The withering of General Motors has left those towns that depend on the company for survival in a perilous position. Communities will continue to suffer as GM carries out its plan to close a dozen factories and cut 30,000 blue-collar jobs by the end of 2008, in part by offering buyouts and early retirement packages. The pain of the plant closings will be eased somewhat by the continued flow of GM benefits - although that flow is shrinking as the company moves to rein in its spending.
See "As GM withers, so do towns that once depended on auto industry", Micheline Maynard and Jeremy W. Peters, International Herald Tribune, February 19, 2006