[brucepick]

My beef with GM here - and the other American makers also - is that they did not LEAD.

Huh? Capitalist theory and whatnot might say they don't have to lead, but only need to make money for the shareholders. Bunk, I say.

Selling big cars and trucks to Americans is like selling beer or other mental recreational aids to students. It's easy. And its a LOT easier than selling them an education.

The manufacturers failed us. They should have figured out how to make fuel efficient reliable cars and sold them to us. They should have said, "You want an unreliable gas hog? Go find someone else to make it! We're going to give you reliability, fuel economy, and safety. Made right here in the USA".

They could have saved their skins but they went for the easy sell instead. They got what they earned.

Unfortunately, as Pogo said, "they are us", because so many of us are shareholders through our mutual funds etc. There's plenty blame to go around.