Why are we supposed to care so much about Elkhart? There are plenty of other towns suffering from the recession and getting no attention.

I'm tired of Elkhart.

Your editors will decide if you are good enough to join the club. Get a life. Drop Elkhart and report real news. Fire the "journalist" that keeps nagging at your index page. I'm getting ready to drop Newsvine. Get a life. Lets see if you post this. A minute and 30 to go.....are you watching??

Gunny, maybe some of the post I make might interest you then. Please don't grow tired of Elkhart, that is what put us in the situation we are in now.

Whether you live in Elkhart or anywhere else in the Country, there is more than one side to dealing with the economic downfalls. Has anyone taken the time to talk to Welfare Caseworkers who are overloaded by the system and down-graded by the recipients? It's sad, but true.

Whether you live in Elkhart or anywhere else in the Country, there is more than one side to dealing with the economic downfalls. Has anyone taken the time to talk to Welfare Caseworkers who are overloaded by the system and down-graded by the recipients? It's sad, but true.

Enough already! I set MSNBC.com as a home/startup page as a startup news source for over 8 years when I logon, but what's up with the constant "Elkhart Project" "news" being forever shoved down our throats!? What an irrelevant long term focus point for any MSNBC journalists' career. Completely boring and news unworthy. News flash! Every town is hurting, so when I want a feel good/bad quasi-news story I will buy a copy of PEOPLE or tune into TODAY. Quit feeling bad for one part of America where nobody has every heard of and trying to spin it like "Elkhart" Indiana is the ground zero for the recession. Get back to reporting the news as it develops and not as as a science project. If I fed you email/spam about the face of Leland NC for as long as you have been feeding the public about E Indiana you would be getting as nauscious as we all are now. News shouldn't be a reality show!

The recession is real, but ELKHART Project is really hard to deal with day after day after day after day....................

Jholderread

Good for you!!! Stand up for your city...it's what more people need to do...show that local spirit of support so these little towns don't end up more economically depressed. it starts with the heart!

Test

Elkart is just a snap shot of America but their story is being played out in a thousand Elkharts.  And for millions of Americans they have their own personal Elkhart.

I had my own job loss and one part of my story is here:

http://www.helium.com/items/1535170-tuning-a-negative-into-a-positive-after-a-job-loss

There are more articles about how I dealt with job loss and budget issues there also and I did my share of learning.  Perhaps there is something that will help you there too.

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!

Elkhart may be just like a thousand other towns in the US. But each of us have a very personal story, with personal hurts and feelings. I lost my job when a greedy corporation moved my manufactoring job to Mexico and Canada. They wanted more profits. I got the TAA training, and I have been looking for work for the past 6 months. I have had two offers in my field of study, (Medical Coding and Billing) and even that it was for $8.74 an hour; way below my 12.95 I was earning. I would have had to sell my home and move 250 miles to take it. Now with unemployment running out in Arkansas, I am applying at any place with open doors. I will work at about any thing to keep my home and car. I do hang my head, and really I have nothing to be ashamed of. I have worked hard, followed the rules, and yet I may be homeless in a few short months. Even if I sold the home and rented, the rent around my area is higher than my home payment. It is a vicious cycle and I am not sure if it will end. If higher paying jobs are not developed, people are going to be living in proverty again soon.

what is the use for training (at government expense) for a new carreer if this "carreer " is just an illusion?? . the only job market that is exanding is :1) government (make work) jobs, 2) health care . For an electrician whose job just moved to Mumbay , wiping old folks butts is not really an option.

elkhart;

The economic collapse of the worlds greatest experiment, our Republic, did not happen overnight. For the past 40 years and accelerating in the last 12, we began outsourcing our economy, for enhanced profits to the Multi- National corporations. We were warned repeatably by many businessmen, scholars and politicians that we were destroying our Nation; these persons were laughed , at and portrayed as fools. Remember Ross Periot, the media had a field day, painting him as a foolish man with big ears.

We now must began a long term recovery, but first we must hold our elected officials responsible, we gave Trillions to bail out the Banks, auto, and insurance, only to have the money transferred to foreign holdings of the Multi-National banks, insurance and Financial institutions.

It will take decades to repair what has been done; why not start now.

Hi Anyone and Everyone....(for having "No interest...isn't it funny that you all have a LOT to say?)

     Okay, whew....deep breath, I KNOW that each and every one of us feels that "our" city deserves the same "attention." My guess is that if the folks at MSNBC had titled it the "Anytown, USA, Project" then there would be something ELSE to complain about. The point is that Elkhart COULD be ANY town in the United States and that the struggles, triumphs and little bitty, unheard of and uncared for teensy, tiny victories ARE the same things that are happening in "not-quite-metropolitan-but-we-still-REALLY-count" towns all over this chunk of real estate we all call home.

      I grew up in Elkhart and then went to college in another speck on the map, Kalamazoo, Michigan....by the way, has anyone ever heard of Derek Jeeter? Yeah..well, he grew up there. And THAT is the point! There are towns just like Elkhart all over the map and the stories of the people there could be the stories of anyone of y-o-u. If you take issue with msnbc's reporting style or their choice of topics...then why not spend your online time creating a blog that showcases your city? OR, if you want to really contribute to the good of EVERYone, then throw your thoughts for improvement, for...Change(!) into the arena. The sooner that everyone realizes that what solves the "problems" for one city helps solve the problems ALL of us have....the better off ALL of us will be. AND...the more quickly the United States can return to being truly a Super Power, in a new and better format, as well as an example for the rest of the planet. But I digress...lol...

