Ford deals out more pain

[davetclown]

ford hasnt learned yet,

they just anounced that they are cutting 600 million dollars in blue colar labor and sending the labor to canada and other contries.

they anounced thay are closing the plant in wixom, "my town" and sending all the work from there directly to onterio. not a bad deal for them but will kill this state, that and along with the other cuts they are planning for next year.

Chrysler made a simmilar statement just as soon as ford finished his...

I guess we will be driving tyotas and saterns next year.....

I said they havent learned, this is what they fail to learn. when they ship jobs out of the contry to ship product back to sell here they weeken the value of the american dollar. when you weeken the value of the american dollar you raise the prise america has to spend on imported oil.

their claim for having to make these cuts was due to the prise of gas.

so I guess ford and chrylser is planning on going out of bussiness.... at least they dont plan on selling cars in the state of michigan...

any way the f-150 will no longer be made in america.... it will be after next year a forgen made product. not that it already wasnt, true it was assembled here, but that is it,

they also anounced last night that they highered one of the air line industries "Yes Men" for a mear 100 million dollars for just next year alone...

bouy dose this guy work fast, he hasnt even signed the contract yet and he has already saved the company billions of dollars...

sory if I ofended any one, Its just my understanding of economics tells me that the prise of the f-150 is only going to go up and not down no matter where they are assembled....

they did this before in the late 70's then the late 80's and never fully recovered from the one they did in the 70's actualy they have been in a down word sprial ever since they started this and will continue untill they are no longer an american comodity...
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[fish4fish]

Its a very deal, GM chrysler, the american brands are exporting north and south of the border to save a buck, and they are still loosing money.

Where as nissan, toyota, hyundai and honda, the imports, are building more american soil factories every day and they all turn a profit.


It really makes you wonder who has the best interests of the american people in mind, the american car companies, or the imports.
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[gdn443]

Front page news here was Chrysler has opened a plant in China. They'er going to make the Mercedes brand and Mini Vans there. [unsure] Who would have guessed?
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[UpNorthMN]

Ya that sucks, they already screwed with the Ranger plant in Saint Paul, MN last year.
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[davetclown]

hope they can find investores in canada and china, because stock holdlers here are trying to dump thier stocks.

I saw last night for the first time, Foot Ball game of the week, "now sunday night foot ball on abc" was brought to us by Toyota. well the half time show was for sure. they called the the "Toyota Half Time Show"
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[829]

You cannot really blame American companies for sending labor overseas. The Unions are killing the American workplace and until they realize that the outragous demands they make hurt the American workforce the more jobs you are going to see go overseas. Like it or not, you know it is true.
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[gdn443]

I know it's true, just . Unions shut down alot of factorys here in CT in the past 20 years. No one could meet their demands and turn a profit.Some closed there doors and reopened as a non union shop. Global economy has changed alot of how we all do business.
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[davetclown]

I once used to believe that the unions were to blaim a long time ago, believed it for many years, untill I had several bad experiences with non union shops where a man could loose his job because the owners poker buddies sister inlaws boyfriends drinking buddy with no experience could bump you from your job.

If you are waiting for the government to protect your job, forget it you have a better chance of getting hit by lightning.

I dont deny there is a problem with unions, many have become corupt. those who have been there for number of years selling out those who come in to the union.

but the simple fact is, when they shipped my 5 dollar an hour job over seas the price of the parts I was producing remained the same as a union labor who was receiving 27 dollars an including benifits.

now if a ford employe was making more than 50 thousand a year, yes, by all means I would agree, but when you look at demographics that show the cost of living for a family of 4, 50 thousand dosnt look so outragous all of a suddon, especialy when you look at that same family of 4 who is not working in a union family who needs to rely on state and federal assistance to get by day to day. meaning they have no heath insurance to speak of, cost of housing, auto home what health insurance, not to mention the cost of education for your kids, kids here now all have to have uniforms in public schools because kids clothing is litteraly being stollen of off the backs of other kids.

