In Closing , Davidson profiles six laid-off White Furniture workers. Six people, six points of view, but no villain, she says, except for bank-lending practices, perhaps, and a U.S. tax system changed in the 1980s, during the Bush and Reagan administrations, to allow large corporations to assume greater debt and accelerate capital depreciation, thereby profiting from corporate losses as a result of buyouts, hostile takeovers and corporate mergers. Throughout its history, White's made expensive reproduction antiques, with many finishing touches done by hand. According to Davidson, employees were given autonomy and responsibility, with any worker able to stop the line to correct a flaw. Rarely were people laid off.
Few people quit.
Although White's smacked of Southern paternalism, people found it a decent place to work. But time came for a third generation of White family members to take over the plant. Tensions mounted over Stephen White's successor. Pressed by foreign competition, the plant lost money in 1982 and 1983, going into debt for the first time since the Great Depression. Family members began to worry about their inheritance.