In the 1950’s, the CEO of General Motors liked to say that, “What is good for the country is good for GM and vice versa”. At the summit of its power in the post-war years, GM was symbolically one with the United States. The irony is that one half-century later, GM has truly become one with the country. Cornered by voluntary liquidation, the group was nationalized yesterday by the government of Barack Obama. More than ever, the destinies of GM and Washington are united.
What a disaster! To take full measure, it is good to return to the years of the 1950s and ‘60s. Basking in its decisive role in the war effort, GM held more than half of the automobile production in the U.S. It represented 10 percent of the national economy. The Detroit-based group was by far the largest company in the world, of all categories. Cadillac endowed its cars with fins, inspired by the P-38 Lightning. GM invented the automobile design and put into effect the marketing and management techniques that became copied by all, and placed large amounts of money into research and development. GM brands corresponded with each element of society, Chevrolet at the back, and Cadillac at the fore. At the World’s Fair in New York in 1964, it was up to GM to imagine the future, in which human beings colonized the entire universe.
Some years later, it was a GM vehicle that drove on the moon’s surface (It was electric.). In other words, no other company was as influential in the past, as arrogant of its domination, or as pitiable in its fall. A professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania noted yesterday that the failure of GM opened “a new chapter in the books of the history of American capitalism.”
All that remains to be written for GM in the new chapter is of innumerable dangers and revivals. The titan of yesterday might bite the dust once and for all. It might also reinvent the automobile: It has enough engineers, enough experience, and the industrial means to accomplish this nearly impossible task. They have also a fuel better than any other: a cold rage, born of humiliation.
“They have also a fuel better than any other: a cold rage, born of humiliation.”
humiliation often follows arrogance.
as a consultant that worked with GM management I saw arrogance and greed and never an understanding how important quality and realibility was to the american car buyer by upper management at GM.
toyota saw the need for quality and now is the number one selling car in america.
GM is like we americans we let our wealth go to our heads. we become arrogant and greedy. everything american is best.
solgans like america the greatest country on earth.
we refuse to learn from anyone else.
our arrogance is so profound we borrow from communists, socialists, and kings and then talk about how great our capitalism is.
our prisons are overflowing, our poverty levels are increasing, etc.
so great we want to take our way of life around the world even if we have to force it upon third world countries.
we even had a president that invaded a country to win a war so he could go down in history as a great president. that is arrogance gone wild.
and few protested in the streets of america. save the ladies in pink. truly patroits that few americans understand.
we are being humbled with humility. that is the law of the universe. arrogance will bring a person or a country to its knees.
wealth can be as big of lesson as poverty.
greed will lead to bankruptcy.
as the american middle class sinks into lower and lower numbers and the rich in america get richer and claim more wealth we are learning this very important lesson.
with communism man exploits man with capitalism it is the other way around.
we are like a teen ager with much to learn.
I will be called a traitor or worst for speaking these words but at least in america I can speak them. I hope.