What's good for the country....

What are the differences between General Motors and the country (US)? Is what’s good for the US still good for GM and vice-versa? Let's take a closer look.

GM and the US are identifiable around the world. They are brands that represent a certain image, a certain connotation, a certain meaning to a varied audience. They conjure up images of largeness, the 800 pound gorilla in the room and a global presence. The image is one of success and excess. Affluence and yet a certain misguided direction; trying to be what they were but never having quite the right outfit on, no longer working quite as effectively as their image, never living up to their advertising and press releases.

Many people depend on GM and the country both within the US borders and outside. The numbers are in the millions for GM and the hundreds of millions for the US. The idea of failure is not readily comprehensible. It bespeaks an unknown and uncertain possibility. What would happen if….?

They both produce products and services but the products and services, when measured against other products and services available elsewhere, don’t measure up in many ways. It may be appearance and styling. It may be fundamentals; under the hood type specifics. Where the world once awaited both of their moves for advancement and benefit it now looks elsewhere for change and enhancement. In GM’s case there are better alternatives. Not so in the case of the US. Both are dominated by bad management decisions and both are overwhelmed with labor unions that care little about “what’s good for either the country or GM.” The unions care only about their benefits, their perquisites, their pensions and their future. Both have senior management (congress for the US and the board for GM) that seem to look inward for answers rather than question and examine. Self introspection is lacking; the fundamentals are lacking. They have lost their way.

There is however one very significant difference between the US and GM in this regard. No one has to buy GM products. There are many good alternatives. What is the good alternative to the US? What happens if the US ceases to offer hope, liberty, future, benefit and reward for hard work, the place where an individual human being can respect the rights of others and still advance to their own drumbeat, where they can teach their children their values, their beliefs, their fundamentals? Where would one go to hear a leader say, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” “I regret that I have only one life to give to my country.” “We only ask that you give us a few acres of ground to bury our dead.”

There is one other significant difference between GM and the US. The US can borrow and borrow and borrow and when the borrowing sources dry up it can print money and pretend that it is still a strong force. The US is doing just that now. GM is all borrowed up. It has turned to the country for it sustenance and the country has offered a large but old teat. The unions want one or two more drops. GM has returned to the cradle and is fetally curled up, grasping at the teat. The teat is dry. GM needs to be reborn. The country and GM are very similar.