Janesville take your factory and your skills and put them back to work WITHOUT GM. Get back to work on your own this time.

As an outsider, I see Janesville as one of the first dominoes in a series of dominoes which will begin to tumble throughout the land.

1) In short, we are on the brink of an energy crisis unparalleled in all of human history. The SUV should have never been built in the first place.

2)American debt to the rest of the world, mainly Asia, is going up 1 trillion dollars every 15 months!
The US only produces 20% of what it consumes, that means 80% of what we consume is imported.

Combine the two above factors along with a whole bunch of other crap, and what America is faced with will most likely be much worse than the GREAT DEPRESSION.

So where does this leave the people of Janesville? The whole nation will soon look just like Janesville looks now, only worse.

Firstly, forget GM. Secondly, don't trust politicians, thirdly don't rely on the unions. Big daddy and big brother got you here. They don't have a clue how to get you out. This is YOUR lives and your problem, not theirs. And that factory for all intents and purposes should be yours too. So start manufacturing something on your own; preferably something very green and even exportable? Who knows what's out there? Do the research; what patents are waiting to find a manufacturer which can get made in your factory with your skills and labor? You can't seriously believe your factory is ONLY suited to build a couple types of of gas guzzling SUVs? Tell that to a Chinese or Indian entrepreneur. They would find a way to make it work. You can retool if you put your minds and muscle to it. You have absolutely nothing to lose. Necessity is the mother of invention. You now have an amazing opportunity to own your own factory and employ yourselves at making something positive while keeping the profits locally. Of course it's a dream, but you are already dreaming if you think GM or the government will come save you, so you might as well dream a different way.

Joker - now you are changing your position. First you said, all car production would be finished after the 1st of the year. Now you changed your tune and are saying that all car production is finished (without any timing). The following is a quote from you about Janesville production. (11/11/08)

"Local Boy, wake up please. ALL production of cars is ending at the end of this year. That is a few weeks. I don't need to drop names. I am a name and I am in the "inside". All of my sources have been correct.

What report are you talking about regarding
production continuing until June? Is it the same one that said GM would not be closing.

You really have no idea what you are talking about. I suggest you refrain from making any more silly comments."

Again, I will prove you wrong that production WILL continue after the first of the year, as the Isuzu line at JANESVILLE will be in full swing.

I wish it wasn't so, but, it's true. The janesville plant will be CLOSED. GM has announced that it will be CLOSED and have NOT changed their statement. Some politicians want to make it sound like GM has not made that clear. THEY HAVE. The Isuzu line is only a small line in the tire building and wouldn't keep GM from demo-ing the main plant.

Local boy, you will be shown the truth very soon. Face it, ALL car manufacturing in Janesville is finished! Deal with reality for once. That is my Christmas wish for you.

Again, lets keep in mind "TheJoker" posted that Isuzu will not produce trucks after the first of the year. He had inside sources that "confirmed" it. I will be the first to prove him wrong on Jan. 5th.

As soon as survey crews are seen around the complex, it means demolition is near. GM will sell the contents, like office furniture to someones buddy for pennies on the dollar. When a plant (Delphi West) in Flint was being razed, a safe was found in a dumpster miles away with hundreds of employee medical records and social security numbers, and more very personal information that was then put up on web sites The UAW should demand to be informed or supervise things, as people with an agenda can get access to anything that someone did not destroy. It can and has happened

I think it would have been better to wait a few days to start this type of speculative story. Let the people being let go at GM take a few days before digesting this type of story.

Actually, the other plants are calling because they need equiptment from this plant. From what I heard, they didn't care if Janesville still needed them, they wanted them NOW!

Well, this IS conjecture. Notice all the "is likely", "sometimes", "in most cases" in the story? I'm sure many have mentally written this story for themselves (some with glee, some with sadness.) using previous stories based on fact.
Interesting historical tidbits maybe, but "news"? No.

I'm actually pretty somber at the moment. I marvel at all the machinery and engineering involved in the operations of vehicle manufacturing. For anyone that has never experienced working in or touring various auto manufacturing facilities, trust me, it's an experience. An experience where one will go home and still try to grasp the notion of "how do they do that?!?" I remember the familiar scent of GM from my father coming home every night for my entire childhood through my adulthood. It's one of my most familiar and favorite smells. I don't know if I associate it with my father working there or the complexity of all that is involved but that scent remains ingrained in my memory. I get the same feeling from Chrysler, but this time around, it is me walking out of there smelling like "the plant". It's a sad day for Janesville and the surrounding communities, but I am hopeful that we will be able to pull ourselves up from our bootstraps, pick up, and prosper as communities and have some hope, however fleeting it may be, that the backbone of our community may someday come back to work with a community that has some of the most pride in GM that you can find anywhere in the world. I don't think that we should be happy that GM is leaving Janesville for the foreseeable future, but we should be happy for 99.9% of all the memories that is has given us. It certainly molded my childhood in the 80's and 90's and created a kid, who is in his late 20's, to appreciate and marvel at all the processes involved in the manufacturing industry as a whole. I am sad they are going, but quite glad to have had a glimpse at the history of GM, to have lived it, felt it, and appreciated it.

Ironic that the only thing being made now at the GM plant is Japanese trucks.

This is a sad day for the Stateline area. I did not grow up in Janesville but have lived here close to 10 years. This is affecting my emotions more than I anticipated. Best wishes to all those directly involved whether current or past GM workers here in Janesville.

Wait, why would GM want to disassemble the plant? I thought Mike Sheridan and others are working on keeping GM here and have them install a new line? Does this mean GM is really leaving?

I beleived that GM was staying! Could someone please answer my questions? I will check back later because first I have to finish writing my letter to Santa Claus and send it to the North Pole. I hope he gets to read it because I know he is getting ready for his big trip on Christmas Eve.