Detroit is now one of the murder capitols of the world, Why? because industry was once again allowed to ship jobs over seas, thanks to the past half dozen presidents....

so do I blame industry wanting to get a fatter bottom line, Yes when they do it irresponcibly.... there are millions of people standing around our cities who would stab their best buddy in the back to make half of what a union employe makes.

by the way, my last industrial job had blue cross blue shield, but when a co worker took his two kids in for anual check ups and required imunization shots for school, he was refered to the county health department for low income families in need of assistance because his blue cross blue shield didnt cover his kids. I made the mistake of talking about meeting a gal and was thinking about starting a family, next thing I new, I was fired.

so do I feel for industry side of the story? I will just say this, I am as loyal to them as they are to me..... that's my moto.....

so lets face it, in todays times, we have cost that were not present 75 years ago, manditory cost. Cost on top of our regular day to day.

auto insurance
health insurance
home insurance
life insurance
Property tax
school tax
income tax
house payment
car payment
food
clothing
fuel for heating
fuel for transportation
today a phone is a nessity not a luxurary

so lets face it, the cost of living in this country has minimum standards, and if some one wants to make and sell products here, they need to make sure these standards or pay the duty, but with the new Traid agreements stating business can now make products over seas and ship them back with out duty fees makes it desirable for industry to manufacture and assemble products out of contry and sell them here as if they were manufactured here.

Talk about your double standards.....

I used to make tank water pump pullies for Chrylser on a lathe, 350 peices per hour. I was paid less than a penny and a half for each one at 5 dollars an hour in filthy oil filled air and rancid cutting oils. "non union" I used to make Alternator pullies for ford desels for a nickle apeice on the lathe at 5 dollars an hour. Yet both ford and chrylser sent my jobs over seas... I wasnt working cheep enough....[crazy]

When I saw what the government payed for those tank pullies, I droped to my seat and become deathly ill, $471.oo per pully. I was being paid less than a penny and a half, O'l Leiakokela or what ever his name was and Ross shure pulled a fast one over me..... I bailed them out of a financial hole only to be fired by them shipping my job over seas...

My job was not union and it was cheep labor in a sweat shop with little or no benifits. so union had nothing to do with it..... Our government is at fault for paveing the way to the sell out of its labor workforce by allowing jobs to be shipped over seas and allowing a flood of labor to flow in to this contry unchecked....

By the way, I applied for one of those jobs that industry was saying no american wanted for less than what they were paying a forgen worker,,,, they wouldnt hire me....[laugh] Ya gotta laugh cause when you think of the implications of what I am saying, it will make you cry...

It is said that a man's perspective on things is in direct relation to his suroundings...

my point is, it is hard for some one who scrapes in 10-12 thousand dollars a year to have sympathy for some one who is getting paid a few hundred million dollars per year from his company and paying top exectives 50 % of what he is making before claiming his proffit or losses for the year.... Those are non union payed imployees....

As I had said I have seen good unions, and I have worked for bad unions that sold out to corporate. I have worked in sweat shops. Being in detroit where we have more labor than we can shake a stick at and enough work to only put a third of that labor to work. who is paying for this? the individual tax payer... becaue our government relinquised the duty fees laws that once paid for our poor, disabled, and layed off employees.

what ford and chrylser has done with these anouncements is cutting thier unemployment costs. by anouncing it now, they will not have to pay the extentions on lay off benifits they would other wise have to pay thier labor because there are no replacement jobs available.

NO Other country allows the non duty free importation of parts and products... why the devil are we? the answer is to fatten the bottom line for corporate....

it is imoral, it turly is, when you think about it. build an economy in one place and when it is advantagous to take an economy over seas or across the borders is called bleeding. or in todays terms, "Fleasing Of America" Then bring back the industry to our side of the border when it is affordable because the economy over seas starts demanding a minimal standard of living. They are not going to want to live in dirt floor huts for ever, not after they have become educated, medicated.

I dont blaim other contries for wanting the economic relief, but it isnt there, it realy isnt, cause if the economy goese here there is nothing to send over there... in the way of merchandize, money, aid for disaster refugies. Our nation has become the welfare state it once was back in 1929.

But Again my veiw is limmited to what I see around me.

I could be wrong, that is if there are auto union employees that are making more than two cars salery per year. If any one knows of a union employee who is making more than 50 thousand a year including benifits let me know....

the jobs being lost in my area are 30-45 thousand dollars per year, and the by out for lower ladder union employes is in some cases less than a years sallery. to which the employee will have to pay taxes on, and not receive the medical benifits he would normaly get if he just took the lay off for the same year of unemployment.

