How to Save General Motors
November 14, 2008 by Will Marre
It is time to think differently. The argument that all our large enterprises, banks, insurance companies and automakers are too big to fail is simply a way of rewarding failure. And the rewards are large. Giving billions to bankroll the leaders who created failure to keep them gambling with our money is stupid. Outrageous.
In the late 1980’s I led a retreat of executives from General Motors. At the time their manufacturing quality was in crisis. They were literally re-assembling Buicks in the parking lot of the Flint Michigan plant because the cars coming off the assembly line were not screwed together. I said to them, “What unique value do you bring? If you went out of business, would anyone care? Or would they just buy Toyota’s? They looked at me as if I was from Mars.
I also worked with executives at Saturn just previously to its initial launch. Expectations of the car were very high. It was touted to be revolutionary as sort of a Jetson’s speeder. The cars’ production had been delayed and delayed and the GM brass was agitated. The problem was they hired 700 engineers to design one economy car. Sure there were many innovations especially in the manufacturing of the car but 700 engineers? So Skip, Saturn’s CEO, finally selected 22 engineers to finish the project. It was a last second act of common sense. In 1993 when oil was $22 a barrel Toyota decided to build a hybrid Prius. With the same facts GM decided to build big SUV’s. Today, Toyota is the world’s largest automaker and GM is burning through cash faster than a teenager with her mother’s credit card. What’s wrong with General Motors is the inbred thinking. They live in an unreal world.
Here are some problems and solutions:
- New car development, manufacturing, sales, use, and disposal are some of the most wasteful industrial activities in the world.
- Consumer research says buying a car is one of our least favorite activities.
- Nearly all safety, efficiency and anti-pollution improvements in domestic autos have been mandated by law. Without regulations we wouldn’t have seatbelts and we would have smog belching exhaust pipes guzzling more gas than we can import.
- The U.S. auto industry has been failing since the oil embargo of the 1970’s. Market share of GM, Ford, and Chrysler has steadily declined as consumers have found better value from foreign markets. (Internally, Saturn’s goal was to make a car almost as good as a Honda Accord. No, I am not kidding.)
- The J.D. Power Quality ratings are twisted. Last year Buick was rated top in the first 90 days of customer quality as rated by customer complaints. But the average age of Buick buyers is somewhere close to 100. And guess what? Older folks drive less and complain less. A Buick has higher quality than a Lexus or a Toyota? (Actually the two car companies that have the fewest repair technicians per car on the road is Toyota and Honda. No surprise.)
- General Motors is loaded with talented design and manufacturing people. They are strait jacketed by incompetent leadership and a stifling and non-sensical bureaucracy. The biggest problem is that GM leaders think they’re entitled to succeed simply because they’re General Motors.
Solutions:
- First of all no government loans should be offered without the top management fired without financial parachutes. They have failed miserably in virtually every way. In fact I would start with the top 10% of GM management being fired with an invitation for those who are most competent to reapply.
- Revolutionize the way cars and trucks are designed to be light, safe and efficient. Cars and trucks don’t have to be tiny to be efficient. Actually according to safety experts, the safest vehicles are big and light.
- Make the car buying process and supply chain more efficient. A lot of people would hate this, but we ought to buy cars directly from the manufacturers and cut out the wasteful overhead of an old fashion dealer network. We simply don’t need big dealers with acres of cars that require financing and take up space. What if instead manufacturers had smaller showrooms in malls or mall parking lots with a few cars to test-drive. Then we ordered our cars from the showroom or our homes via the web. Our car was then made and delivered to us in 10-14 days and our trade-in picked up. Our cars would be serviced by independent, certified repair centers. The amount of wasted overhead we would take out of the business process could reduce the cost of cars by about 20% while increasing profits and consumer satisfaction. (Of course we’ll need to re-train all the people who lose their jobs to do something productive.)
- Finally, we need to think about personal transportation in new ways. The world cannot sustain billions and billions of people motoring around ribbons of concrete wrapped around our planet like a ball of string. But one thing is for sure. It’s stupid to give more to failed leaders. Stupid.
So what’s the greatest thing you can do? Drive less. And when you do buy a car, buy the safest most fuel-efficient car you can. If you want your Congressmen to know how you feel, it only takes a minute. We have a new feature on the home page of the American Dream Project site powered by Congress.org. Enter your zip code to retrieve your elected officials contact/email information.
Also…comment on our blog, and we will send the best ideas to Congress each week.
