http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/04/business/yourmoney/04econ.html?pagewanted=1&ei=1&en=e5f479f0b84a39de&ex=1074223763THE stock market is surging and the economy appears to be booming, but Judith Pike is getting out of business. "I'm finished; I'm out of here," said Mrs. Pike, owner of Acme Grinding, whose customers have been vanishing and whose work force has shrunk from 40 to 4. Two days before Christmas, Mrs. Pike sold her business and more than 40 machines used to grind and finish metal parts. "It will be for pennies on the dollar," she said. "Less than what it cost to buy just one of these machines."
Considering that nearly every scrap of data suggests that the American economy has finally climbed out of the doldrums and is humming at its fastest pace in at least four years, Mrs. Pike's timing may seem unfortunate. But here in Rockford, and in the nation as a whole, factory owners like her have seen their worlds turned upside down. And their struggle goes a long way toward explaining why this continues to be such a joyless recovery.
More than 11,000 jobs have disappeared in and around Rockford in the last three years, and many of those are not expected to return. Motorola shut down a big repair plant not far from Mrs. Pike's company last year, eliminating more than 1,000 jobs, even as it invested $1.9 billion in a new electronics factory in China. Textron is closing several factories that make metal fasteners. And industrial parks are swimming in "for sale" and "for lease" signs.
"We've been through downturns before, but this time it's different," said Malcolm Anderberg, owner of Dial Machine Inc., which does contract manufacturing. "This time, the work is leaving the country, and it's not coming back."
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