It really wasn't all that long ago that GM was a major bulwark of the U.S. economy, and the gas guzzlers it churned out helped trigger the 1956 U.S. legislation that nurtured the mass construction of highways. The first shock came in the 1970s when motorists were subjected to something they hadn't seen since World War II: rationing. Dependent on foreign nations for supply, Americans found themselves waiting on line for gas, subjected to doing so on certain days depending on whether their license plate number was even or odd.
Legislation of a much different sort was then passed, requiring U.S. carmakers to make autos that got many more miles to the gallon. Subcompacts, not muscle cars, soon cluttered American roads.
With the emergence of sports-utility vehicles, and the huge boost to business they provided, it was clear that Americans and the Detroit automakers forgot the lessons of the 1970s. In fact, GM's Hummer brand was an almost-defiant thumb of the nose to that decade.
But the meteoric rise in gas prices, coupled with the twin credit and mortgage crises, is causing a systemic change in automaking, and GM just may be gasping for air.
While CEO Rick Waggoner maintains that the struggling automaker has sufficient cash to make it through the year, default may be lurking, and bankruptcy could even be part of its future as it scurries to restructure its crippling debt, suggests TheStreet's Jim Cramer. Investors responded early Monday by pushing GM's stock to its lowest price since the Eisenhower years of 1954.
Is GM really too big to fail? Not if it can't attract the capital it needs to meet its debt payments. Whatever unfolds at GM is a vivid reminder that the U.S. economy mutates constantly and may be changing at its fastest pace ever. The Deal three years ago speculated about the enormous fallout a possible GM bankruptcy could have. It may be time to think about those repercussions again. - Terry Brennan
Comments
Remember the old adage, "What's good for General Motors is good for America?" It's especially relevant now that Toyota Motor Corp. is on the verge of passing General Motors Corp. in U.S. auto sales. 
GM and Ford help Big Oil make big profits. Where is the Big Oil's return in favor?? Nothing!
Hell of a story!