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Economic Policy


FACTORY REOPENING COULD SAVE THIS TOWN, BUT MANY STILL BASH THE ECONOMY


AUTOWORKER STRIKE AND BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SECURED RETURN OF MORE THAN 1,000
MANUFACTURING JOBS. BUT INFLATION STILL DOMINATES PUBLIC OPINION.

By Jeanne Whalen
December 3, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EST

Cars travel along State Street past holiday decorations in Belvidere, Ill., on
Thursday. News of Stellantis planning to reopen its Belvidere auto factory and
build a new battery plant is giving hope to local business owners, but it will
be a few years before the facilities are up and running. (Kayla Wolf for The
Washington Post)

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BELVIDERE, Ill. — In town after town across the Midwest, the story has been the
same: The factory gates swing shut for the last time. The workforce scatters.
The community sinks into a deep depression.


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weekend.ArrowRight


Closed factories almost never reopen.

So when Jason Vassar heard last month that his shuttered auto factory plans to
restart, he considered it a “blessing.” The Stellantis plant that laid him off
in March had agreed to resume production and rehire its workers to help end a
nationwide strike against the company. It even pledged to build a $3.2 billion
battery factory next door, encouraged by the prospect of federal manufacturing
subsidies from the Biden administration.


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