Americans long have been aware that our automobile industry has been a very important part of our nation’s industrial and economic prosperity.
We love our cars, and employ lots of our people to make them.
When U.S. car sales are booming, our economy is generally booming. When car sales drop, we quickly recognize economic distress.
General Motors long has been the huge leader in U.S. — and world — automobile manufacturing and sales.
Some will remember that President Dwight D. Eisenhower, more than half a century ago, called upon the then-head of GM, Charles E. “Engine Charlie” Wilson, to serve as our secretary of defense. Although Mr. Wilson was highly qualified and did a good job, he ran into political controversy when he said he “thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa.”
There was really nothing wrong with what he said. But his comment was twisted and misquoted as “what’s good for General Motors is good for the country.” There was really nothing wrong about that, either. But his political critics tried to suggest Mr. Wilson was putting GM “first,” ahead of the nation’s interest.
But quoted accurately or misquoted, he was right. Our country and GM boomed together, then and now, or suffered economic difficulties together.
Today, it is interesting that General Motors’ car sales are greater in Communist China than in the United States!
GM sold 1.21 million cars in China from January through June this year — compared with “only” 1.07 million GM car sales in the United States in the same period.
Those figures reflect many things. One is that China is economically growing. It has a huge population of more than a billion people. It also means that GM cars are popular in China. The comparative figures may remind us that Americans are buying lots of “foreign” cars. “Fortunately, many of the “foreign” brands are being made in the United States. Consider the important fact that Volkswagen is coming to Chattanooga, for example.
But who ever would have thought that “what’s good for General Motors” is also good for Communist China?