Jed sez: ...
> Let's not sell GM short. They are in huge trouble, but they are, > after all, a gigantic industrial company with a large share of the > best engineering and manufacturing talent in the world. It would not > take much to turn them around. Lutz compared their situation to the > space race triggered by Sputnik. It is a reasonable comparison, > although the U.S. was never far behind the Russians, and GM surely is > far behind Toyota right now. Still, it wouldn't take many years to > catch up, in an all-out effort. I am sure they are capable of it, if > only they can summon the will and the gumption. I agree. As is often the case, absolute terror, a visceral fear of failure turns out to be a marvelous motivator in getting things done. It doesn't matter whether the perceived threat is valid or not. If one believes the threat is real, there is sufficient motivation to overcome the perceived threat. There appear to be numerous historical accounts, obviously starting with the space race. I sometimes wonder how Hari Seldon's (Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series) psychohistory research would have gone about analyzing and subsequently predicting the outcome of the current energy crisis. When a particular threat is perceived by the general public there is often a tendency for the majority to "pull together", to set aside their differences, in an attempt to cooperate more effectively & overcome the perceived threat. OTOH, when life feels safe and prosperous, there is far less motivation for everyone to "pull together" to cooperate more effectively for the common good. It almost seems like a contradiction of terms, as one could find themselves wondering how anything ever gets down during the "good times" since there is far less compulsion to cooperate. Obviously, I'm over simplifying Seldon's equations. ;-) Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com www.zazzle.com/orionworks
