And I would agree;
as oddly enough GM represents the future of oganized labor and fair labor compensation in America and the World, GM is the Progressives last great hope and also the last great hope for ballance and fairness in the world.
Strange how true the words of a prophet remain as their meaning and the world revolve around them.

PAX AMERICUS

I think everyone at GM needs a history lesson and like any sensible company narrow those things down to a set of core beliefs. Let us compare what GM was doing when they were doing it right.

1. A car for every purse and purpose.

Popular opinion today says you have too many models. But the customer wants everything, since when is the customer wrong? Mercedes-Benz has it right push the envelope with short and long weelbase and an almost inumerable amount of body styles sizes and options.

2. 5 strata.

Popular opinion says two brands are okay. Even Toyota does not believe that as it stated it wants to mimic Chevrolet's international success with its own value brand.

3. Strong independant brands with strong brand managers that have broad power and decision making ability to run their brands.

Popular opinion says this is inefficient, costs too much and it would weaken GM's central powers. The result is a brand like Buick, it is run like FEMA under an unwieldy bureaucratic mess. No one is empowered and therefore no one is responsible for the failure.

Some would say the world has changed. Yes it has, when GM layed out this strategy it was a fledgeling automaker among many but it made the tough decisions like these that made it stand out above the rest. You don't gain success by thinking like everybody else.

You supposed to stand on the shoulders of your predecessors not fall from them.

And making cars as good as they looked back then wouldn't hurt either.

GM this is who you are, who you were and who you should be. It beat the competition before and it can do it again. I would not reinvent the wheel while you are carrying a bus load of people going a hundred miles an hour while your being chased by fast and nimble predators.

Charlie "Engine" Wilson's quote was and is misperceived just as GM is misperceived now, I think mainly because of the MSM.

Anyway he was correct, and it does still apply to today.

Like most quotes over time, they evolve to fit the perception of the company. True in this case, isn't it?

By the way, I'm looking at the amount of comments you get on this blog; it's a snoozer!

Got you to respond, didn't it?

GM. has sure been good for me and my family since 1928

GM. has been behind every car i bought from them, so i am staying behind GM all the way no matter what.

GM is important to the country because it employs many workers as well as being the largest automobile manufacture in the world. The "mess" at GM can be cleaned up. It's not the first time GM faced a stiff test. However much of current situation is their own doing, as well as having an enormous health care burden from its current and retired employees' health plans, which result in $1,600 being added to regular models prices, reducing their financial compititiveness remains to be seen. I believe GM has the engineering prowress, leadership and financial strength to wither the storm.

One area that I think caught GM off guard is the dramatic increase in the cost of gas to consumers. GM in some divisions was in a horsepower war to prove their skills. Cars like the superchared Chevrolet ZR1, Cadillac CTS Z are great halo cars to show you can compete in the horsepower wars with Audi, BMW & Mercedes. And I don't fault them for that. But GM didn't have a reponse to hybrids from Japan or diesels from Germany and with gas so high, they need to show they can compete in fuel efficient cars as well. The Volt should be a top priority, since consumer's perceptions of GM would change, which would increase sales. As heathen as it may sound, especially since I was a teen in the 60's, I'd like to see GM make a statement with the new Camaro with a Flex Fuel engine with good power and excellent fuel economy. Young people don't want to drive in buggies. They still want fun, but very fuel efficient, cars.