Letters to the editor, January 21, 2009The Four Horsemen of a different colorRe: Did the Four Horsemen destroy the auto industry?" by Darin Gilley (Guest Opinion published Jan. 14). Mr. Gilley's article attributes the decline of the American auto industry to four horsemen. He identifies these as tax policy, trade policy, health care and energy. From my perspective, the U.S. auto industry needs to look a little closer to home when seeking to place blame for its woes. As a former auto industry employee, I offer four horsemen of a different type: Horseman No. 1 - Bureaucracy. Upon leaving the military, I accepted a position with General Motors. I joined the company at a time when it was not popular to drive a foreign car onto the GM lots, so I purchased two new GM vehicles. Both developed maintenance problems shortly thereafter and I asked for a half-day off to get my cars fixed. I was told by my supervisor that she would need to get three supervisors above her to approve my request. Horseman No. 2 - Inferior quality and design. I spend about six months out of each year traveling and renting autos produced in the U.S. Very few of the cars I have driven meet the quality and reliability standards of a Toyota Camry. Admittedly, my evaluations are subjective, but they appear to mirror the judgment of the American car-buying public. Horseman No. 3 - Failure to innovate. After going through GM's excellent training program, I joined the materials group. I noticed that one of my colleagues was spending four days a week manually reprioritizing a list of critical parts shortages. I suggested we visit the information technology office and inquired if they could create a computer program that would sort the shortage list in a particular fashion. Three days later we had the report. My associate, who had been working for the company for almost 20 years, was extremely distraught. His words to me, "You've taken my job away!" Horseman No. 4 - A stagnant management culture. I joined General Motors after 10 years of management experience in the Army. I was hired under GM's college graduate training program. The understanding with my hiring director was that they "had a plan" and that I would soon be moved to a more responsible position. Shortly thereafter, there was a large management shake-up. I expressed my concern and asked to meet with my department's new director. After three requests, my supervisor came back and informed me, "They don't want to talk with you." As a result, I submitted my resignation. I later learned that it was viewed as inappropriate for a junior employee to request a meeting with a director. At my exit interview, the director of human resources was clearly miffed with me. Rather than ask what the organization could have done differently to retain me as an employee, he complained about my earlier request to meet with my department director. I suspect that my former HR director would fully agree with Mr. Gilley's conclusion that outside forces are the cause of our domestic auto industry's problems. Based upon my brief tenure with GM, I respectfully disagree. Bob Rhodes Sequim New year thoughts Once again, the e-mail gods have, through a missed keystroke, stolen the golden fleece and I am staring at a blank screen, having lost to the ether yet another work of beauty .... Tonight, however, I am thinking about the "capering loon who does soft-shoe in the White House while young Americans are dismembered and splattered in Iraq" - as President Bush was so aptly described in Dick Cavett's New York Times blog - and I think of the planetary damage he has fostered/allowed/condoned/ordered/caused/prevented? I think of Obama and his No Drama approach to governance. I think of Senate leader Harry Reid and his opportunity to be great or small, as he either enables a Blagojavichien power play or stands on principle and thereby presents Obama with the first of many unnecessary (but inevitable) roadblocks to recovery. I think of the Jews, chewing away at a troublesome, rocket-spewing piece of desert, half the size of Whidbey Island, themselves increasingly caught in a web of shortsightedness and dogma, that seems the best description of the Israeli playbook these last 60 years. I think of our pal Patty Alderson who, having worked seven days a week at her health spa, had to toss in the towel, close her business and admit defeat after seven long, killing years. I think of my neighbors who are so disheartened that they refuse to focus on the issues long enough to form an opinion and vote -- ever - on anything. I think tonight of the Department of Homeland Security and the fact that I fought a war in southeast Asia to prevent ever having to answer a question, in my own country, about what I was doing, where I was going or what the **** I have in the trunk. I think of the fact that I have worked basically every day since I was 17, paid taxes all those years to support and maintain our shared infrastructure, and yet am told that I have no right to travel unimpeded on the highway that I helped purchase, as such travel is a privilege granted only to those who are willing to be subject to whatever random traffic stop might seem appropriate to our over-zealous and unconstitutionally emboldened Border Patrol. I think of the fact that "Boston Legal," in all its relevant causticity, has been canceled only to be replaced by a TV series extolling the virtues of the aforementioned Department of Homeland Security. Here would be a good time to go to your dictionary and look up irony. I think of many things tonight. Best wishes for a good new year. Pat Clark Sequim |
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