Pretty classy aye []

they are not just hurting us, they are hurting where ever it is they are going to, Detroit is now a ghost town of what it once used to be. One would almost think that the salt mine catacombs under the city are due to colaps at any given minute the way industry is leaving.
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[davetclown]

I did leave out one other major point, our cities have let these corporations leave these building/factories standing in disrepair in hopes of promices that the corps may want to use the buildings again, We have standing buildings that have been standing empty falling apart now for 30 years. we cant build housing or shopping centers because of the toxic leaching from the plant in to the surounding grounds.

that is what these other places have comming with the boom economy these corproations are about to bestow upon them...

If the auto industry had quality product in mind and not fattening the bottom line they would not have had a problem with compitition from forgen auto makers had the kept my 5 dollar an hour job in this country. Our cars would spend more time on the road and not in the repair shop....

believe me when I say, when your truck spends two weeks in the repair shop and that truck is your life line, then loyalty to ford or chrylser is blown out the window with the loss of a pay day. two weeks in a repair shop because you have a cheep forgen made clutch plate insted of one that meet american quality standards is just unreasonable.

I cant tell you how many years ford said "quality is job one" and never delivered. how can quality be job one when every country has its own standards of just what quality is?

some times we have to learn our lessons the hard way, my friend I hope you never have to go though the things I have.

I keep wondering if god has a reason for my having to learn these lessons, I still cant come up with one, other than becoming president of the united states and setting every thing streight again.... I shudder to think my lessons are a cruel joke of life in that I would be allowed to see, understand and not be able to do anything about it.....
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[davetclown]

Well Chrylser anounced they will be cutting back today, not in jobs but productions, no lay offs or or job cuts.

this anouncment stated nbc news is the cause of Chrylser stock prises to rise today.

Ford stock fell another 2% today, a spoksperson wallstreet said I cant remember who nbc was quoting said this drives Ford stock further in to the junk stock bracket. This will make it harder for Ford to get loans and pay higher intrest rates.

Ford said they wanted to stay flexible, well I wonder how they will roll with this punch?[crazy]

an old nurcery ryhme comes to mind when I heard the news release today,

it goes something like this, "if I remember it right - its been 40+ years"

Tarzan the monkey man swinging on a rubber-ban along came superman and knocked him in the garbage can.

I wonder if Maybe, Just Maybe america's stock holders have the same insite as I.

and what of the implications of the childhood poem? does this mean that basing your corporate ideals and fundimentals on solid facts and not monkeying around with fattening of the bottom line, standing firm upon the foundation for wich the company was built the way to keep out of the dumpster? I wonder?[crazy]

the unions helped to develop, build, and uphold that foundation, so to chip at the union isnt that chiping at the foundation itself from which the company stands on...

aperently stock holders seem to think so, could the stock holders be wrong too? its not vary likely.
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[829]

Well, I have read all of your posts and can sympathize on some of it. My job was sent overseas too, but rather than sit down and sulk about it, I started scrubbing toilets in a factory; got a paper route. Going from $40K/year working with computers to that was a very humbling experience. However, during that time I also started my business, which is just over three years old now and still kicking. Life is what you make of it and relying on God to make sense of it is just a waste of time. God put you on this earth to succeed on your own, not to sit around and wait for things to make sense.

Even though your job may not have been a union job that got shipped over seas, the competition that has union employees forced your job overseas, because the company realized that the competition was already paying $22/hour more for labor and selling the parts for less and still making more profit? The company you worked for realized that they could put the other company out of business and make even more money with this strategy. Morally wrong? To me hell yes. Good business decision? Debatable, but I think it was ingenious. Company A is going to be around longer than Company B. Maybe because I live in a right-to-work state I have different views on things, but if you were a company CEO and you have a plant were labor costs have exceeded the profit from that plant, what would you do? What labor unions do not realize is that those people work for the company, not the other way around and if you do not want your job, someone else out there does.