There is nothing set in stone that we should always have BIG 3 automakers! I firmly believe GM and others have to be restructured through bankrupcy and return as smaller and more nimble companies.
Also, these guys are responsible for spending ALL their resources in fighting CAFE standards for the past 30 years by bribing Congressman Dingle; instead of invoating.
There will be a lot of pain, but GM should be allowed to DIE; like many giant tech companies who exited before. Remeber Compaq, Digital, Sperry, …..etc?! They don’t exists; but that doesn’t mean Silicon Valley doesn’t have a thriving Computer industry.
GM folks have no one to blame, but themselves for making garbage!
Is anyone listening at all to the purported fuel crisis? Chrysler USA bought out the motor used for the Matra Bagheda because the motor was too fuel efficient. It only got 60+mpg. Oh, and this was about 20 or more years ago. Why does anyone have to reinvent the wheel(motor)? Now, you can understand my laughter over the commercials touting a whopping 24 mpg or even 30 mpg. They are not kidding me! Wake up America!!!
I agree, I just bougt a Honda fit, and I getting 48 mpg
The engines need to be re-done so as to run on NG. I’d loan them the money if they’d do that.
I’m frightened by the precedent we’ve already set with the obese bailout recently passed.
The message sent is only this: Screw up! Go ahead and (excuse my language) f-around! Be prideful, oblivious and ignorant… and when the bottom falls out. I got your back! Even though the only American car I ever was interested in was gifted to me by the passing of my Grandmother in 1991
(she got her drivers license when she was 72, guess how much she drove her Buick?)
Here is a fact: If you produce an inferior quality product, the world will look for better elsewhere.
Naturual selection is really at work in a consumer way here. Its time to let them fade off. Hey, it happened to the dinosaurs…
I’m 52, single, out of work, with no health insurance or retirement .. I ride a bike to get around .. When I do work it is in the high tech field .. It’s not a good situation, but one that simply is … I don’t blame or point fingers or judge other situations .. But I do observe and see the balance of our world tipping heavy to one side .. A dangerous game of instant gratification has played its hand and now many of us wonder what happened and expect the government to make it all better .. It simply can’t be made all better .. What got the world in this mess is so obvious .. Our eyes were bigger than our collective stomachs .. Wanting beget having and having beget more wanting .. So much money was spent that we really didn’t ever have .. The money we do have now, is spent with more caution .. We are more selective and demand quality if our purchases are to last us longer .. Now, the automotive giants are dead along with many of the financial institutions .. The trust and loyalty to these institutions are gone .. They must be allowed to die .. We know where they will be in a few years if they are kept alive by the government .. I hear commentary that we must keep these companies alive because of all of the people that are employed .. The only problem with that is they are not producing a product that enough consumers want .. If I, as a network consultant, do not produce a good service, or if my services are no longer needed, I am asked to leave .. Fair enough, that’s how it is suppose to work .. Does it hurt ? Yes, it hurts, but that is the way it has to be in the business world .. Not just for one, but for all ..
I totally agree with Cheryl. While I have no idea what the Matra Bagheda motor is, I think it’s absurd that cars getting 30 miles to the gallon is considered good gas mileage. Tell me why we can put a man on the moon, have computers that have more memory and power than the computers available to put a man on the moon, and yet gas mileage hasn’t changed in 30+ years.
When gas prices reach over $4 per gallon this summer, why wasn’t our response, we need cars that get 60-70+ mpg? Instead, our political machines said, let’s drill so we can cut foreign dependence - they want to drill in some of the most protected areas of our planet. We continue to destroy our planet and wonder why we are sick and the cancer rate is so high. Hello!
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I think you hit it on the head Will. Perhaps it is not that these companies are to big to fail, but to big to succeed. I believe their is an optimal size (for government, for companies, for cities). As the optimal size is reached there is great opportunity for effeciency and innovation (through specialization). Once an organization passes that optimal size however, it grows ineffecient due to waste, and innovation is killed because people no longer understand their importance to the organization, and no longer feel free to innovate.
Perhaps the real tragedy however, is that smaller more effecient newcomers are destroyed by these giants. I think the Tucker automobile is a perfect of this. Having these giants in the corporate world also discourages competition and damages the basic principles that a free market society depends on.
Perhaps the solution is to let them die, find work for those who are hurt by the transition, and encourage innovative new upstart companies to fill the void. It would be a painful transition, but in the long term I believe it would be better for the country.
