Trouble at GM? It’s not the first time

The wheels have come off at GM, but it could be worse.

After all, you will wake up on Tuesday June 2, 2009, and there will still be a General Motors. (That’s good.) You will own the lion’s share of GM until (and if) it starts to make money, and then someone else will get to buy it back. (That’s mixed.) I would probably favor the idea that we (aka, the federal government/U. S. Treasury) would make some big bucks before we sell. Some question whether making money anytime soon is going to happen.

If you read 2008 Salisbury Automobile Classic on AroundDesMoines.com last September -especially the links to Billy Durant – you know that GM has had its share of trouble.

Billy Durant created GM in 1908 for a small sum of money, raised a large sum of money by selling stock, bought Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Oakland (Pontiac), was pushed out in 1910, quickly joined forces with a race driver named Chevrolet and founded Chevrolet Motors, regained GM in 1916, was forced out again in 1920, and before he could rebuild his fortune, was ruined in the stock market crash of 1929. Durant was a dandy entrepreneur who lived too close to the edge once too often.

You can examine the way GM views its history. While the Web site has a corporate spin, the photos make it great fun for a car buff.

CNBC.com has a timeline history that was posted on May 27 2009. While it wanders a bit, it has a lot of facts.

The foreign press is sometimes a nice read since they mince fewer words. Try the Telegraph.co.uk from England.

So while the trouble at GM is not the first trouble, it is the biggest bankruptcy in U. S. history, and it does have our attention.

I sure hope we like the changes in GM ‘cuz looking for a Chevy is never going to be the same.

photos by flickr by bobster885 and James G. Lindberg

James is James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell College and retired from Drake University.
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