I am in no way trying to offend you here but your lack of grammatical preparedness leads me to believe you have not completed any higher education classes, which will limit your opportunities in this country. I was fortunate enough to be able to certify in the positions I have held in the computer industry over the years, but as soon as things went south in field of expertise my certifications were nothing compared to others with the same certifications, who had also completed college. I interviewed for a position to which I was more qualified than the person who received the job was, but since he had a degree, even though it had nothing to do with the job we applied for, I was not given the position and came in second. I found this out because two of my friends also worked for this company both of which were supervisors for different departments. My pride got the better of me when two months later they called me back and asked if I still wanted the position and I said NO. I have since started back to school to show my daughter how important school is. Just incase you are wondering, she is also the reason I quit school as she was born two years after I graduated high school and I had to support her and my wife. I bring that up, because people want to have kids or they are not careful and start having kids left and right. My wife and I made a conscious effort at that time not to have any more kids until we were financially better off. My daughter is now 7 and we are now at the point to where we are working on a second child. It is not anyone's fault, other than your own, that you have four kids. I know you probably love your kids to death and I do my daughter, but you have to remember you put yourself in the position of having to support a family on a $5.00 an hour job, not anyone else.


Health insurance is overrated. I have always had to pay for insurance. I am not sure why we Americans feel as though it should be given to us?

I do agree that cuts should be made at the top in the higher paying jobs, before those cuts trickle down. There have been times in my company when I could not afford to pay myself after paying others. People at the top of these companies do not seem to realize that padding their own pockets puts their company in further fiscal crisis, because I am sure most could not go down to Joe Smith's job and do it. The other side of that is they do not care. They have made their millions and even if they were replaced that day, they will live comfortably from then on with out ever needed another job.


I am not sure what kind of cars you are use to, but for as long as I can remember in my 28 years on this earth foreign cars have been much better products than American cars.

What have you done about the abandoned buildings in your area? Have you called your local representatives? Have you called your city board? Have you called your Governor? Have you tried to rally citizens in your area to take action in this matter? Have you joined other rallies in your area that are trying to take action against the problem? It is easy to sit back and complain, but much harder to take action.



I think we can continue to agree to disagree on this subject all day, but I think we can agree that landing a 20lbs striper makes us forget about the problems of the day and enjoy life if for only those 5 – 15 minutes. Good luck in your quest to find a better paying job.
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[davetclown]

I got a chuckle out of your reply, and so will other members here, You need to go back and this time read the full body of what is written, forget the spelling mistakes, if you are concentrating on that you will miss the message.

in your own reply you have proven you only skimed over it by your coments.

as my latin proffessor once told me, you can lead a man to a river of knolage, And Of all the knolage available to him in the world he will only take from that river to what suits his needs for the moment.

I predicted the downword spiral of the ford motor company 30 years ago when I got a full grasp as to what they were doing.

Chrylser said ford went the wrong way, they played the wait and see method, and sure enuff, ford stock took a nose dive, Chrysler dicided to cut production and keep its employees, and suprize suprize suprize, Chrysler stock went up..

It dosnt take a brain sturgeon here to see that at the fork of the road ford when to the left and stocks fell, and Chrysler whent to the right and stocks rose, there is nothing to explain, it is self explanitory.

as far as being lazy on my part, again any one who knows me will laugh at you openly, because those who know me know I have been working since I was 4 years old. By the time I was 8 years old I was running the farm. that included the buying and selling of stock, both live seed feed and planing and rotating crops and breeding of livestock, and running my own field champion beagles in trials and winning....

as my great great grand mother told me when I was 5, she at the time was 105, yes she was 2 years old when lincon was assanated, I was 3 when kenedy was assinated. as she told me, she said,

son, dont bother tellin me any thing but the truth, cause you can shovel all the horse crap in to the cart you want but one day you will relize that the cart is full of it and it is just making a mess all over the place, and you wont be able to move that cart untill you clean up the mess you have made over time of relentless shoveling. and you cant do that untill you get off the high horse ya rode in on to see you have shoveled so much horse crap in to a system to the point is can no longer bear the load. The cart knows when its been over loaded, but if you continue to live in denial you will never see the mess you have made around you.

we deffinantly see each other on different planes, where as you see me as illederate and have thown it in my face because you make more money than I have. or so you think.

I see you as a young kid who has a lot to learn,

I will say this much, there is two kinds of prestege in the world, one buys you fame, while the other buys you honors, and when you die, all those you have bought will come to your side weeping, that is until the will has been read, then how long will your fame last? Where as when you are honered in life, multitudes will remember your strides in life, your acomplisments, what you stand for and wont tolerate. You will die a poper pennyless, no granet toom to which no one will come to morn becase those who remember you will be selibrating your life from where ever they stand.

