Turbulent times at GM; fear and loathing in the workplace

Robert Samuelson looks at the Rodney Dangerfield economy and ventures a guess on why it gets no respect in “Anxiety amid the prosperity”:

A puzzle of our time is why the economy has become increasingly stable while individual industries have become increasingly unstable. The continuing turmoil at General Motors and Ford simply reflects this more pervasive industrial instability -- also in airlines, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and the mass media, among others. Hardly a week passes without layoffs from some major company, which is ``downsizing,'' ``restructuring'' or ``outsourcing.'' And yet, the broader economy has undeniably become more stable.

Samuelson suggests, based on the work of two economists at NYU, that while the economy as a whole is healthy, the churning of globalization and competition is leading to uncertainty in the workplace. In a related vein, Fortune magazine has a cover story titled “The tragedy of General Motors”:

It is the instinctive wish of most American businesspeople, even those unlikely to be directly affected, that General Motors not go bankrupt. True, some people will say, "They had it coming to them." But the majority will be more practical, telling themselves that the company is so central to the economy, so sprawling in its commercial reach, that bankruptcy--"going into chapter," as restructuring folks say--is ominous almost beyond contemplation. And yet the evidence points, with increasing certitude, to bankruptcy.

Yikes. The depressing Fortune article casts blame all around but the most accessible metaphor is that General Motors is a dinosaur among the mammals. As I’ve said many times when referring to Social Security: things that can’t go on forever, don’t. General Motors must experience accelerated evolution or it’s heading for Chapter 11.