Elkhart, Indiana – as any camper worth his s’mores can tell you- is the RV Capital of the world. Approximately half of all recreational vehicles in the U.S. are manufactured there.
 
Which means, when America’s middle class starts feeling the economic pinch, so does Elkhart. Unfortunately, recreation tends to become a “luxury” during tough times ~

In a weak economy, sales of RVs suffer disproportionately, due to the high cost of purchase and the high cost of gas to run them. The RV industry is a primary beneficiary of “trickle down” economics in which people who can afford to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on an RV create manufacturing jobs. This leads to a boom and bust economy.
Source: [William A. Jacobson – Legal Insurrection]

 
But hey, look on the bright side. When you have the highest unemployment rate in the country (20.3% in 2009) chances are good that Emperor Obama will grace you with his presence so he can use your out-of-work citizens as props for his latest redistribution scheme. In this case, his “Porkulus Spending Plan.”
As PJ Media reported back in February ’09 when the prez blew through town, recreational vehicles – Elkhart’s economic lifeblood – weren’t selling…

… largely because of the policies of President Obama and his Democratic Party cronies…
 
… Sales have dropped 75% since 2007, with the bottom dropping out of the market in 2008, when gasoline prices spiked towards $5 a gallon.

As William A. Jacobson (at Legal Insurrection) said at the time of the president’s contrived visit;

If Elkhart banks its future on the RV industry, then Obama’s plans will cause more pain; targeting the “rich” for higher taxes means less money to purchase RVs. Restricting oil drilling and taxing gasoline-using conduct in the name of lessening global warming means fewer people using RVs. Infrastructure projects won’t change this dynamic, because once the projects are over, there still won’t be jobs.
The answers for Elkhart seem to be diversification of the local economy, and a growing national economy in which people keep more of their income and RV use is not punished. The “stimulus” plan and Obama’s economic policies will make things worse, not better.

But now for the good news part of the story; things are looking up in the RV Capital. Instead of the posting the highest unemployment rate in the country, Elkhart can now boast the 3rd fastest rate of job growth. And, despite the Left’s fiscal policies, it’s thanks mostly to Indiana’s Right-to-Work Law, as this video from the Mackinac Center explains ~