There was all the talk at the time about how the stimulus package wasn’t big enough, and that is true here. It’s barely letting us keep our noses above water.
Bill Lyne • Faculty union president of Western Washington University in Bellhingham, Wash. His school is bracing for 400 layoffs of staff members and adjunct faculty – just one example of how the $135 billion to limit layoffs as part of the $787 billion stimulus package is running headfirst into the reality that the states just aren’t making enough in tax revenue. • source
In Michigan, we are doing everything we can to become the home of this new electric auto industry – and to the jobs this industry will create.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm • On the rebuilding of the industry that’s the cornerstone of that state. GM had a chance to do the electric car right and a captive audience, and they limited its appeal and let it die. It seems like a sad commentary on our country’s priorities that it takes near-bankruptcy to convince the auto industry to properly give electric cars an actual shot. • source
If there is a silver lining, the large-scale downsizing from major companies will release a lot of new entrepreneurial talent and ideas — scientists, engineers, business folks now looking to do other things.
Mark V. Cannice • Executive director of the entrepreneurship program at the University of San Francisco, on how the economy is making people a bit more creative, building their own businesses, instead of trying to look for work. We kind of did both.
• source