Will, you are so right! I’m living in Australia now, and I moved over here in early October just ahead odf the primary meltdowns. I remember thinking and saying to everyone, what the h— are we doing bailing out businesses in a capitalkistic economy? And I thought, if we do this thing, “just once,” America will never ever again be the same. What has happened to personal responsibility, and the obligation to fail if what you do in business goes awry?
I’m glad I’m gone.
As always, Will, you have pointed out folly and provided “outside the box” solutions. Personally, you get me thinking like no other. Thank you.
As for the not-so-big 3, arrogance has indeed come home to roost. When you consider big business in the U.S., one common bugaboo is the stock market. Why is there so much mismanagement and malfeasance in the executive suites?
You would be astounded at how many investors have little or no understanding that the market is a separate entity from the companies listed. It is really just a betting parlor much like OTB (Off-Track-Betting) where people can bet on the horses in the race. Why is this a problem, you might ask.
It’s my observation that management may be too vested in the market or share value of the business. As the owners, the shareholders are management’s boss and as such, management is more focused on the stock price than the real health of the company. There-in lies the rub.
When the market perceives the company is strong, demand for ownership goes up and so does the price/share and “market capitalization.” This is all good when the company is doing well.
In down times however, demand goes down with the share-price, and the owners bail. Who’s left to pay the price? The owners have left. Even if you fire the CEO and every manager, that is a relatively small group in a company with tens of thousands of employees. So who really pays for the mistakes and the mess?
In the end, it’s the employees and the remaining shareholders who keep investing to take advantage of the cheap stock, or who can’t afford taking the loss by selling, or the funds so heavily invested in these so-called “blue chip” stocks.
Most of us can remember when GM was the largest company on the planet. How could they go under? Even now, the debate is whether we should let them, thinking of all those (9,000,000 worldwide, by recent estimates) “innocents” who would lose their jobs, companies and savings.
Just like the Obama craze, many stockholders are those same people who vote based on fad, trends, name brand, hope, and gullibility. After all, isn’t it unfathomable that GM, Ford AND Chrysler go under at the same time?? Usually, they just traded places like Avis and Hertz.
Management’s priority is like so many of us…please the boss, rather than please the customer. Lie if you have to but keep the boss in the dark, put lipstick on the pig and live like you’re immortal and immune from all those minor issues that affect the small companies. They have billions in liquid assets, in many cases.
Even if they foresee problems ahead and even if they admitted it to themselves, even if they had the courage to tell the truth and retrench, doesn’t that reveal there is trouble in paradise=stocks going down. (P.S. Isn’t that why smart investors track insider trading and there are laws against selling shares when the getting out is still good?
Tell the truth, weren’t American cars much more stylish than those early ugly ducklings from Honda and Toyota? And you could buy all kinds of “options” like air, power windows, etc. while they were “standard” in the imports. Americans always like the idea of having what the guy next door doesn’t. And you could lots of different colors and interiors, while the imports were limited to only a couple.
Toyota and Honda were patient. They got better at what they did and kept their low-cost strategies: Produce a few models, that lasted forever, in a few colors, with all the options people wanted as standard and when you have a winner… redesign rarely. (Isn’t that what made Volkswagens famous??)
I still drive a tan ‘90 Accord with 400,000+ trouble free miles and I see lots of others out there too.
When gasoline prices soared, weren’t Honda and Toyota first in higher mileage and hybrids?? And where they come from, $4 / gal gas is a bargain. They recognized and have always understood the American market better than the big 3 slobs. Sure, the mustang was popular and the mini-van was a hit. This only goes to prove we had the capability to produce what the U.S. market wanted.
And size isn’t the whole answer either. The Camry and Accord are bigger than ever. I rode in my daughters new Prius and at 6′2″, had plenty of head and leg room as she proudly announced 45 mpg with a cargo of 4.
Americans are full of contradictions. We want the big 3 to prosper, but we buy Hondas and Toyotas. We want low cost goods but we shop at Costco and Wall Mart, which kills almost every retailer nearby. We want healthy food, but we eat at McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s et. al. We want high paying jobs, but low price goods made in China.
Globalization has and will have the most negative impact on the American standard of living in my lifetime. No longer is our technology so superior that we could make what others couldn’t. We outsource to Mexico, India and China. Even China now out sources to Viet Nam, where they can take advantage of cheaper labor, now that Chinese standard of living is too expensive.
We’re a victim of our own “greed” raising share price because of artificial demand. The housing industry created artificial demand by offering mortgages to everyone and anyone. That demand was not for housing, but for investment potential.
