|
At the risk of getting flamed here, I think it was GM's own fault for miserable quality in the 70s and 80s, and I don't blame CAFE one bit - even though I completely disagree with it and I do think CAFE is a joke.
It's not CAFE that made Honda and Toyota make a profit on small cars, they made small cars all their life long before anyone even heard of CAFE..... and GM had done nothing but make land barges.
It's all either company knew how to do well. It was in the DNA of the companies long before it was in the wrong hands of Washington.
But I have a problem letting GM off the hook that easily. Even Bob Lutz today readily admits that the creation of the 1983 Cimaron was the lowest of the lowest points for GM, and that kind of thinking back then (or lack thereof) by the powers that be contribute in no small part to a great deal of people's perception of the company today.
If GM was so handcuffed by the UAW contracts 30 years ago, it's their own fault for caving in to them and letting the floor sweepers make thirty bucks an hour.
The NFL is the most profitable and lucrative of all the major sports today, and they play 1/10th the number of games played in a MLB season. Because it has salary caps and equal profit sharing among the teams. You don't end up with the Angels, Yankees, or Red Sox ability to sign anyone they want for $30 million/year and the KC Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Cleveland Indians forced to find other ways once their stars become too good to keep. Hence, the quality of their teams suffer.
Fair or unfair, that's the truth of the matter.
|