for Monaco coach for 32 years before he was laid off in September 2008, along with 1,400 other workers. He was volunteering with several out-of-work RV plant employees at a local shelter when he was asked to introduce Mr. Obama during one of his visits to the community. He got a part-time job delivering bread afterward and is now working both jobs. "I'm still not making what I made on unemployment, but I am blessed," he said.

Phil Penn, president of the Greater Elkhart County Chamber of Commerce, said stimulus money -- through October Indiana received $848 million, according to the federal government -- has to be credited with helping keep some people in the area employed and accelerating work on some local infrastructure projects.

"But that's not what our economy is built on. We certainly welcomed the stimulus dollars to our community, but as far as direct job creation, quite frankly, that will come from the private sector."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126153063865002275.html

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Meanwhile, California is a sinking ship.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Meanwhile, California is a sinking ship.

I could turn the state around in a year and half if given a free hand, which of course will never happen and thus CA is doomed.

[Sbane]

Meanwhile, California is a sinking ship.

I could turn the state around in a year and half if given a free hand, which of course will never happen and thus CA is doomed.

What would you do?

[Sbane]

And here is more evidence that the midwest is recovering.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chicago-pmi-hits-three-year-high-2009-12-30

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Meanwhile, California is a sinking ship.

I could turn the state around in a year and half if given a free hand, which of course will never happen and thus CA is doomed.

What would you do?

For one, reform the intiative election system, lift the cap on Property taxes, enact a oil extraction tax, allow for drilling of both OCS oil and natural gas, and lobby the gov't, instead of for a bailout, for a revenue sharing plan so that the state will get some of the royalities collected from the drilling.

How is that for starters.

[Sbane]

Meanwhile, California is a sinking ship.

I could turn the state around in a year and half if given a free hand, which of course will never happen and thus CA is doomed.

What would you do?

For one, reform the intiative election system, lift the cap on Property taxes, enact a oil extraction tax, allow for drilling of both OCS oil and natural gas, and lobby the gov't, instead of for a bailout, for a revenue sharing plan so that the state will get some of the royalities collected from the drilling.

How is that for starters.

Me likey. Not that it's ever going to happen haha. My only concerns would be about drilling for oil near the very small habitat of the sea otter, but a mixture of regulations and newer technology should mitigate those risks.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Meanwhile, California is a sinking ship.

I could turn the state around in a year and half if given a free hand, which of course will never happen and thus CA is doomed.

What would you do?

For one, reform the intiative election system, lift the cap on Property taxes, enact a oil extraction tax, allow for drilling of both OCS oil and natural gas, and lobby the gov't, instead of for a bailout, for a revenue sharing plan so that the state will get some of the royalities collected from the drilling.

How is that for starters.

Me likey. Not that it's ever going to happen haha. My only concerns would be about drilling for oil near the very small habitat of the sea otter, but a mixture of regulations and newer technology should mitigate those risks.

OCS drilling is safe, has been for years. Most of the horror stories are just made up or exaggeration by either environmentalists or their un-holy allies in the Florida and California Tourist industry. Its safe to get it from an oil well 50 miles off shore then it is to haul it around the world by oil tanker. Exxon Valdez, anyone?

[Beet]

As a liberal, I hate to say this, but generous benefits to the illegals are really f**king California over. You need to cut, cut, cut.

[Sbane]

As a liberal, I hate to say this, but generous benefits to the illegals are really f**king California over. You need to cut, cut, cut.

How do you cut benefits to illegals without cutting it to other residents as well? Not to mention they do pay taxes (sales taxes) and so are as entitled to those services as poor legal immigrants and citizens.

I of course think California needs to cut its social safety net to compete with other states. The social safety net should be at the federal level (or it should be mandated by the feds), not at the state level.

[Sbane]

Meanwhile, California is a sinking ship.

I could turn the state around in a year and half if given a free hand, which of course will never happen and thus CA is doomed.

What would you do?

For one, reform the intiative election system, lift the cap on Property taxes, enact a oil extraction tax, allow for drilling of both OCS oil and natural gas, and lobby the gov't, instead of for a bailout, for a revenue sharing plan so that the state will get some of the royalities collected from the drilling.

How is that for starters.

Me likey. Not that it's ever going to happen haha. My only concerns would be about drilling for oil near the very small habitat of the sea otter, but a mixture of regulations and newer technology should mitigate those risks.

OCS drilling is safe, has been for years. Most of the horror stories are just made up or exaggeration by either environmentalists or their un-holy allies in the Florida and California Tourist industry. Its safe to get it from an oil well 50 miles off shore then it is to haul it around the world by oil tanker. Exxon Valdez, anyone?

