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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    The broken promise to Janesville

    Nobody believed it would happen, but Janesville, Wisconsin, lost its General Motors plant in the Great Recession, almost 100 years after it opened. When suppliers and ancillary businesses also shut down, a classic, American middle-class lifestyle for 65,000 people went out of existence.

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    By Warren Olney • Apr 24, 2017 • 1 min read

    Nobody believed it would happen, but Janesville, Wisconsin, lost its General Motors plant in the Great Recession, almost 100 years after it opened. When suppliers and ancillary businesses also shut down, a classic, American middle-class lifestyle for 65,000 people went out of existence. We talk to the author of an intimate account of suddenly unemployed workers and their families — how they reacted and what they’ve done since. Janesville, once a model of civic unity and cooperation between labor and business — big and small -- is now a divided city.

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    In Janesville, WI, Middle America meets the new American dream
    1. 1:25Obama's back and he's trying to avoid the word "Trump"
    2. 8:01The broken promise to JanesvilleYou’re reading this
    3. 42:38Macron and Le Pen advance to Round Two in the French election
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Luke Vander Ploeg

      Producer, 'To the Point'

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Evan George

      Director of Content, News

    • KCRW placeholder

      Andrea Brody

      Senior Producer, KCRW's Life Examined and To the Point podcast

    • KCRW placeholder

      Amy Goldstein

      Washington Post

    • KCRW placeholder

      Craig Gilbert

      Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

    • KCRW placeholder

      Maria Heidkamp

      New Start Career Network / Heldrich Center for Workforce Development

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    In Janesville, WI, Middle America meets the new American dream
    1. 1:25Obama's back and he's trying to avoid the word "Trump"
    2. 8:01The broken promise to JanesvilleYou’re reading this
    3. 42:38Macron and Le Pen advance to Round Two in the French election
    Back to To the Point