If you wish to know more, there is a river on the side of the third mountain from you, follow that river up the mountain untill you can hear the river speak, from there look in to the depths of the water, you will come across a stone, not much bigger than a silver dollar, it has green stipes. it may even sparkle a little, it will look like it dosnt belong there, in fact it dosnt, it belongs to you, pick it up, take it home, polish it if you like it dosnt matter, set it on your desk. you may not get the lesson that this quest has sent you on. If you dont find the stone on the first trip, repeat the pilgrimage it untill you do, I will give you but only one clue, Eyes that know not what it is looking for will find what it is that you can not see....

there is a lesson there, tho' you may not see it till many years after you have found that stone, but you will, You may laugh at me now, I will only , cause I know.

but hey, I am just an old illeterate indian.

as for my gramer, I give you no excuse, you have not earned that privlage.

My grand daddy used to tell me when I was a nee high to a pollywog and I screwed up, "you go home and tell your mother what you did, and if she dont slap the P%% out of you then it is her fault, not yours....

I learnt that lesson real quick like. I was 6. good luck on yours []

Ford needs to drop the empire mentality, they are no longer one of three auto manufactures in this contry.

A rolls royce is a rolls royce and will always be a rolls royce, as my economics thieses stated in its conclusion, when ford looses its prestege what is it, the answer is nothing more than a forgen auto manufacture trying to get it feet in the door of the american auto market......
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[829]

Maybe you should reread my post?

It is hard to get past the mistakes and take you seriously.

I was looking at your posts from from today, not what you said 30 years ago. This [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][size 2]statement[/size][/size][/black][/font][/size][/black][/font], "[font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1]they did this before in the late 70's then the late 80's and never fully recovered from the one they did in the 70's actualy they have been in a down word sprial ever since they started this and will continue untill they are no longer an american comodity..." [size 2] does not divluge that which you would like us to believe.

Life is about living in the moment.

It may not take a brain surgeon to figure out where things went wrong for Ford, but hindsight is 20/20. If you were that astute, you would be making those decisions in real-time, not stating the obvious after the fact.

Please provide me a quote where I called you lazy.

I am not sure what your grandmother has to do this, but if there is one thing about me you should know, is that I always tell the truth. That is, unless my daughter guesses what present she has under the tree.

[/size][/size][/black][/font][/size][/black][/font]I did not throw anything in your face, but rather made a point. I even stated before hand that I was not trying to offend you. If you have finished college or some other post secondary education, what are/were you doing in a dirty factory only making $5.00/hour? I would like to refer you back to your grandmothers' story. I do have a lot to learn, but I think I am ahead of the game. Arrogant yes, but in business you have to be. That does not change the fact that I am one of the most levelheaded people you will know. I spend a great deal of my time trying to help others, regardless of stature, because I grew up poor and I am not much better than that now. However, with hard work anyone can achieve anything they desire. I run my business and treat people dignity that they deserve and which I too am entitled to.

Agreed, though I have never know ford to be a quality first manufacturer.

In the sea of shortsitedness, everyone acts on impulse. It is the degree of sucess your decision made to which you are measured.
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[davetclown]

ya didnt make any points.

I will put this to you in a way a collage graduate can understand.
[ul] [li]ford motor company has a 7 year old doughter.[/li] [li]ford motor company has a neighbor with a 7 year old doughter.[/li] [li]the two 7 year old doughters dont like each other[/li] [li]ford motor company buys a big bag of candy and takes it home and sets it on the table, [/li] [li]his doughter sees the big bag of candy and wants some[/li] [li]ford pulls out one peice of candy and gives it to his doughter[/li] [li]ford takes the remainder of that big bag of candy and in plain site of his doughter gives it to the neighbors daughter.[/li][/ul]
Try this experiment in your home and see how well your family will treat you.

fords 7 year old doughter is its stock holders and labor force.....

history is important, and if in fords place hind site being 20/20, then ford is walking around with a blind seeing eye dog because they keep makeing the same mistakes over and over......
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[gdn443]