Yes transporting oil is much, much more dangerous than drilling for it. But see the thing is that the problem is limited to a stretch of land along the central coast of California. I don't care about birds being affected by spills since a bird species cannot get wiped out by a spill in one location. Species that live in the sea won't get affected either for obvious reasons. Sea otters on the other hand lose all ability to keep themselves warm when their fur touches oil. And they only live along maybe 100 miles of the coast and unfortunately that is where the untouched oil is. Socal has been thoroughly drilled dry and afaik there is none in norcal. Ships aren't even allowed to get near the central coast for this particular reason. So if we did build oil rigs in that location, there would always be the threat of an oil spill destroying the population of sea otters. But there is a price for everything and if oil is consistently above $100 a barrel and the state gets a piece of the action, it might be worth it.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Meanwhile, California is a sinking ship.

I could turn the state around in a year and half if given a free hand, which of course will never happen and thus CA is doomed.

What would you do?

For one, reform the intiative election system, lift the cap on Property taxes, enact a oil extraction tax, allow for drilling of both OCS oil and natural gas, and lobby the gov't, instead of for a bailout, for a revenue sharing plan so that the state will get some of the royalities collected from the drilling.

How is that for starters.

Me likey. Not that it's ever going to happen haha. My only concerns would be about drilling for oil near the very small habitat of the sea otter, but a mixture of regulations and newer technology should mitigate those risks.

OCS drilling is safe, has been for years. Most of the horror stories are just made up or exaggeration by either environmentalists or their un-holy allies in the Florida and California Tourist industry. Its safe to get it from an oil well 50 miles off shore then it is to haul it around the world by oil tanker. Exxon Valdez, anyone?

Yes transporting oil is much, much more dangerous than drilling for it. But see the thing is that the problem is limited to a stretch of land along the central coast of California. I don't care about birds being affected by spills since a bird species cannot get wiped out by a spill in one location. Species that live in the sea won't get affected either for obvious reasons. Sea otters on the other hand lose all ability to keep themselves warm when their fur touches oil. And they only live along maybe 100 miles of the coast and unfortunately that is where the untouched oil is. Socal has been thoroughly drilled dry and afaik there is none in norcal. Ships aren't even allowed to get near the central coast for this particular reason. So if we did build oil rigs in that location, there would always be the threat of an oil spill destroying the population of sea otters. But there is a price for everything and if oil is consistently above $100 a barrel and the state gets a piece of the action, it might be worth it.

AFAIK there has been no drilling in the OCS at all off of California because it was banned by the Feds till 2008 when the ban lapsed. However the Dems may not have been able to sustain a ban with $150 a barrel oil, they were able to prevent the passage of royalty sharing, the main incentive of states to "opt-in" to drilling in the OCS. Then people really want to know why I am a Republican.  

Secondly, there are ways to prevent leaks already and with all this smart technology sh**t that IBM has been advertising I will bet there is a system that would allow you to immediately pin point a leak in a pipe somewhere and then dispatch someone to fix it minimizing the damage.

Thirdly, there is not just oil, there is natural gas. In fact more Natural Gas then there is oil. I don't think it would be as risky and we will probably be needing that more and more as a "bridge fuel".

As a liberal, I hate to say this, but generous benefits to the illegals are really f**king California over. You need to cut, cut, cut.

How do you cut benefits to illegals without cutting it to other residents as well? Not to mention they do pay taxes (sales taxes) and so are as entitled to those services as poor legal immigrants and citizens.

I of course think California needs to cut its social safety net to compete with other states. The social safety net should be at the federal level (or it should be mandated by the feds), not at the state level.

I am glad Beet brought it up, but the illegals have to go.



California will be sunk long before the Plate tectonics do it in. Sunk by special interests. the SEIU who refuses to take cuts in pay and workers, the AARP and other groups who demand more and more of a safety net and continue to use a faulty intiative process to legislate unfunded mandates, sunk by the environmentalists who screemed bloody murder the minute the word oil is mentioned regardless of the details. OCS drilling money in some states would be used for conservation projects, I hear CA needs to do some of that in thr CA Bay or whatever it is called, just like the Mississippi delta and the Cheasepeake Bay. Yet the environmentalist won't even consider more or less accept the trade-off. Sunk by the indentity politics groups like La Raza who's first reaction, even to modest enforcement proposals is to scream "racist" and "Nazis". California needs fewer screaming special interests and more statesmen who will put the health of the state first and the special interests dead last.

[Sbane]

Well I can guarantee you there is a lot of offshore drilling in socal as it is clearly visible from land. But I guess that is not in the OCS? Now that I think about it if the drills are located 15-20 miles offshore it wouldn't even impact the sea otters who tend to stick by land. But I don't know if the oil is out there or if it is closer to shore. And yes since they would be built with the latest technology, it would be much safer for the environment than the older drills.

Also I am a big proponent of natural gas, but is there any off the coast of California?