Centrisity

Back to the Future

Last April, GW made a pitstop in the battleground state of Ohio. The complete text of his remarks can be found here. The following statements should be noted today:

I know you're optimistic about the future of this company. I'm optimistic about the future of our country.

and

I appreciate the Timken family for their leadership, their concern about their fellow associates. They're working hard to make sure the future of this company is bright, and therefore, the future of employment is bright for the families that work here, that work to put food on the table for their children.

or

And with people looking for work here in America, we have a responsibility to help those people find jobs.

This was just over a year ago. Optimism abounds, we are on the right track, let the gears turn,'Trust Me', all the rhetoric with a side dose of hope.

AND THEN:

Timken puts area recovery in doubt

Just as Ohio's manufacturing sector was starting to claw its way back after a lengthy downturn, Timken Co. threw a bucket of cold water on the party.

By announcing on Friday that it plans to close three bearings plants in Stark County that employ 1,300 people, Timken demonstrated just how tentative a full recovery here can be.

and later:

In the first three months of this year, Ohio manufacturers added 1,500 jobs, according to seasonally adjusted figures provided by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

But Timken's decision to cut 1,300 jobs will wipe out nearly all those gains in one swoop.

Boths sides can cherry pick economic recovery stats to support their claims of recovery, or lack thereof, but Bush picked this one! He chose Timkin as the background for one of his recovery speeches, and one would think that he would have been very careful to pick those 'sure thing' companies.

Little did he know that we could be going 'Back to the Future'

Flash