Filling The Gaps Left By GM's Layoffs

Here’s one of those stories that’s so good I kick myself for not writing it.

With the auto companies like zombies (except thriving on bailout money instead of braaiinnsss), what's the Steel Belt to do? The politicians behind the bailout of the Big Three say we need to rejuvenate the auto and manufacturing jobs. But, as NPR reports, some entrepreneurs are trying to take Michigan's economy in a new direction.

Without the federal government propping up the auto companies, job losses would be even more massive in Michigan. So the local economy can't survive without the help, right? But, as this report shows, even in the recession, new businesses are popping up to replace the old.

This report also touches on the false dichotomy between fighting to keep jobs in the US and outsourcing abroad. As this example shows, the two can go hand-in-hand:

As with many high-tech firms, Netlink hired hundreds of workers offshore, in Bhopal, India. Dubey has also added jobs in Michigan, where salaries are several times higher.

So why isn't his whole work force in India?

"The majority of our workforce is in the U.S.," Dubey says. "When I go to financial investors, they ask, this makes no sense, what is wrong with you? And the answer there is the Michigan workforce, which has significant experience in automotive and manufacturing industry, understands how things work."

Former auto employees know the American industries that Dubey wants to serve.