Silent, empty plants

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Silent, empty plants

Posted by

Walter Geiger

in Opinions

Thursday, March 11. 2010

Comments (14)

By Millard Grimes
Harris County Journal/Georgia Trend

Now into the third year of what is being called The Great Recession, the United States still has the largest economy in the world and its people are better off on the whole than the people of any other natio

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#1 dannyb on 03/12/10 at 05:26 AM

This article is right on target. I wish he would have developed the argument a little more with the needed infrastructure, posing the question about our bailout of the autoindustry and its longterm affect. Or, why did we use all that money to save some banks (who made bad investment choices). Why did we not use it to build new roadways, railsystems and repair bridges that are a quarter century old? All we did as a nation is enable bad big business to cripple along for another decade and stiffle new big business that is bound to develop as a result of GM and AIG failures. The same is true for the banking industry, the Federal Aid was nothing more than life support. Those companies will not exist in the next 10 years. In fact, I think AIG is being divested already. I hope Uncle Sam got his money back on the sell off. I'm all for capitalism and big business, but not at the expense of the tax payer. And, where was all this aid and intervention when textile workers were displaced? I'll tell you where, in the hands of the unions who lobby congress, that's where. If the unions would have been threatened by textile closures the way UAW was with the auto industry, middle GA would have gotten so much money we would have had I175 running from ATL down thru ZEB and into Thomaston by now. Federal money requires lobbyists, I don't like it, but that's how it works. Think about it, huge bank lobbyists, huge autoindustry lobbyists, and so on.

#2 Sheila Tolley on 03/12/10 at 07:24 AM

The import tax should be raised so much that people refuse to buy imports. Good old Bill Clinton and Good old NAFTA. We are owned by China. They are the sleeping giant. When they wake up one day, yawn, stretch and walk over and and repossess us, I'll be dead. Thank you, Jesus. But my Grandsons may not be. They didn't ask for this sold out United States. We import $900 billion more than we export annually. How sad is that. We send out textile jobs to Mexico and the illegal Mexicans move here. AND GET HIRED...by sorry employers. Martha Mills, Thomaston Mills, Carters, Sherri Lynn, Lanier, Nacom, Gone...Gone. Sad...Sad. The draft for the military...Gone. Presidential integrity...Gone. My son as a child would say, "gone, gone Mama" when his food was eaten, he was so cute. Now Gone...Gone... is Mighty sad in Industrial America.

#3 Anonymous on 03/12/10 at 10:26 AM

Sheila's comment made me think of something-
If all the US jobs are being sent overseas, why are people coming from overseas to work HERE? If the jobs are not here?

#3.1 dannyb on 03/12/10 at 04:52 PM

Its mostly service jobs and agriculture. We import a lot of docs, too, because docs over here get rewarded more for working harder. In most places with socialized medicine, docs live on a fixed sort of salary, over here they're treated more like a small business. Besides, the worst day in America is better than the best day in most places. Don't forget all the redistributed wealth available over here, too. Once you get citizenship, you get your entitlements. Why wouldn't they come? MFG jobs will return because of the world economy, it'll just take time. Chinese citizenry will not continue to make our stuff without being able to obtain said stuff themselves, they're market will develop too, it just takes a few generations. The next China for us will be some nation in South America, at least for MFG. That's what my PhD friends think anyways. Time will tell, I hope we aren't all hailing Beijing before something gives...

#3.2 Sheila Tolley on 03/12/10 at 05:00 PM

Because they are coming from very poor countries and the minimum wage to them makes them think they struck gold. Then you have the illegal ones working for under the table cash and no benefits. You and I pay their benefits. Just as we will across the board when obama is through.

#4 Lamar Towery on 03/12/10 at 10:38 AM

My mother’s side of the family worked in the cotton mills in Thomaston. My mother weaved for 25 years for Thomaston Mills. I worked at the Martha Mill for 3 years and for Thomaston Mills for 9 years. My wife weaved for a couple of years at the Pike plant. It is strange to drive by these places now and see them torn down or in the process thereof. When I was younger, I thought that the mills would always be there. As I got older, I thought of the mills as a place to go back to if a job was hard to find. It seems that I heard one time that there were 2500 people employed by Martha Mill alone. I don’t know if this number is correct or not, but that is a lot of people. Many people did not believe that Thomaston would survive without the cotton mills, but it has.
The cotton mills had its own language that is foreign to most folks today. Words like “water house”, “doffing” and “dope wagon”. No, a dope wagon is not a 1976 Buick with 22s. It was a cart that was driven around to different departments with drinks and food. The old timers told me that this name came from many years ago when Coca-Cola had cocaine as an ingredient. The water house was the name for the rest rooms and doffing was taking full spindles of cotton from the spinning frames and replacing them with empty ones.
Thomaston Mills and the Martha Mill fed and housed many people over the years. It is sad that so many jobs were lost in this town due to so many textiles being made outside of the United States. While it is sad, Thomaston managed to survive. Many small towns were not so lucky.

#4.1 Sheila Tolley on 03/12/10 at 04:56 PM

I remember Mama using those words, Lamar. It brings back memories. People had to work mighty hard "back in the day." Good hearing from you, hello to Rhonda.

#5 Anonymous on 03/12/10 at 03:49 PM

Thank Regean.

#5.1 dannyb on 03/12/10 at 04:36 PM

We thank Reagan for the prosperity and solid values we all enjoyed during his Presidency. We thank wild Bill for the roaring 90's as he enjoyed riding the coat tails of Reagan's economic plans. We can blame the war for sucking the money from our government funding, and we can thank wild Bill for keeping his eye on Monica while the terrorists plotted and he ignored his duty as commander in chief. We can thank GW for trying to clean up after wild Bill. We can thank Obama later, after we see what damage will be done over the next 3 years. Have you thought about thanking Carter? I have a lot more thanks for him than just his democratic econ plan, like we can thank him if he'd shut the heck up and leave the international business to someone who has testicles, like GW. I hope people around the world don't get their opinion about my Georgia from that President.

#5.2 Sheila Tolley on 03/12/10 at 05:09 PM

I loved Reagan. He had respect, dignity and loyalty to our country. The ones that followed him should not have their picture hanging on the same wall with his portrait. obama....what a joke!!!!

#6 Sheila Tolley on 03/12/10 at 05:03 PM

Carter is a goober. All he accomplished was giving away the Panama Canal.

#7 Anonymous on 03/12/10 at 10:41 PM

And he also started the 'affirmative action' crap, right? One main reason for the 'entitlement' mentality.

#7.1 Sheila Tolley on 03/13/10 at 07:04 AM

John Kennedy actually issued the order on affirmative action in 1961. I concur with that move. People should be treated equal..BUT...once again...we do not know when to stop. It meant Equal Employment Opportunity. NOT government support.

#8 David Rawlins on 03/13/10 at 10:23 AM

I think FDR started the entitlement programs.

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