By Noah Graff Here’s what I keep asking. You all are asking it too I’m sure. Is GM’s plight almost entirely the fault of Wagoner. Would a different person, a super genius, an extraordinary motivator make the company thrive, or would anyone have fallen victim to our awful economy? I think that it could have been somewhat different. After all, Toyota and Honda (although they are in tough times too) are not on the brink of bankruptcy. But was Wagoner handcuffed to begin with by crappy designs, terrible UAW agreements…etc.? Could Apple’s Steve Jobs have made GM thrive?
Author: Noah Graff
In honor of Rick Wagoner being ousted from GM, we thought it would be nice to reminisce about a brighter time in the company’s history. Here’s a little time capsule to the “Golden Age” of GM.
By Noah Graff Last week I went to Detroit to shoot a video spot for an advertiser of Today’s Machining World. A melancholy vibe permeated the city that I can only compare with the one I felt when I was last in New Orleans. When I arrived there were only three taxies and two limos sitting outside. Five vehicles to serve the entire Detroit Metro airport? I decided to query the empty rental car buses driving by to see if they had any cars available. I asked Hertz, Avis, and Budget, and every driver claimed that there weren’t any cars.…
The auction market for good used CNC machinery is being overwhelmed by a rush of supply. Even CNC Swiss lathes, always in short supply, are appearing in auction brochures almost weekly.Recently a dental instrument maker, Hu-Friedy Corporation of Chicago, sold 13 late model Stars in an online sales event.The machines were in beautiful condition, well maintained, and being sold because the company wanted the space for other manufacturing operations. Hilco had given the company a guarantee on the proceeds of the sale several months earlier and had been attempting to liquidate the machines prior to the auction date. They sold…
by Emily Halgrimson There’s nothing like an ailing economy to force people to enjoy the simple things in life. While cutting back on satellite radio subscriptions, trimming cell phone bills and upping Netflix use, we can reassess needs versus wants, not a clear distinction for most Americans. We often leave reflective periods liberated and relieved; knowing things are more balanced than before. What’s going on in people’s lives is also in happening in the flailing economy. It’s a time to clean up. By trying to stop this down time are we losing a chance to regroup the country for the…
By Noah Graff What if instead of giving all the bailout money to the reckless, untrustworthy banks and incompetent automakers our government just gave the money to the people? I’m not talking about 500 dollar “stimulus” checks. Say all of this aid money, maybe about $10,000,000,000 ($10 trillion!), was distributed to 100 million tax paying units in the U.S.? The people – our people, rich and poor, would get $100,000 each, and surly they would do some awesome things to stimulate the economy. Think about what people might use the money for – cars, houses, college educations, stocks, bonds, starting…
By September 2008, China had owned 585 billion U.S. dollars in U.S. government bonds, becoming the largest creditor of the world’s largest economy, according to the latest statistics from China’s Ministry of Finance. It bought new US national debts every month during 2008’s first three quarters. (news.xinhuanet.com)For years, China has had a surplus of money, which its national bank gleans from its high export to import trade imbalance. It takes the dollars it makes from U.S. consumers and then needs a reliable place to invest them, and it has historically invested heavily in U.S. treasuries along with private U.S. assets.…
By Noah Graff A recent column in the Wall Street Journal made a comparison of U.S. government policies in the present economy to those in the classic novel, Atlas Shrugged, written in 1957 by the anti-government, ultra capitalist Ayn Rand. Rand’s dogma which transcends all of her works has the fundamental principle that when government steps in to “bailout” incompetent businesses for the sake of the “common good” it causes a tumultuous domino effect. Wall Street Journal Columnist Stephen Moore summarizes the book’s moral as the following: “Politicians invariably respond to crises — that in most cases they themselves created…
By Noah Graff, Mitchell Lee Marks, a teacher at College of Business at San Francisco State University, wrote an editorial in today’s New York Times challenging an often used company mantra in a period of downsizing, “The company will identify ways to ‘work smarter’ and not just ‘work harder.’” He brings up the point that when people see coworkers laid off, they become averse to risk, holding back trying new, creative ideas which often require trial and error before they can become successful. He also argues that having less people will mean less brainpower to come up with new solutions,…
The Celtics lost for the sixth time in eight games last night. Although that may be depressing for Bostonians, it’s a lot less gloomy news than what’s going on in today’s manufacturing economy. Today I’m taking a break from opining on the Big Three to show you this beautiful display of waterjet technology. Question: What’s the most interesting product you’ve seen produced with waterjet?