Times are tough all over.

But nothing quite compares to the economic knockout punch that rocked our neighbors right across the Delaware River in South Jersey yesterday.

In a killer one-two punch, Gloucester County learned it was losing 1,000 jobs.

First came the thunderbolt from Sunoco, which announced it was continuing its cost-cutting by shuttering its Eagle Point refinery in Westville. That will mean 400 workers getting furloughs.

Then came a second knockout blow. A U.S. Postal Service distribution facility is closing its doors in Logan Township. The ax will fall on 650 workers there.

No doubt the people of Marcus Hook can feel the pain of what is happening across the river.

Already there is talk that the Eagle Point facility will never reopen.
In a cruel twist of fate, Jersey’s pain might be Marcus Hook’s gain. The work done at the Jersey refinery will be moved to Sunoco refineries in South Philly and Marcus Hook.

That doesn’t mean workers here don’t sympathize with their neighbors across the river.

The refinery becomes part of your life. It marks the landscape of the town, and it becomes its lifeblood, much like the petroleum that’s refined inside becomes the lifeblood of the economy.

When the economy slows down, so does the refining.

Everyone keeps saying the economy is turning around, that we’re coming out of the recession.

Try explaining that to all those Sunoco and postal workers who find themselves out of a job.

Red October? Yeah, blood red.