Gentleman, I can't believe the level of comment generated by this simple post of more jobs going over seas. Having been a union worker,tradesman,[my choice] A businessman,manager for Home Depot, back to tradesman, I feel I have tasted the full range of the corporate world. I believe Dave T is only looking for us all to make a fair wage for all to live the American dream. In my state health insurance is $14,000 for my current boss to pay for my wife and myself. I do pay every week towards that. That alone ,if I had to pay for it would be a major burden. It would appear that the region we live in and the life lessons we have experienced have molded our opinions on this topic. Impulse decisions? We all do and will make our own decions as we journey threw this life of ours, it's our character that will get us threw the bad ones and hard times. I have found the stone with the green stripes and feel blessed it only took me 45 years to find it. Many search and never find it. I do believe that life is like the ripples in the pond when you throw a stone. What we do today will always affect the future. In retrospect 829, I will be chasing the striper cows in the next 10 days. Hope to get one as big as the one in the picture. I also use spell check as needed. Please don't judge spelling to intelligence.
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[davetclown]

thought I would share this with you, it is from today paper, My local paper.

This is becoming a all too common site as what is reported today, people driving up to the local food banks in thier mercedes and SUV's in need of food handouts because stock dividends are down people are now jobless, Banks forclosing on houses and having to hold on to them because they cant resell.

the dest part now is the realy poor disabled are finding them selves competing for the same government resoces.

Reminds me of the old food stamp and welfare lines that streched for blocks around unemployment offices, churches, state aid offices, social sucurity offices...

yes there were scammers then as there are now, there seems to be no shortage of those who would feed upon the misery of those who are suffering.

I will let you reed the artical (I am pretty sure the spelling is correct)[]

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Although Oakland County is one of the richest counties in the United States, it has pockets of people that are habitually needy and those that have recently lost jobs and are now in need of assistance, according to Sharon Josephson, executive director of the Open Door Outreach Center in Waterford Township.

In the last year, the organization Josephson runs has experienced a 35-percent increase in the amount of food distributed to the needy families and residents of the lakes area communities it serves.

Lorrie McVey, director of Hospitality House in Walled Lake, said her organization has also experienced growth in the number of local families in need of assistance.

In May, the organization distributed food to 597 people. By last month, that number had increased to 985 people. The amount of food distributed has also increased, from 9,662 pounds in May to 14,555 pounds in August.

"That's huge, just for this quarter," McVey said, adding that this year the organization has given out nearly 91,000 pounds of food.

"The economy, is what I'm thinking," McVey said when asked if she could attribute the increases to any one factor. "Last year, I saw some trends that I thought might be applicable, but I can't say that I've seen them consistently other than, straight across the board, a difficult economy."

Information from the Michigan Department of Human Services, which administers state and federal assistance to Michigan citizens who qualify, also indicates double-digit spikes in state assistance granted to Oakland County residents.

Five assistance programs the department administers are the Family Independence Program (FIP); State Disability Assistance; State Emergency Relief; energy assistance, which includes State Emergency Relief and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance programs; and the Food Assistance program.

The FIP is intended to provide monetary assistance to families with children, and pregnant women, to help them pay for living expenses such as rent, utilities, heating, clothing, food and personal care items.

In order to qualify for the program, the children in the household must be under 18-years-old. Households with children who are 18-years-old or 19-years-old may also qualify, assuming the teenager is attending high school on a full-time basis and is expected to graduate before reaching the age of 20.

Additionally, a person without a child in the home — such as a pregnant woman, or parents whose child is in foster care and expected to return home within one year — can be eligible.

The State Disability Assistance program provides monetary help to disabled adults for purposes similar to the FIP, which include living expenses such as rent, heat, and other necessities.

Various criteria exist to qualify for aid through the State Disability Assistance program. This includes the receipt of other disability-related benefits such as Medicaid based on disability or blindness; residency in a special care facility; or certification from Department of Human Services medical consultants as being unable to work for at least 90 days because of mental or physical disabilities.

The State Emergency Relief program provides "immediate" help to persons and families who are facing conditions of "extreme hardship" or for emergencies that threaten health and safety, according to the Department of Human Services web site.

State Emergency Relief funds and assistance are intended to provide help in paying for heat and utility bills, home repairs, relocation, home ownership services, and burials.

Those with ongoing financial problems are not eligible for State Emergency Relief funds, which are instead intended for those low-income households which are typically able to meet their needs but may sometimes need assistance when unexpected emergency situations come about.

Eligibility for the State Emergency Relief program is in part contingent upon non-cash assets. State Emergency Relief recipient groups with only one member have a $1,750 non-cash asset limit, whereas groups of two or more have a limit of $3,000. Non-cash assets don't include homestead property, one vehicle, or personal and household goods.

