What's Good for General Motors is Good for America

Let's hope not. The General Motors bankruptcy filing is a horrendous thing in horrendous times. I don't want the United States government thinking that it's a dandy idea for the nation to go bankrupt as well. But that doesn't change the fact that the Obama administration has a dim view of American capitalism.

Before proceeding, let me assure people reading this post that I am aware that the famous and oft-repeated headline quoted above is not either the actual quote or the actual context. In 1953, Eisenhower's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Charles Wilson, was asked by Senators reviewing the nomination if as Secretary he could make a Defense Department decision which would be adverse to the interests of General Motors. His reply was "for years I thought that what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa."

But I digress. The attitudes of founder William Charles Durant, and even that of Charles ("Engine Charlie") Wilson were left in the dust over the past twenty or thirty years. Yes government has intruded, often unnecessarily, into GM's corporate decision-making and product choices, but in large part GM's current woes are the result of both gross corporate mismanagement and gross labor excess. The GM executives of more recent vintage have made terrible fiscal and product decisions. The United Auto Workers Union (UAW) demanded, and got, retirement benefits which would put those of any socialist paradise to shame. "This is not your father's Oldsmobile" because there is no Oldsmobile anymore. And now there's no Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer or Saab, either. GM poured untold billions into products that couldn't compete with foreign competition while the GM workers looked forward to Midas-like retirement.

Remember Lee Iacocca? The irritating uncle who visited and then refused to go home? Well, he's also the man who saved Chrysler Corporation lo these many years ago. Here are a couple of juicy tidbits that he has to share in his new book Where Have All the Leaders Gone?: "Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder! We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricance much less build a hybrid car. But instead, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say 'Stay the course.' Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a soundbite: 'Throw all the bums out.'"

Iacocca goes on to say that he hardly recognizes this country anymore. I'll join him in that one. He equally damns Bush and Obama for their foolishness. Ditto. I sometimes despair of ever getting this great nation back on its feet, and on the right course rather than the same course that has led us to near-ruin.

General Motors may emerge from bankruptcy in as little as thirty-five to forty days. But it will no longer be the giant automobile manufacturer that was so much a part of America's success domestically and internationally. It will most likely emerge as a tinfoil car manufacturer marketing automobiles that nobody really wants. They will be produced by a company owned largely by foreign interests, the federal government and the very labor organization that played such a major part in bringing down the corporation--the once-great company that used to be the flagship of American manufacturing might.