You can see what is wrong with GM by examining these two letters. The first
is someone crying because they can't do the job they were paid to do, run a
profitable business. The second, more level headed manager who shoots it
straight. The GM board should consider him for the GM CEO and chairman of
the board.

Also sounds by this admission GM is trying to openly corrupt the senate,
congress and president for bailout cash, your cash. Sounds like GM has
figured out it is easier to get government money than make good vehicles
people can afford to buy. I wonder if GM realizes when the tax payer gets
the hit for the billions in fiat money they will not be able to afford as
many of their over priced products? Maybe put off the purchase of a boat
with a GM motor?


GM writes:

Dear Employees & Suppliers,

Congress and the current Administration will soon determine whether to
provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through
one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's history. Your
elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is
critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global
financial crisis. As an employee or supplier, you have a lot at stake and
continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM
can count on you to have your voice heard. Thank you for your urgent action
and ongoing support.

Troy Clarke President General Motors North America

====
Another Executives response:

Gentlemen:

In response to your request to contact legislators and ask for a bailout for
the Big Three automakers please consider the following, and please pass my
thoughts on to Troy Clark, President of General Motors North America.

Politicians and Management of the Big 3 are both infected with the same
entitlement mentality that has spread like cancerous germs in UAW halls for
the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping this nation,
awaiting our new "messiah", Pres-elect Obama, to wave his magic wand and
make all our problems go away, while at the same time allowing our once
great nation to keep "living the dream"... Believe me folks, The dream is
over!

This dream where we can ignore the consumer for years while management
myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that
our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant,
ignorant and laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the price
for these atrocities...this dream where you still think the masses will line
up to buy our products for ever and ever.

Don't even think about telling me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not knowing
of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey
Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM's throughout the
Midwest during the past 30 years and what I've seen over those years in
these union shops can only be described as disgusting.

Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America, states: "There is
widespread sentiment throughout this country, and our government, and
especially via the news media, that the current crisis is completely the
result of bad management which it certainly is not."

You're right Mr. Clarke, it's not JUST management...how about the
electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making
people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass...so they can
come in on the weekend and make double and triple time...for a job they
easily could have done within their normal 40 hour work week. How about the
line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics...for
putting out too many parts on a shift...and for being too productive (We
certainly must not expose those lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for
decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?!?)

Do you folks really not know about this stuff?!? How about this great
sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea: "over the last few years
....we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors."
What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?!? Did we really
JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them?

The K car vs. the Accord?
The Pinto vs. the Civic?!?

Do I need to go on?

What a joke!

We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the United
States auto industry for decades. It's time to pay for your sins, Detroit.

I attended an economic summit last week where brilliant economist, Alan
Beaulieu, from the Institute of Trend Research, surprised the crowd when he
said he would not have given the banks a penny of "bailout money". "Yes, he
said, this would cause short term problems," but despite what people like
politicians and corporate magnates would have us believe, the sun would in
fact rise the next day... and the following very important thing would
happen...where there had been greedy and sloppy banks, new efficient ones
would pop up...that is how a free market system works...it does work...if we
would only let it work..."

But for some nondescript reason we are now deciding that the rest of the
world is right and that capitalism doesn't work - that we need the
government to step in and "save us"...Save us my ass, Hell - we're
nationalizing...and unfortunately too many of our once fine nation's
citizens don't even have a clue that this is what is really happening...But,
they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams...yeah -
THAT'S really important, isn't it...

Does it ever occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been producing
vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades in this country?... How can
that be??? Let's see... Fuel efficient... Listening to customers...
Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul...

Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr. W. Edwards Deming four
decades ago when he taught that by adopting appropriate principles of
management, organizations could increase quality and simultaneously reduce
costs. Ever increased productivity through quality and intelligent
planning... Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like "the
enemy"... Efficient front and back offices... Non union environment...

Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling anyone
anything they really don't already know down deep in their hearts.

I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting
someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into - my
children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did when I was their
age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts,
by the way) - I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the
consequences of their actions and work through it. Radical concept, huh...
Am I there for them in the wings? Of course - but only until such time as
they need to be fully on their own as adults.

I don't want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are
unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and
government. Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins. Bad
news people - it's coming whether we like it or not. The newly elected
Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it all go
away." I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost immediately
after the final vote count was tallied..."we really might not do it in a
year...or in four..." Where the Hell was that kind of talk when he was
RUNNING for office.

Stop trying to put off the inevitable folks ... That house in Florida really
isn't worth $750,000... People who jump across a border really don't deserve
free health care benefits... That job driving that forklift for the Big 3
really isn't worth $85,000 a year... We really shouldn't allow Wal-Mart to
stock their shelves with products acquired from a country that unfairly
manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious human rights
infractions on the face of the globe...

That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn't be
living in that $485,000 home... Let the market correct itself folks - it
will. Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna' be painful either way, and
the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it all, is a
nation that appreciates what it has...and doesn't live beyond its
means...and gets back to basics...and redevelops the patriotic work ethic
that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world...and probably
turns back to God.

Sorry - don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with you the
"bad news". I hope you take it to heart.

Gregory J. Knox, President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin, Ohio 45005