In a statement released late Tuesday afternoon, the company said, "...these employment reductions, coupled with other actions to be implemented over the next six to nine months, will result in annual cost savings of approximately $25 million to $30 million."

There is no word from company officials whether or not this is just one wave of layoffs that may take place in the near future.

Since 2001, the company has eliminated approximately 4,000 jobs. In 2003, 265 manufacturing and office.

There may be no official word but the company's statement is pretty clear.  There are "other actions" coming in the next six to nine months.  More people are going to lose their jobs.  At least they'll get to enjoy one last normal Christmas.

Of course this isn't only a West Michigan problem.  The Big Three over in Detroit have seen more than their fair share of heartache the past few years and we learn this morning that that too is far from over.  The Ivory Tower reports:

Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Bob Nardelli has warned employees to expect a tough 2008, leaving open the possibility of job cuts even beyond the 25,000 already announced, a figure that include the buyouts.

"It's never an easy decision to shrink a company, but we felt we needed to get it right-sized," Nardelli reportedly told employees during an internal company broadcast. "We didn't want to be chasing costs throughout the year. We hope we were aggressive enough and, if not, we will adjust."

The hits just keep on coming.  Still, it's worth noting the sort of language these business folks are using.  They're talking about cutting costs, about being aggressive, about adjusting and about right-sizing.  They're going through an extremely painful transition right now but they're doing that because failure to act in that way will literally destroy their businesses, costing every last employee his or her job.

The same exact principle applies to government though you wouldn't know it by watching or listening to the Democrats in Lansing.  Without right-sizing the state government we're setting the State up for an even bigger train wreck then we've been involved with over the past five years.  Failure to act will lead to devastating consequences.  And their solution, tax and spend and tax a little more, is only compounding the problem.  

Amy Hagerstrom, a political consultant and the head of a certain Presidential candidate's Michigan operation has a great piece in today's Detroit News addressing just that.

The disturbing trends toward higher taxes and spending, revealed in a study from Americans for Prosperity Foundation, illustrate why Michiganians are right to demand relief from our plagued economy first as opposed to sending blank checks to Lansing.

Consider that in 1980, state debt was $7.1 billion in inflation-adjusted (2006) dollars, but it swelled to more than $27 billion -- a 278 percent increase. State and local governments owe a combined $70 billion, or $6,900 per Michiganian. Debt of that magnitude has its costs; local governments spent more on interest payments in 2005 than on higher education, fire and correctional facilities combined.

With the debt, politicians have rushed to raise taxes as the treatment to our ailments. Yet the reason we suffer from such high debt is clear: Governments spend at an unsustainable pace.

In the private sector that leads to fewer jobs.  In the public sector that only seems to lead to higher taxes.  And guess what that leads to in the private sector... you guessed it, fewer jobs.  This isn't rocket science, it's basic math.  And it's being ignored by some otherwise very bright people at the State Capitol.  One-hundred-and-fifty west Michigan families are reeling this morning because of their intentional oversight.  Yes, Virginia, turns out there really is a Grinch that steals Christmas.