Analyzing Government Tax Cuts for General Motors
Analyzing Government Tax Cuts for General Motors
Flint, Michigan, the birthplace of General Motors and the United Auto Workers Union (UAW), is facing the devastating affects of the closing of 11 General Motors’ plants which results in approximately 30,000+ jobs lost. The people of Flint made up the largest majority of workers for GM and they enjoyed much prosperity and publicity at the hands of their wealthy employers. General Motors’ chairman, Roger Smith, claims that “this [closing of the plants] is something it has to do to stay competitive in the auto industry”. The plan is for General Motors to close the 11 plants in Flint and to relocate to Mexico where they will build new foreign factories and can pay the workers a lower wage. Michael Moore, the Flint resident/journalist telling us this story, emphasizes that GM will “tell the Union they’re broke and then agree to give back the money from wage cuts, but instead, will use it to build foreign factories, cut more jobs, and take over other companies”. These “other” companies include Hughes Aircraft, on which General Motors spent $5 billion purchasing after the beginning of plant closings in Flint in the late 1970’s. With the closing of these plants, Flint residents are seeing the majority of better paying jobs being replaced with low-wage service sector employment that cannot support their lifestyles.
2] I do not agree with the way General Motors handled the closing of their plants in Flint with respect to the workers laid off and the affects on the community of Flint. General Motors had to recognize the fact that the cutting of 30,000 jobs of loyal Flint workers who relied on their job for security would be devastating. In the community of Flint, where the population was a bit more than 100,000 people, they were cutting 1/3 of the population off from a job where the other 2/3 included the elderly and children that needed to be supported and who could not work. One man alone had been laid off 5 times [too many] and landed himself in a mental health center due to the affects of the stress. Many people had no choice but to move or be evicted like many of the others. Houses were left dilapidated and the rat population grew past the human population as Flint cut back garbage collection due to budget restraints. Being the...