By Ted Biederman
MotorwayAmerica Editor

(August 2009) I fully concur with the decision of Judge Robert Gerber, there was little choice considering the roll down consequences of total liquidation of GM. Gerber noted in his opinion from the U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan that the sale of the good assets would "prevent the death of the patient on the operating table."

"As nobody can seriously dispute, the only alternative to an immediate sale is liquidation -- a disastrous result for GM's creditors, its employees, the suppliers who depend on GM for their own existence, and the communities in which GM operates," Gerber wrote.

GM and Chrysler and the entire auto industry should be thankful to the U.S. and Canadian governments for stepping in. In fact we should all be thankful, including those naysayers and the whinny Detroit automotive press. Government Motors and interference is what they call it, but in truth if GM and Chrysler didn’t go hat in hand and beg for help there would be no saving of the industry as a whole and the Detroit media would have been dead in the water; so they too should be thankful.

The crying dealers can now stop crying and the antidotal sob stories can come to an end. The thousands of dealers remaining are still too many but a least now some might actually make a profit in their new car departments. I’m sure that the remaining dealer body is sighing with relief under their breath because the thinning of their ranks has been long overdue. But dealers are a pretty nice bunch of people and they certainly wouldn’t cheer about the changes affecting their fellow dealers. At least not out loud.

All of this aside we need to remember that the remnants of the industry are both powerful and fragile. The U.S. auto industry cannot continue to suffer from old bad habits and expect to survive, even Government Motors. If they do it right everyone is a winner including the taxpayers who have made a substantial investment. If they do it wrong the taxpayers will suffer a loss but will have learned a mighty lesson that if industries come begging they will let them go begging elsewhere. We are loath to repeat mistakes.  

I am still suspicious about the new GM. It has yet to clean house and the sounds coming from the company sound all too familiar. There is no third chance for GM, if they don’t get it right this time they are done. And the consequences of that will have a dramatic effect on all of us. Let’s hope that the new GM isn’t the old GM in disguise.