General Motors and the United Auto Workers: the black and white of everything

GM and UAW proved to be leaders in incompetence

GM’s demise as a major automobile company is an example of fear and greed run amok. As the curtain falls on the future of a giant free enterprise, it signals the end of one era and the beginning of another.

In a previous article titled Magic, Pixie Dust and the Mirror or Truth, I praised the fact that GM management was not strong enough to resist the unrealistic demands of the UAW. They did not know how to demonstrate the backbone to address excesses with firmness and leadership. This repetitive failure occurred over decades and accumulated into the bankruptcy we now face.

The UAW tries to evade responsibility for contributing to the demise of GM with excessive demands for fancy wages, benefits and job banks, pointing the finger at GM’s weak management. While they hinted that GM leadership had a responsibility to avoid accepting unrealistic demands, they placed strike threats at the top of bargaining tactics. GM’s weak management feared losing market share in a prolonged strike and relented. It was about avoiding a bill that is due today in the hopes of being able to pay it tomorrow.

Tomorrow never came for GM or the UAW. Both now lose more than they would have gained had they acted responsibly by stepping up without fear on the part of GM and greed on the part of the UAW.

the missing steps

GM management needed to tell shareholders that we may lose market share for a while, but as a company, we will come out stronger. The UAW needed to tell members that winning a contract that put GM in a losing financial position was not good for the union, its members, or any suppliers that depended on GM for product sales.

We must examine whether GM and the UAW recognized the extreme nature of the destiny they created for the future. Did they know where this course would lead or were they just ignorant? If we are ignorant, we must learn from this and never be so ignorant again. If they ignored this information, we must learn that ignoring a loss will not prevent it from happening. The course they both followed was either ignorant of the truth or ignorant of this basic truth; you cannot spend more than what you have entered the door.

Even a lemonade stand operator knows that if he is paying more for products, services than he is getting as profit on sales, the business will dissolve, he will be bankrupt and the lemonade stand will cease to exist.

Both GM and the UAW should have known. Unfortunately, that is a philosophy that is beginning to permeate America. Those who earn more should give it to those who earn less. As with the UAW contract claims, this current perversion has no restriction limits to ensure it does not exceed income from any source.

current steps

Today we see political drum promotion programs costing staggering sums of money. This question is not advocating a discussion about the good and bad of the programs, but rather a discussion about how you pay. The same discussion should have been present at the UAW and GM contract meetings when the union’s demands and GM’s position were discussed. Just as current discussions ignore this issue in meetings, previous discussions ignored the simple formula that if you want to keep operating, expenses cannot exceed income.

There are many proposals that continue to drain resources from a future America in excess of its capacity to provide. A single bill that is also staggering proposes to provide benefits to illegal aliens as if they were legal US citizens. Like all proposals, who pays for this?

The mirror of truth: past, present and future

Now is the time to put GM and the UAW in front of the Mirror of Truth to see if any truth emerges from their story. History teaches us that events occur based on a series of steps that lead to a result. We have discussed the allowable events that led to GM’s bankruptcy.

The US Congress should serve as stewardship for US shareholders, its citizens. Its role is to ensure that we do not spend more than we have as income. The leadership of the country makes sure that we meet the current obligations of today and tomorrow. Our Management must serve as a check and balance against excessive spending.

Currently, the Presidential Administration assumes the role of the UAW, submitting contracts and then negotiating the terms to expand benefits for its members. The above reasoning uses the same logic as the UAW in its contract negotiations with GM. “People just want their fair share. It’s right to increase all established programs to benefit members no matter the cost, no matter what deficit hole it leaves the country years into the future. It’s right; it’s just fair that everyone share the wealth of the country and that everyone receives the same benefits”.

It is time to place Congress and the Administration before the Mirror of Truth to see if any truth emerges from their actions and plans. Mirror of Truth features a lot of layered elements of verbiage supposedly for the good of the people, which really tends to solidify a political base.

What made America great?

Perhaps we should stop for a moment and ask what made the United States the world’s leading power. Was it through handouts, through social programs that distributed wealth from the few to the many? Was it because of the attempt to promote mediocrity as a benchmark or norm for success? Was he instilling in all children that standing out from other children in school or in achievement is a negative? Is it because we don’t keep score in children’s games to get rid of the idea of ​​losing? Was it when we felt that winning is bad?

One of the ironies in children’s games where scores are not kept so they don’t feel bad if they lose is that children know reality. They know they lost, they know by how much they lost, and they feel like they lost. At least our children understand the importance of winning and knowing that you won. They know that when they lose they feel bad and they don’t want to feel that way again.

They might practice more, they might still lose but they won’t let it go as they will still try to win until some well meaning but clueless adult tells them not to worry, it’s not such a bad thing to lose. Oh yeah, it’s bad to lose. We do not want to lose children; We do not want a losing country. We learn to win, we learn to lose in our childish games, and we learn that to succeed you must try harder. Build character, which builds the future of any country.

The Mirror of Truth Revised

It’s time to put all parties, GM and UAW and Congress and the President in front of the Mirror of Truth once again. Perhaps this time the lesson learned by GM and the UAW would inspire Congress to act like good managers and the president not to repeat the historic lesson of UAW leadership contributing to the bankruptcy of a once world-leading sales company. Of automobiles. No country or company is too big to escape the penalty resulting from intentional decisions that violate basic principles of money management or social reform.