Washington Post: "In Ohio Town, GM's Failure Isn't Academic"

Elsewhere in the country, the question of whether the government should bail out U.S. automakers unfolds as a debate over political principles, of free-market ideas and corporate responsibility.

But here in the Mahoning Valley, people wonder: If General Motors goes down, how will we get by?

The GM plant in Lordstown is one of the few pillars propping up the sagging Rust Belt economy in the small towns and cities in this area of northeastern Ohio. In Lordstown, the plant accounts for more than 70 percent of the tax base. It employs 4,250, paying people some of the best wages around, and sustains an additional 10,000 or so jobs in the companies that supply the GM plant. And as in other places where an auto plant is an economic engine, it's not just auto workers who are worried, but restaurateurs, bar owners, grocers and virtually every merchant in town.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/18/AR2008121803531.html?hpid=topnews