Melancholy

I'm not sure if it's been that I've been pretty low key this week, and taking some time for myself, or just decompressing from work, but it's been one of those blah weeks. I haven't been feeling 100% and have been feeling like I'm just not doing enough in life.

Usually, I don't let things going on in the nation/world get me down too much, but I've been fairly down about what's going on with the economy and the lives of others. I wish I could do more to help people. I wish I could buy a new car to help the automobile companies. I wish I could give people jobs. Things haven't necessarily been easy for me, but I have a job.

I think part of it is the book I've been reading also. Why GM Matters by William J. Holstein. It's been kind of an eye opening book, and just reminds me that despite the best laid plans, not everything will always work out the way you want it to. And while you can really want to move forward quickly, it isn't always in the best interest of your organization or company. When changing attitudes, you have to do it at a pace where the organization or company won't fall apart.

With those words of wisdom, I am off to read more about the transformation of GM, and hope that it can work for the sake of the families that rely on these companies for income and their livelihood.

More reading...

So, as I posted earlier this week, I finished The Believers. The other night, mostly due to the resignation of Rick Wagoner from GM, I started Why GM Matters. I know that not everything the media says is true, so I decided to try and learn a little more about why one of the largest companies in the U.S. is getting such an unfair shake, especially after the whole bank bailout.

I'm only about 50 pages into the book, but I'm starting to see a little bit of what Mr. Wagoner inherited - a broken business model. I'm not a business person by any means, but a company that has operated the way GM did for years is not easy to turn around. I'm curious to see what the rest of the book has to say, but I think the book is telling a little more of the story than the media has been.

Reading more about what has happened to this company also makes me angrier about the financial bailout to banks and financial institutions - where was the accountability for them? How come the administration hasn't told their CEO's to step down? How has that money been spent?

A lot of this is just off the top of my head questions, and it may or may not be coherent. But, had to get it out.

Oh, did I mention I might be biased because my dad has worked many years for auto suppliers? So yeah, I feel a sort of loyalty to American car companies.