It’s time for our business and political leaders to get creative and listen to the customer and it’s time for us “bosses” (i.e. voters and shareholders) to measure actual performance rather than the perceived value of the (stock) market. It’s time to pay for our sins. But who’s left to pay the price??
Werner
Will,
Of course you are right again as you are so often. And yet, the big three were not insincere in only serving their shareholders interests (which we expect in capitalism) by catering to what the American market was buying. What HAS! changed is that after seeing the effects of oil at $147/ barrel, the American public has finally seen the light and the folly of the wasteful binge we were on. I hope this really takes hold this time, but we forget so easily. 1956, 1973, 1981, etc. etc. all just more years gone by. Bin Laden said oil at $144 would punish the Americans, and I don’t think anyone could deny that it did, but sadly much of that price spike may be attributeable to capitalistic speculation.
I really love all the cars that arose in response to the Suez canal crisis, but the original Austin Mini which first sold in 1959, and placed second to the Ford Model T for car of the Century, is still my favorite. It held four adults and could get 50 MPG!, although I used to routinely get about 45 with mine, er .. I never tried for MPG. Just imagine what it would do with modern technology. But Ralph Nader and friends have made it to where a Smart Car, which is smaller than a Mini and only holds 2, weighs about 50% more, and in spite of much better technology, does not get better mileage. Your chances of killing yourself by driving into a bridge abutment are much less though, better to get the original. So regulations have not all been good for gas mileage and we need to keep that in mind before totally blaming the big three.
I think you are right about that the big three have only responded to mandates, but only because the average citizen was more than willing to buy what they were selling. Perhaps now, given what is selling, and the willingness of the Congress to lend them money to retool to make more efficient transportation, the big three will act. We also need to review the safety regulations that have made it difficult to deliver effiecient transportation. More government is not neccessarly a good thing.
We need a resolve to eliminate fossile fuel consumption and to live in the here and now.
Jon
Very thoughtful post Werner. You pretty much said it all.
Americans need to go back and read Economic 101 and learn about “opportunity cost.”
We have looked ONLY at the gain from our choices without assessing the cost of or what opportunity was lost from making that decision. Finally the cost is kicking in. Yuck!
We suffer from hyper-individualism and have chosen unchecked greed over sacrifice . As you said we will now pay for our “sins.” All of us. However, as with any good movie plot the main character, our country, must first journey to the brink of disaster and no hope, and then emerge triumphantly as the hero. We just may in the “brink of disaster” chapter of the movie for a few years (or more).
If we are all collectively willing to sacrifice for the gain of others then perhaps our children will inherit a better country than what as handed to us by the Baby boomers. They were lucky enough to have been raised by a generation where personal sacrifice and loss was necessary for survival. Lucky them, eh? May we do the same for the next generation…..It will be hard but it will be a thrill to innovate for others sake! Kind of like riding a 50 foot wave at a place called Mavericks in Half Moon Bay!
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First let’s talk about failing. How many companies have filed for bankruptcy and come back to life and success. Answer; many, it is done all of the time. Bankruptcy does not have to mean the end, with certain types of bankruptcy it can mean reorganization and new life. The best way to save these 3 companies is to let them save themselves and see if they have learned anything from their having gotten to this point. No person in their right mind would even think of bailing out 3 companies that have proven time and again that they are arrogant and stupid and never got IT. IT being what the global car consumers really wanted. The same information was out there for all auto manufacturers to translate and interpret. Toyota and Honda got the message and ran with it. Our Big 3 didn’t get it and didn’t run with it and have failed miserably through no one’s fault but their own. These lazy, arrogant, egotistical SOBs need to step up and take their medicine once and for all. Their boards of directors and management should all have been tossed out way before things got to this point. So is that the American taxpayers’ fault also? I’ll be damned if I want one cent of my tax money going to these arrogant and stupid beggars who still don’t and won’t get it. They haven’t changed and they won’t change, especially if they can get someone else stupid enough to make things easier for them to continue business as usual. Show me one thing they have made a commitment to that will change the status quo at these dinosaurs.
Nature has a way of taking care of its weak species, it is called natural selection - survival of the fittest. Most businesses big and small understand the rules of the game and do what it takes to not only survive but to thrive. These guys are just cruising in neutral and frankly that is all they seem to know how to do. Wake up folks, this way of doing business did not happen recently these guys have been in a long term decline but wouldn’t face up to reality. If they want to survive now they need to prove they have what it takes by doing whatever it takes to make it happen and I don’t mean begging for taxpayer money. This too big to fail crap is just that. If you can’t compete in the big leagues then maybe you need to scale back and try the minor leagues for a while and work on your fundamentals for another shot at the bigs or just hang up the old glove and spikes and admit you can’t hack it. NO BAILOUT PERIOD!!