     Here's some food for thought, I just read in the Elkart Truth's online E-dition (that's what I call it anyway...heehee...) that the Elkhart County Veterans Administration has extended benefits to veterans for three additional illnesses associated with exposure to Agent Orange. Now, with what little I know, (and excluding my personal feelings!) THIS could be newsworthy whether you're in Nowhere Alaska, or Nowhere, Alabama....(like me?..lol..) This sounds to me like it COULD just set a precedent...and that's what making news is all about. Catching the FIRST train to being new, different, or...a topic of conversation. I have to say this...even if you're "sick of hearing about Elkhart", you're all still talking. How's that saying go? Well, I don't know..but it says something about the fact that there's no such thing as "bad press." The name of this small town (which could be YOUR small town, don't think that the folks in Elkhart don't know that just as well as you do!) is on people's lips and that means that just maybe...the people's minds are on towns just like it all over the country. If we can gain momentum from the ground...perhaps by the time we reach Washington D.C. we can be a ground-swelling, foot-stomping...ummm...COHESIVE (?) majority. In spite of what the naysayers refrain states, it really DOES take just one person. (OR...one small nowhere city?)

Born a Hoosier,

Katrina

I saw one of the Elkhart stories that profiled a guy who had a 9th grade education and had just gone back to work in the the RV factory- making $30 per hour. Made me wonder if the RV factory paid a little less they might could charge a little less and more people could afford one, making more business in the long run. All these stories seem to be originating from areas where people were over-paid to begin with and now don't want to get back into the real world. Seriously, $30/hr for a guy with a 9th grade education to put a part on an RV? No wonder factories are moving out of this country.

The "10-to-4 Plan" is an economic recovery roadmap.

The "10-to-4 Plan" is a full employment plan with 17 components. By design, it stimulates employment opportunities in a wide variety of sectors to ensure economic prosperity reaches beyond Main Street to Side Streets and Back Streets.

The 10-to-4 Plan will re-start mothballed, closed or idled factories and re-employ unemployed and underemployed workers. When executed, only the frictional unemployed (people who are transitioning from one employment opportunity to another) and the unemployable are not re-absorbed into the work force.

The "10-to-4 Plan" addresses persistent problems in certain areas that effect cost containment issues in another area of federal funded programs.

Moreover, the "10-to-4 Plan" creates jobs in a majority of Congressional districts to ensure support by the electorate and grass root organizers.

The "10-to-4 Plan" does not throw "sand" into the gears of commerce. Rather, it strategically channels government-funded activities to maximize results and expedite re-starting of the domestic economy, which in turn will bring accelerated relief to our export-dependent trade partners.

My clients ... and their former employees and customers ... in my first and second careers have been hurt. I feel their pain. I share his or her losses. Everyone shares the economic pain, including shareholders. A vacant factory in Elkhart, Braddock, Flint or Cleveland affects property values for everyone because demand for homes plummet when factories close. Beer companies, like Anheuser Busch, face shrinking profits when their customers switch brands from premium beers to low cost beer brands. Even automobile insurance companies, like Nationwide or Progressive, are hurt when policyholders stop buying cars or drop their auto insurance.

Whether one likes it or not, we are all in the same boat. Economic prosperity in isolation does not exist. We share our economic prosperity with our neighbors on Wall Street, Main Street, Side Street and Back Street. We are bound to individuals and their families in the smallest tribal villages in the farthest corners of the world.

We must start catalyze the economic recovery now. To defer this fight … the fight to protect and preserve economic stability and prosperity … would be negligent.

The “beggar-thy-neighbor” “race-to-the-bottom” solutions concocted by well-meaning civic leaders in right-to-work states or foreign countries continue the downward spiral for all. The solution to the current economic malaise is not to “steal from Peter to pay Paul”, but to use this moment to shift gears and chart a new course that brings prosperity to America’s Forgotten Middle Class.

We are not through the worst of it yet. The collaterized debt obligations (CDOs) were instrumental in the meltdown of the mortgage market of 2007-2009. Next, the collaterized loan obligations (CLOs) will hit. We have already seen the carcasses of companies bought, required to take out debt, and crippled by oppressive loan repayment obligations and management fees before failing. More unemployment notices will come. Once again, civic leaders will call on the electorate to play safety net and absorb the CLOs when they come due.

The “10-to-4 Plan” is not a panacea. Strictly speaking, it will not stop the CLOs credit crisis. It will do what it can do to re-absorb workers efficiently to re-start the largest, most efficient singular economy in the world, which will enhance economic opportunities abroad.

If our representative leaders truly want a sustained economic recovery, then they should summon forth those champions of non-traditional macroeconomic solutions, like the "10-to-4 Plan", to the December 3^rd Jobs Summit.

If invited, I would come.

I was fortunate to live in many places and work with wonderful clients in many industries over the course of my six decades. My goal is to see people walk home to their families knowing that they can afford a good, well-balanced meal, shelter and a little something special for their loved ones because they have purposeful work and a reasonable wage for their efforts. I look forward to passing the torch … called the American Dream … from one generation to the next.