GM In Full Retreat

5 plants and 30,000 jobs gone, but don't worry, Wal-Mart has openings for both greeters and stockboys.

GM said the plants that will close are in Oklahoma City, Lansing, Mich., Spring Hill, Tenn., Doraville, Ga., and Ontario, Canada. Wagoner said GM also will close three service and parts operations facilities.

"The decisions we are announcing today were very difficult to reach because of their impact on our employees and the communities where we live and work," Wagoner told employees. "But these actions are necessary for GM to get its costs in line with our major global competitors. In short, they are an essential part of our plan to return our North American operations to profitability as soon as possible."

I note that the Saturn Plant, the plan to change the way US companies do business, appears to be slated for shutdown.

Major companies seem to love to create new companies within their larger company, only to close them later. You see this all the times with the airlines (Delta's Song as an example) and here is what may be a case with heavy industry.

This also leads one to ask; When we no longer have a workforce who can afford to purchase GM Cars (or Fly on Delta, or get medical care), what will become of GM (and the rest of the US economic base) .