I have read the story,and the responses. I do not know much about the car game. However, my uncle bought a car from a dealer,it was used, and began to use it. I remember when he came over and was telling my father that he was getting over 50 mpg. It was a full size sedan and he said it had more power than any car he had ever had. The dealer contacted my uncle and said they had to have the car back. It was an experimental car and not for sale. The dealer said the car was slated for destruction and had been shiped to the dealer by mistake. My uncle refused to turn it back in. The dealer kept after him, with threats of litagation. Then they offered him a new car for the experimental car. He took it, said it was more money than he would save on fuel. I was a little boy when this all took place and I don’t remember the make. 40 years have come and gone, and my uncle has gone. My father is almost 80 and when he remembers the car it changes make. I offer this family story with a grain of salt. I loved my uncle and was underfoot whenever he was around, I remember him telling my father about the car, I may have been 6 years old. The reason I relate this story is due to the reference of the motor mentioned in the responses. I was a Mechanic in the Service and heard about carboraters that gave 70 mpg in an 8 clinder engine. The Big Boys never wanted to increase milage. They killed inovation at every oppertunity. They have drank deep the cup of Greed… Now they gag… Well, if I were offering an option to them, one suggestion would be to offer a large prize to the public and higher learning institutions for ideas for new technology
This government bailout intervention of both homeowners and businesses irrationally penalizes the prudent, responsible and modest and instead rewards the profligate, reckless and greedy in society.
It is absolutely backward to give more money to people and institutions that make bad decisions. Government investment should reward those individuals and institututions that run their businesses and households successfully. If one wants to try to point to a failure of capitalism, it is exactly this current type of government bailout that destroys the benefits of efficient market capitalism.
Right now there is a crisis of confidence that is not being helped by the government leaders near panic demeanor.
David, hear here, I totally agree but since we really have no control over our govt. representatives after we elect them and turn them loose with our money, how do we get the message to them? That’s a whole other topic.
A few more random thoughts about GM and its self inflicted mortal wounds:
If the ladder isn’t leaning against the right wall, then each step taken only gets you to the wrong place faster.
Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.
Doing the right things right . . . every time.
Fighter pilots use a principle called the OODA Loop developed by Col. John Boyd, it stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. In battle the guy with the fastest OODA Loop wins. Col. Boyd was a famous air warfare and military strategist.
Be like bamboo: be flexible and adaptable but strong and don’t let anyone (without a plan) keep you from executing against your game plan. Change your game plan when necessary (based on the OODA Loop). GM had no clue what an OODA Loop is let alone how to use it to succeed.
“An island of inertia in a sea of change.”
‘Linear thinking in an asymmetrical world.”
“Denial spells disaster.”
What does it take to wipe out a Colossus? The so called “perfect storm” where all of the conditions come together at one time when no one has been focused on any of them and they have no backup plan let alone a primary plan. If you don’t really have a plan, something much less than the perfect storm can wipe you out. There are continuous “changes in the field of play” going on today and if you are playing to win you have to know what they are and how they will affect your future ability to compete. Otherwise, as they say, someone else will tell you what your future will be and be happy to give you a small bit part.
Times have not changed in one way, the wake up calls go out every day in the business world, but some people just don’t pick up the phone and get the message. Because you’ve been around for many decades doesn’t mean you are ‘guaranteed” any more. Just ask the dinosaurs and lots of Fortune 500 companies that no longer exist.
Animals survive in changing environments strictly on instinct programming, but us humans have the power of free choice. GM has been dying a slow death wandering an uncharted course and being more preoccupied with counting the low-hanging fruit on a few soon-to-be-dead trees than being concerned about the long term supply and location of life sustaining resources (aka Customers).
“The greatest challenge in most organizations is not figuring out how to fix a problem but recognizing there is a problem to be fixed.” You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge.
Definition of Insanity: Continuing to do things the same way but expecting different results.
We have seen the enemy and IT IS US (GM that is).
Right on! NO bail out for GM!!!!!!!! Nobody is going to bail out the local business person down the street. No one should bail out GM. Waste, fraud, and abuse. That is Big American Auto’s motto. Let the workers go to work for smarter car companies. I am SICK of all the bail outs. It removes any incentive to be thrifty.
