The number of jobs lost at the company is obviously a severe hit on the local economy.

The one small grace in this is that the ripple effect on the whole economy will not be as severe as might be expected.

What's great to me is that we're building jobs, and we're really building northern Michigan's brand. We're helping the economy here.

Small to midsize companies are the ones adding jobs to the economy. But you also have to look outside the Rochester region for business.

Those jobs look fairly good going into 2006. We won't see a lot of hiring there, but the economy looks strong enough to maintain level of employment we have.

I'm the one who can make an economy grow. All he knows how to do is chase jobs away.