Yep, greed killed General Motors. Greed from all sides is the real down fall of a once great automaker. The name may still be there, but it will defiantly will never be the same. The chapter 11 filling will give the federal government 60% ownership of the company. Yes, I said 60% ownership and that in my mind at least, is everything against what capitalism means. The definition of Capitalism: an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, esp. as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.
My question is this, who's next for the Government to take over? Is this the first step to Socialism? Scary huh? Well it scares me. I guess this is what happens when greed comes from all sides.

No one is free from shame in this. GM's management have given themselves large salaries and over the top severance packages. I understand that with great power comes great responsibility, but it should also come with consequences when things go wrong. Not millions of dollars in your pocket when you have f@%ked up. I know it's not only the auto executives that do this, but when it effects the masses it's not only wrong but boarder line criminal. The first piece of the puzzle of their own demise.

No one is free from shame. The Unions have slowly ruined what Unions used to stand for. In case we've forgotten, Unions came into play when companies took advantage of workers. Long hours, very little pay, no health care and just brutal working conditions. Over time Unions have done themselves and their members in and put people out on the street. They've done this by over pricing themselves. This drove some companies to outsource to other countries. One more piece of the puzzle to the down fall of one of the biggest companies in the US.

No one is free from shame. Our government is now sticking their hands into private enterprise. People complain that the government can't fix the simplest thing in our country, what makes them think that they can fix a private company. They may say it's to help the people, but GM is closing 14 plants and doing away with over 2,000 dealerships. GM was also talking about importing a new compact car line from China. How is this going to help the people? Our government have given billions to this one company and now that company is going to use it pay workers from over seas. Oh yah, that money that was given was yours and mine. If that's not a kick in the junk, I don't know what is. This includes the GM employees who are going to loose their jobs.

I do have one question about our government having the controlling power over GM. Does this mean the GM workers are now government workers? Will they get the same benefits as postal workers? Can they retire in 20 years with a fat pension? Just something to think about.

So in closing, in my mind no one is free from shame in this. From the executives who over pay themselves, the Unions who over priced their labor and our government who took over a private company and took our money to pay workers from other countries to build cars for us, which we had no say so about were our money went.