GM execs and California’s Republicans are like two peas in a pod

A couple of big stories this weekend were the continued failure of California’s elected officials to reach a deal on the State’s budget and the emergence of a “new” General Motors from it’s government-forced Chapter 11 reorganization.

Almost everyone is baffled by the inability of California’s legislative leaders to break the State’s budget stalemate, leaving it on the edge of bankruptcy. Concurrently, GM, which a month ago was itself flirting with financial ruin, has been given a second chance exactly because it was forced into bankruptcy.

In each case, layman and analyst alike were bewildered by a culture that had grown so completely isolated from how things work in the “real world.” California’s Governor and Legislature are like GM managment of six months ago, flying hat in hand to Washington in corporate jets when they should have traveled in hybrids.

Unfortunately, there is little chance that the federal government will take over California, force it to reorganize it’s outdated business model and shed billions of dollars of debt by selling off underperforming assets as it did with GM. However, California’s leaders could learn a great deal from the GM experience... Read more