States Cut Back and Layoffs Hit Even Recipients of Stimulus Aid
By MICHAEL COOPER
While the stimulus law cut federal taxes to inject money into the economy quickly, at least 30 states have raised taxes since January, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal fiscal policy group. The stimulus will spend $27.5 billion in federal money on highway projects, but at least 19 states are planning to cut their highway spending this year, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, a trade group. And as the stimulus devotes $8.4 billion to mass transit, transit systems across the nation have been forced to cut service, raise fares and delay capital spending....
Mr. Wahl said the loss of his job was still sinking in. He joined New Flyer soon after it opened the St. Cloud plant in 1999 — he was the 118th employee, he said — and worked on everything from power steering to putting on side panels to installing engines. When the work force unionized, he became president of the local. Last November, he moved to a nonunion job working with transit systems as they prepared to take delivery of the buses.
“It was a lot easier on the body,” he said. But the switch to a nonunion job also made it easier for him to be in the first round of layoffs, despite his 10 years with the company.
“First it’s shock, and then you get angry,” Mr. Wahl said. “And then you wonder, What am I going to do?”
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