GM has finally given up the ghost and filed for bankruptcy, leaving only the company Henry Ford built as the last auto manufacturer in the US. As the old GM dies, analysts speculate that another quarter million jobs will be lost, in supplier shops, dealerships and showrooms all across the nation. The stock was .81 cents this morning. The company's market cap an anemic $496 million after receiving fifty times that, ($25 billion) in an initial bailout, and then begging another $25 billion more from the taxpayers who stopped buying their cars. I guess they'll get your money one way or another. Once one of America's great corporations, GM now writes its name in another guest register--now the fourth largest bankruptcy in US history. (An $82.3. billion loss). It's stock will soon be removed from the DOW.
Yet the odd thing about all this Monday morning news is that the stock rallied on the news! By mid day the DOW was up nearly 250 points, and this while oil climbed almost 3.5% and began nudging up towards the $70/barrel price. It's a strange disconnect.
The news for GM has been echoed in so many other US corporations that have been losing value this year... McGraw Hill, Freddie Mac, Nordstrom, Sears, Qwest, Sprint, Hershey, JC Penny, Federated, not to even mention the big banks that failed last year like WaMu. Towns and cities all across the nation have experienced the blight, while others appear largely immune. Drive into the valley to Modesto CA for a look at some hard times and empty, abandonded neighborhoods. Visit lovely Carmel on the coast for quite another story--art galleries, elegant restaurants and boutiques still open.... Folks out window shopping, wine tasting and strolling along the well manicured streets... Sales clerks hawking elegant garments for the ridiculous low price of "only" $199. (Marked down from $425...for a shawl?)... The smiling face of former mayor and local celebrity Clint Eastwood is still prominently featured on city tourist guides. Clearly there are islands of wealth that will remain unscathed by this deep recession, the higher tiers of the economic caste system we have in this country.
But that aside, my thoughts are now with the little job shops, parts suppliers, car salesman, finance managers, and soon to be ex-factory workers as the old GM dies. We can see this in one of two ways--as the end of the long era of carcentric living in this country, the harbinger of our imperial decline, or as a time of transformation and change, where we release our illusions of getting something for nothing down and low, easy payments. backed by a government guarantee. GM will have to reinvent itself for the future that lies in the ashes of this recession and change. Hopefully it will emerge a leaner, more competitive and eventually profitable business--if they can just start delivering cars with the quality and efficiency of Toyota and Honda. The future is what we create with our choices and commitments made right now--in all things, be it personal relationships or business dealings.
Can you feel it? I sense the energy of change and transformation beginning to surge from the embers of this forest fire we've endured. It may not be green shoots yet, but the fire itself is burning away the old, unsustainable elements of our way of life and clearing a path for tomorrow. Do that in your life this year and you will be well on your way to better times and the "recovery" the news media keeps talking about. It's not here yet, but it begins with our choice to say "yes" to a possible new future that can and will transform our lives--if we but make it so.
Yet the odd thing about all this Monday morning news is that the stock rallied on the news! By mid day the DOW was up nearly 250 points, and this while oil climbed almost 3.5% and began nudging up towards the $70/barrel price. It's a strange disconnect.
The news for GM has been echoed in so many other US corporations that have been losing value this year... McGraw Hill, Freddie Mac, Nordstrom, Sears, Qwest, Sprint, Hershey, JC Penny, Federated, not to even mention the big banks that failed last year like WaMu. Towns and cities all across the nation have experienced the blight, while others appear largely immune. Drive into the valley to Modesto CA for a look at some hard times and empty, abandonded neighborhoods. Visit lovely Carmel on the coast for quite another story--art galleries, elegant restaurants and boutiques still open.... Folks out window shopping, wine tasting and strolling along the well manicured streets... Sales clerks hawking elegant garments for the ridiculous low price of "only" $199. (Marked down from $425...for a shawl?)... The smiling face of former mayor and local celebrity Clint Eastwood is still prominently featured on city tourist guides. Clearly there are islands of wealth that will remain unscathed by this deep recession, the higher tiers of the economic caste system we have in this country.
But that aside, my thoughts are now with the little job shops, parts suppliers, car salesman, finance managers, and soon to be ex-factory workers as the old GM dies. We can see this in one of two ways--as the end of the long era of carcentric living in this country, the harbinger of our imperial decline, or as a time of transformation and change, where we release our illusions of getting something for nothing down and low, easy payments. backed by a government guarantee. GM will have to reinvent itself for the future that lies in the ashes of this recession and change. Hopefully it will emerge a leaner, more competitive and eventually profitable business--if they can just start delivering cars with the quality and efficiency of Toyota and Honda. The future is what we create with our choices and commitments made right now--in all things, be it personal relationships or business dealings.
Can you feel it? I sense the energy of change and transformation beginning to surge from the embers of this forest fire we've endured. It may not be green shoots yet, but the fire itself is burning away the old, unsustainable elements of our way of life and clearing a path for tomorrow. Do that in your life this year and you will be well on your way to better times and the "recovery" the news media keeps talking about. It's not here yet, but it begins with our choice to say "yes" to a possible new future that can and will transform our lives--if we but make it so.
