Sometime in the future when contemplative stories are written about the brutal effects of the currently ongoing "Great Recession", one catastrophe will stand out amongst all others.
I am betting it won't be the projected $1.7 trillion deficit (the first budget delivered by Barack Obama), the collapse of Lehman Brothers, nor the collapse of the U.S. housing market. No, I am betting it will be the bankruptcy of the once largest car company in the world, General Motors.
The psychological and economic enormity of the G.M. going "Chapter 11" cannot be overestimated!!
Founded in 1908, G.M. is headquartered in downtown Detroit, Michigan, its massive headquarters omnipresent from the Windsor waterfront. General Motors by the mid-1950s was the biggest company in the United States, and the world’s single largest employer. The company sold more cars globally than anyone from 1931 to 2007. Not even the New York Yankees have a record that good. It has taken a lot of screw-ups and some really bad luck to go from top world car maker to Chapter 11. And when G.M. comes out of Chapter 11, the U.S. government will own an astonishing 70% of the new corporation.
Yes, we will look back upon the "Great Recession" and its "Crown Jewel" with understandable and profound sadness.