Eligibility for the State Emergency Relief program is also based upon the demonstration of immediate need, such as a service shut-off notice; a verified need for energy-related home repair; and income.

Assistance for purchasing food is provided by the state through the Food Assistance program, which increases a person or family's ability to purchase food through monetary assistance.

The Food Assistance program is funded entirely by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and administrative costs are shared by the state and federal governments. The state Department of Human Services determines eligibility, which is based upon the financial situation of all members of a household.

The food purchased must be bought at any Food and Nutrition Service authorized retail food store or approved meal provider.

Over 61,000 Oakland County residents received assistance from the Department of Human Services under those programs this past July, totaling over $7.4 million in financial aide for that month alone — an average of nearly $122 per person.

Department of Human Services staff state total unduplicated recipients in Oakland County could have received assistance from more than one of the five programs examined in this report, but still be counted as one recipient.

Maureen Sorbet, a spokeswoman for the department, said the Department of Human Services maintains a presence in every Michigan county although the programs are operated by the state. Federal funding, as well as state dollars, are used to fund the programs which assist residents throughout Michigan.

"There has been some increase in the Food Assistance program, definitely. Medicaid is up. The FIP program is up slightly. The State Disability Assistance program, I think, has been creeping up, as well, but there haven't been huge increases."

In the past four years, from July 2006 back to July 2002, there has been a 57-percent increase in unduplicated recipients of state assistance in Oakland County.

In July 2002, there were 38,822 unduplicated recipients, receiving a total of about $3.94 million in total assistance — about $101 per recipient.

Between July 2002 and July 2003, the total unduplicated recipients of the five programs increased by 6,295 in Oakland County, equating to a 16.2 percent increase. The July 2002 figure increased to 45,117 (16.2 percent) in July 2003, when there was $4.89 million in assistance provided to Oakland County residents, averaging about $108 per recipient.

Between July 2003 and July 2004, there was a slightly smaller increase in total recipients in Oakland County, and in the amount issued to those people. In July 2004, there were 50,301 county recipients of assistance from the five programs, which is about an 11.5 percent increase from July 2003. There was a total of about $5.42 million in assistance doled out by the state in July 2004, at an average of $107.74 per recipient.

There was a 7.7-percent increase in total unduplicated recipients in Oakland County between 2004, when there were 50,301 recipients, and 2005, when there were 54,199 recipients, according to state data. Total assistance in Oakland County, however, increased by more than 15 percent, from $5.42 million in July 2004 to $6.26 million in July 2005.

An even greater increase between July 2005 and July 2006 was documented. There was a 12.6-percent increase from July 2005, when there were 54,199 unduplicated recipients in Oakland County, to July 2006, when there were 61,046. Also, the total amount provided to Oakland County residents increased by nearly 19 percent, from $6.26 million in July 2005 to nearly $7.44 million in July 2006.

Information from the Department of Human Services web site indicates an upward trend in Oakland County families receiving FIP assistance.

This July, there were 3,509 families that received assistance through the program. In July 2002, there were 2,886. There was a 27-percent increase between July 2002 and July 2006 in total assistance issued through the FIP program to Oakland County families. There was $1.42 million in assistance granted this past July, and about $1.11 million distributed in July 2002.

There were two small decreases in FIP assistance granted to Oakland County families. Between July 2004 and July 2005, there was a 1.2-percent decrease in the number of county families receiving assistance, from 3,316 in 2004 to 3,277 in 2005. However, in that same time frame, there was an increase of 6.7 percent in total assistance granted to Oakland County families, from about $1.33 million to about $1.42 million.

Between July 2005 and July 2006, there was a 0.5-percent decrease in total assistance awarded to Oakland County families through the FIP. On the other hand, there was also a 7.1-percent increase in total number of Oakland County families receiving assistance during July 2006.

Regional charitable organizations are also providing more food to needy Oakland County residents.

"The bottom line is that we served 1 million more pounds of food (in 2005) through the pantries in Oakland County than the year before (2004)," said Gerry Brisson, vice president of development for Gleaners Community Food Bank of Metro Detroit, which provides foodstuffs to local charitable organizations.

He said there are approximately 130 agencies which receive food from Gleaners annually and that there hasn't really been much of an increase or decrease in the number of organizations to which Gleaners provides assistance.

