Add 18,000 more to that list.  The Associated Press reports that that 23 transmission and parts plants will also be closed during that time to help cut down on excess inventory.  

The good news?  Workers will be affected a heck of a lot less than Lansing.  

Laid-off blue-collar workers would still get most of their pay because their United Auto Workers union contract requires the company to make up much of the difference between state unemployment benefits and their wages.

GM also will pay salaried workers 75 percent of their pay if they are furloughed under a new company policy.

I knew I picked the wrong career field.  I should have moved to the D when I turned 18 and scrounged up a UAW job.  I could go for a summer vacation with nothing to do and a negligible dock in pay.  

General Motors winds up saving cash on parts and operational expenses, cuts down on excess inventory and the furloughed workers get to catch some rays.  Talk about a win-win.  Meanwhile, Lansing becomes the Biggest Loser.  Which you could read any number of ways.

Tough to replenish the state's wad of unemployment cash when workers take home less income directly from their employer, the state cuts a bigger overall unemployment benefits check every month and then sees the legislature vote to extend benefits again.

Come August and September, Budget Process 2010 may have Lansing yearning for the good old days of $1.32 billion in red ink.  Going to take more than laying off 100 state troopers to balance those books.