I don’t think there should be a bailout. But there needs to be incentives to keep automakers in the US. You want to sell a car in the U.S. then it damn well should be built here.
If GM wants to build a car in Mexico, then they need to sell it in Mexico.
If someone want’s to build a car and ship it here, too bad. Build a plant, provide jobs and training and then market your US built product here.
Half the issues is the greed of Unions and American workers. The guy that puts the lugnuts on shouldn’t be making the same amount as the guy the designed the car to begin with. There is nothing wrong with status…
Great article in the Wall Street Journal today 11/17/08. Check out page A19 - “Why Bankruptcy Is the Best Option for GM” by Michael E. Levine. Kind of says it all. Congress, PAY ATTENTION!!
Don’t want to appear to be monopolizing this blog but just got some other thoughts that haven’t really been hit on. Bigness and too big to fail. Does it seem to anyone else that everything the government has been doing in this crisis seems to be creating lots more and bigger entities than we originally started out with in this crisis? In other words they are creating more of what they are saying was bad to begin with. And don’t the Big 3 auto companies also belong in this group? Whatever happened to anti-trust laws?
I remember when they broke up AT&T and then all of a sudden all of the subsidiaries that were split off started getting huge again and no one said a word. To me one of the major drawbacks of behemoths like GM, for example, is that size is probably their biggest claim to fame and the next step is this tangled web called too big to fail and all the dominoes that will begin falling if they are not rescued. It is proven time and time again in the marketplace that bigger is not better, only better is better. In the majority, it is being proven that once past a certain size, companies tend to become unmanageable. We need to start thinking again about limiting the size of companies as one way to make them more manageable and less able to create havoc if they fail for other reasons. We need to start learning from the past instead of repeating it. We need to re-introduce corporations and corporate management to the concept of corporate responsibility for their own success or demise. There is lots of blame and fault to go around for this crisis but it sure as hell has nothing to do with the taxpayers of America. We really do need to start reigning in our government and some of its key players such as Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid who never met a speech and a photo op they didn’t like, but sure as hell don’t let’s get into IQs and real qualifications for these jobs. We don’t need any more uninformed talk and outright lies and duplicity. We need well thought out, hard line decisions with the benefit of the American people as the objective. They still don’t listen to us and they still do what they want, so how do we really get their attention? Our future depends on figuring it out.
USA cannot continue to support the entire country. Car workers employees may far more than furniture factory workers
textile workers, telemarketers, etc (Congress sent these jobs off shore). They sit home with NO JOB!!!! If we bail out banks, car makers, etc., why don’t we bail out the homeless and thoses with no job (thanks to Congress!). It is long over due for Congress to put ALL of America first, rather than providing assistance to those who have already made more money than the average American. I have to close my small business recently due to lack of profit. Will you bail me out as well as every American in need? Think USA would be best to let these mega corporations bust. After all, excessive salaries/bonuses put them in financial debt. Let’s get back to letting those who can’t make it go under!! The more we give, the more they’ll want. WAKE UP CONGRESS!!
Rachel: I think it’s important to realize off shoring of our jobs is a function of many factors. Two of the primary forces behind job loss have been the ultra low-price expectations of the American consumer and short-term get rich demands of stockholders.
There is little concern about offshoring of jobs until the pay out from American Slot Exchange quits working for both those living inside (elite/”creative class”) and outside (blue collar or white collar) the bell jar.
This is just the beginning.
We have a hungry competitive global workforce that is not suffering from entitlement so we probably should not expect to see our jobs coming back for awhile until their entitlement quotient or standard of living reaches or exceeds our own.
I feel you pain. I hope your business comes back to life.
HERES WHAT WOULD SAVE GM
General Motors is too genereal. It stifles the american car industry. General motors was like in umbrella created to sheild earlier american car companies for bankruptcy. But today GM should shutdown pontianc and GMC and saab. IT should then let chevrolet and buick and caddilac and hummer etc. become individual compnies and develop a strong reliable brand reputation for themselves. EACH of the car companies should focus not on each other but on quality, energy efficiency, reliability and ” extreme cheapness”, therfore outselling asian and european automakers.BUT GM should not be disolved.General Motors should make exactly what it’s name says : General Motors. Gm should restructure to become a global manufaturing company of car engines car parts and other engineered transportation products at a high quality but “cheap” price. GM could expand globally to asia and europe and outsource it’s competitors there, therefore forcing foreign markets to rely on U.S products instead.This would all take foreign markets by surprise.