Concrete causes of Gleaners' increased food disbursement are difficult to establish, according to Brisson.

"Does it reflect a greater need, or more efficiency, or other things? That, we can't quite pinpoint yet. We can sure say, without any hesitation, that people got more food, so there must have been more need, or else there wouldn't be more food (distributed). We know that that represents a 35-percent increase over the year before."

Open Door's Josephson expressed concerns about the impact of increased distributions and reliance on the non-profit organization.

"We are going to have a huge increase in clients, and I'm afraid there may come a time when we're not going to be able to help new people, or we are going to have to cut back on what we are giving to our existing clients," she said. "That's heartbreaking if people are hungry."

While Gleaners spent more money last year to keep up with the increase in food distribution, Brisson said the organization is not in dire straits.

"Gleaner's isn't in any kind of a desperate situation," he said.

State fiscal woes have "placed additional burdens on the tax coffers, related to these programs," the Department of Human Services' Sorbet said.

However, only one time has the state had to stop taking applications for any of the programs.

"Last year, we did stop taking applications for the State Emergency Relief program as it relates to energy assistance because we did exceed all of the funding that was available, but we have not done that this year," Sorbet said. "That's the only time I am aware of where we've had to stop taking applications for that particular program."

When asked if the Department of Human Services was on track for keeping within budget this year, Sorbet said, "I believe we are."

At the Hospitality House in Walled Lake, the organization is looking at hiring its first paid staff member.

"We need to have dedicated people for food orders. We've been very, very blessed," McVey said. "We have a very generous donor base in our community: the churches, the schools, the individual families and businesses."

When asked about what she anticipates for the upcoming year, Open Doors' Josephson said: "It's going to get worse. We've seen such an increase this year. We have clients that come to us pretty much every month for food and things. We've seen an increase already of almost 300 new clients this year. That's not individuals, that's families."

About 4.8 percent of all Oakland County families had income levels which were below the federal poverty level in 2005, which varies depending on the size of the family and whether they are living in the continental United States, or Alaska and Hawaii. As of Jan. 24, a family of four living in the continental U.S. in 2006 was considered poor if the total income in the household was $20,000 or less, according to the U.S. Department of State.

Unemployment, when examined in one-year increments in Oakland County for the month of July, shows little correlation to statistics about the amount of financial assistance provided to Oakland County families. For example, in July, the unemployment rate was 5.6 percent in Oakland County, which had the 17th lowest percentage in the state.

However, though unemployment actually decreased from July 2005, when it was 6.2 percent, to July 2006, when it was 5.6 percent, there was an increase of 18.8 percent in monetary assistance provided to county residents through state programs. Unduplicated recipients also spiked 12.6 percent in the county for that time frame.

Additionally, though unemployment spiked up to 6.2 percent in July 2005 from 5 percent in July 2004, there was actually a 0.4 percent decrease in the number of state aid recipients. However, the amount doled out to county residents through the programs increased by 0.8 percent, according to state data.
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[davetclown]

Most exiclent reeding, Your wisdom is gaining grounds, you have shown great respect to your fore family well.[cool] Thier spirits are smiling upon you. your next fishing expidition will be blessed for you have Honnord them..

You have earned this excerpt from my life.

I my self have been a laborer, a forman in two different machiening trade shops, I have held the offices of director of special projects, vice president and president of a local comunity development organzation, and a business owner of my own endevors to which I was doing well for twenty years untill my present circumstance struck me from out of the fog.

I will be looking forward to your next photo. If I can get shingles from my back yard to the front yard by wheel barol and in to the cart I have hired I will try to get out an wet a line from shore some where too...[]
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[gdn443]

Sad to see DaveT, looks like what we went threw in 90 & 91, when manufactering jobs went south and over seas. I went from $125,000 a year to $15,000 in 18 months. As a contracter when the jobs went so did my business. Not easy with a $1,000 mortgage. Yes I did get fuel assistance and the local church brought me Thanksgiving dinner even though I didn't ask for it.Ate baggels for dinner as I was a guard for Lenders Bagel Bakerys so my family had enough to eat for a short while. Sorry to see your region is going through this pain. It does kick back, but never soon enough.
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[gdn443]

My grandfather is always next to me during a tournement when I talk to him. He has brought excellent results.
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[UpNorthMN]

Wow you guys just made my eyes hurt. Interesting read though.
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