Detroit's Ills Symptomatic Of a Manufacturing Plague

Ford Motor's stock price fell 21 percent over concerns that the nation's economic crisis will devastate auto sales. (By Bill Pugliano -- Getty Images)

"I used to ship 30 beams a day," Venegas said. "Today, I might only ship three a week."

The uncertainty enveloping the automakers makes it hard for vendors to bid on projects and risky to invest in equipment. The sharp decline in production often means sudden drops in automakers' need for components. That makes it difficult for suppliers to plan, not knowing whether they will be able to recoup their up front expenses.

"All of a sudden, your order decreases 30 to 40 percent and it's hard to figure a business plan for what's going to happen," Venegas said. As business leaders become tighter with a dollar, their caution further dampens the local economy.

U.S. auto companies and suppliers cut 18,000 jobs last month, with many of the losses coming in firms that produced components for trucks and sport-utility vehicles, whose allure plummeted as gas prices reached $4 a gallon.

The ripples are real. The city of St. Clair, about an hour north of Detroit, lost more than $100,000 in annual tax revenue. Among the contractors that lost business were trash haulers, carpet and laundry cleaners, shippers and vending machine operators.

In Port Huron, one hour north of Detroit, Blue Water Automotive Systems, a maker of molded plastic parts for car interiors, filed for bankruptcy protection in February. After a $16 million deal to sell the company fell apart in July, Blue Water shuttered all but one of its plants, selling the remaining one to an Iowa company.

About 1,000 employees lost their jobs, including Darren Reaume, who was laid off Sept. 25.

"I feel lost," said Reaume, 25, who is making some new financial calculations.

"How long until my car's repo'd? That's the first thing on my mind. I've got two kids and a wife. I've got to keep the electricity on and the heat on and pay my rent," he said.

His conclusion: "We can make it to the end of the year, juggling."

In Ypsilanti, 30 minutes west of Detroit, the steady downsizing of a Ford supplier knocked a $700,000 hole in the city's $14 million annual budget, part of a difficult stretch for a town that had 130 employees in 2000 and has 107 now.