Word: flints
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Even to experts, the economy displays two faces, both of which are on view in Flint, Michigan. It is the site of General Motors' Buick City works, which is central to all GM auto production because it makes parts for assembly plants throughout the country. Buick City, in turn, was the scene in late September of a strike that, says Roach, "was symbolic of an issue that is really at the core of the debate right now: do workers get to reap the benefits of the improved efficiencies that they are delivering to employers...
Eight years ago, after the closing of GM's Fisher Body plant, Michael Moore's sarcastic film Roger & Me portrayed Flint as a dying community. But since then U.S. automakers have turned themselves from the world's highest- cost producers to those with the lowest costs: only $42 in wages for each $100 in product turned out, about a third below Toyota or Mercedes-Benz. They have won back so many motorists who once bought foreign cars that the share of the U.S. market going to imported autos has fallen from 22% in 1991 to under 14% now. Profits...
Residents who had to flee their homes were anxious to get back, but authorities cautioned that houses should first be inspected for water moccasins. They also wanted to be sure that none of the alligators that inhabit the Flint River had taken a liking to suburban living. "It's going to be a long time before things get back to normal around here," said city councilman Jack Henderson of Newton as he steered a boat through the town's / streets. The Rivertrace Restaurant and Oyster Bar was gone altogether, and the only sign of city hall was a vent pipe...
Roger & Me dealt with the effects of General Motors layoffs in Moore's hometown of Flint, Michigan, and was structured around his efforts to meet with Roger Smith, who was then CEO of GM. Shambling, wearing sagging jeans and badly in need of a haircut, Moore sought out the elusive chairman in posh offices and clubs. He pursued his subject doggedly, and his innocent, straight-faced directness with the public relations executives and others keeping him away from Smith gave the film a subdued hilarity...
Georgia's Flint River crested at 37.15 ft. in Bainbridge, well below the 45- ft. levels that had been predicted. But the statewide death toll rose to 32. Surveying the scene from a helicopter, President Clinton announced a $60 million aid package for the stricken areas of Georgia, Alabama and Florida...