In 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism, South Korean economist Ha-Joon Chang (he teaches at Cambridge) points out that General Motors collapsed in 2008 because, one, it had long stopped making innovative automobiles, and, two, mission creep in its financial sector. At one point in the 00s, 80 percent of GM profits came from GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation), and so the company was more concerned about the happenings on Wall Street than what was happening in its factories or R&D labs. In short, the taxpayer did not bailout an automaker but another bank.
Chang also takes a brief detour into GM’s dark past. Back in the 30s, he points out, it helped the Nazis make the vehicles used in the famous Blitzkrieg (Lightning War). More details about this story are in Wikipedia’s History of General Motors:
In August 1938, a senior executive for General Motors, James D. Mooney, received the Grand Cross of the German Eagle for his distinguished service to the Reich. “Nazi armaments chief Albert Speer told a congressional investigator that Germany could not have attempted its September 1939 Blitzkrieg of Poland without the performance-boosting additive technology provided by Alfred P. Sloan and General Motors”.[58][59][60]
Charles Levinson, formerly deputy director of the European office of the CIO, alleged in his book, “Vodka-Cola”:[61]
“Alfred P. Sloan, James D. Mooney, John T. Smith and Graeme K. Howard remained on the General Motors-Opel board . . . in flagrant violation of existing legislation, information, contacts, transfers and trade continued [throughout the war] to flow between the firrn’s Detroit headquarters and its subsidiaries both in Allied countries and in territories controlled by the Axis powers. The financial records of Opel Russelsheim revealed that between 1942 and 1945 production and sales strategy were planned in close coordination with General Motors factories throughout the world…. In 1943, while its American manufacturers were equipping the United States Air Force, the German group were developing, manufacturing and assembling motors for the Messerschmitt 262, the first jet fighter in the world. This innovation gave the Nazis a basic technological advantage. With speeds up to 540 miles per hour, this aircraft could fly 100 miles per hour faster than its American rival, the piston-powered Mustang P51.”
David Farber, author of Sloan Rules: Alfred P. Sloan and the Triumph of General Motors (2002), stated that:[62]
“GM destroyed Sloan’s files to protect itself from lawsuits regarding antitrust issues, the neglect of automobile safety and its investments in Nazi Germany.”
So much evil in this world.
http://www.wikipeadia.org is actually a site tries to suck information out of you.
Blitzkrieg means “LIGHTNING war”, not “lightENing war”, Chuck. And, as the previous poster pointed out, you refer to “wikipedia” as “Wikipeadia”, which is not the same thing.
What do these spelling mistakes tell us about the writer that is Charles Mudede? Nothing more than that he does not care about his readership enough to show concern for his craft; his sloppiness and laziness are indicative of a contempt for the targets of his craft, the readers: for without readers, writing is merely masturbation, providing no value to anyone other than self-satisfaction. And masturbating in public (as this sloppy self-satisfaction and solipsism is when posted on the Stranger’s blog) merely shows contempt for the entire social strata, just as a dedicated onanist on a bus shows contempt for society and its rules.
Exactly, you pronounce it as “WEAKipidea”.
More like lightning strike or lightning battle, no so much war really, mein herr.
@3, you can’t even get GERMAN right? Remarkable. Are you sure you’re not performance art?
“Krieg” = “war”. Merriam-Webster: “German, from Blitz lightning + Krieg war”.
Uh, GM bought Adam Opel A.G. in 1933, so yeah, GM built war materiel for the Wehrmacht. If, let’s say, tomorrow the U.S. declares war on Japan, the government would seize factories owned by Toyota, Honda and Nissan to produce war materiel (assuming they actually try to fight to win, as was the case in WWII), so all of them would be doing the same thing Opel did. I’m betting GM didn’t have much choice in the matter…
@5- You’re guessing GM’s factories were seized and GM kicked out of the operation, and you’re wrong. The point is that GM America kept working with the Nazis when they had the chance to wash their hands of the situation.
Charles, you should look into IBM’s dealings with the Nazis. You know those numbers tattooed onto prisoners’ forearms? I can’t think of an evil as cold and complete as what they did.