Comments on: General Motors, Global Motors, Government Motors http://www.genplususa.com/general-motors-global-motors-government-motors/ Re-inventing 50 plus Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:21:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Janet Wendy Spiegel http://www.genplususa.com/general-motors-global-motors-government-motors/comment-page-1/#comment-1321 Janet Wendy Spiegel Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:49:35 +0000 http://www.genplususa.com/?p=907#comment-1321 Allen, what an excellent commentary. It's almost like when you have to give up a relationship because it is toxic. You love your partner, you crave them, but behind all that is a very black background. Again, today, I am befuddled. I received a voucher from GM to entice me to purchase a new car from GM. In fact, I'm posting about that. There is no doubt that corporate greed challenged thoughtfulness and foresight, and that all-too-powerful unions tied the hands of the financial overseers. But can GM become leaner and meaner? Or is it all too late, all too late? Allen, what an excellent commentary. It’s almost like when you have to give up a relationship because it is toxic. You love your partner, you crave them, but behind all that is a very black background. Again, today, I am befuddled. I received a voucher from GM to entice me to purchase a new car from GM. In fact, I’m posting about that. There is no doubt that corporate greed challenged thoughtfulness and foresight, and that all-too-powerful unions tied the hands of the financial overseers. But can GM become leaner and meaner? Or is it all too late, all too late?

]]> By: Allen http://www.genplususa.com/general-motors-global-motors-government-motors/comment-page-1/#comment-1296 Allen Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:40:00 +0000 http://www.genplususa.com/?p=907#comment-1296 I spent the first 25 years of my life in Ohio, growing up in a small town on Lake Erie (Sandusky) that had humongous mfg plants for each of the then Big 3: GM, Ford & Chrysler. My dad worked for over 25 years at the GM plant, and I did a summer stint there in 1978 after my 1st year of college. I remember the experience like it was yesterday . . . you didn't dare have a non-American vehicle in the parking lot else you suffered the fate of it being severely vandalized . . . machines would mysteriously shut down and not work if the hourly union employees didn't get their weekly paychecks by a prescribed time on each of their shifts . . . men's bathroom stalls were always full because management couldn't bug the union employees or tell them to get back to work if the hourly employee was "in the bathroom" . . . and the list goes on. My mom and dad each would get a new vehicle every 2 years, trading in their "old" cars and purchasing the new ones on the GM employee price purchasing program. When my 3 siblings and I got of driving age, the again "old" cars were graciously provided to us. I remember with great fondness first a Olds Delta 88, followed by a beautiful Chevy Malibu, followed then by a Vega (quite the step down from a Malibu), next up was a Citation wagon, and finally, a 4-door, 4-cylinder manual transmission Cavalier that had to be downshifted just to get up hills. But I loved those cars. And maybe that's why 2 of the 4 vehicles we own are Chevy's. I, too, am saddened to see GM having to be bailed out, but part of me is also very frustrated and angry that GM's management failed to make changes following the oil embargo of the 70's when folks across the U.S. sometimes had to wait in long filling station lines for hours. Instead of GM & Chrysler & Ford management being truly visionary and leading, they all kept yelling, "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!", and kept cranking out the V8 pickups and "boat" sedans like those made by Cadillac. It's as if the execs all thought the oil embargo was a tiny blip on the radar never to happen again. And it's this hubris that contributed in a major way to today's debacle. But it all could be worse when you compare what we've given to GM vs. the cost of being in Iraq: monies given to GM is what we spend every 3 days in Iraq. OUCH! I spent the first 25 years of my life in Ohio, growing up in a small town on Lake Erie (Sandusky) that had humongous mfg plants for each of the then Big 3: GM, Ford & Chrysler. My dad worked for over 25 years at the GM plant, and I did a summer stint there in 1978 after my 1st year of college. I remember the experience like it was yesterday . . . you didn’t dare have a non-American vehicle in the parking lot else you suffered the fate of it being severely vandalized . . . machines would mysteriously shut down and not work if the hourly union employees didn’t get their weekly paychecks by a prescribed time on each of their shifts . . . men’s bathroom stalls were always full because management couldn’t bug the union employees or tell them to get back to work if the hourly employee was “in the bathroom” . . . and the list goes on.

My mom and dad each would get a new vehicle every 2 years, trading in their “old” cars and purchasing the new ones on the GM employee price purchasing program. When my 3 siblings and I got of driving age, the again “old” cars were graciously provided to us. I remember with great fondness first a Olds Delta 88, followed by a beautiful Chevy Malibu, followed then by a Vega (quite the step down from a Malibu), next up was a Citation wagon, and finally, a 4-door, 4-cylinder manual transmission Cavalier that had to be downshifted just to get up hills. But I loved those cars. And maybe that’s why 2 of the 4 vehicles we own are Chevy’s.

I, too, am saddened to see GM having to be bailed out, but part of me is also very frustrated and angry that GM’s management failed to make changes following the oil embargo of the 70′s when folks across the U.S. sometimes had to wait in long filling station lines for hours. Instead of GM & Chrysler & Ford management being truly visionary and leading, they all kept yelling, “SHOW ME THE MONEY!!”, and kept cranking out the V8 pickups and “boat” sedans like those made by Cadillac. It’s as if the execs all thought the oil embargo was a tiny blip on the radar never to happen again. And it’s this hubris that contributed in a major way to today’s debacle.

But it all could be worse when you compare what we’ve given to GM vs. the cost of being in Iraq: monies given to GM is what we spend every 3 days in Iraq. OUCH!

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