Economic Breakdown on the Financial Highway

Remember the glory years…’50s…the ’60s? GM came out with new and better models every year. People paid attention – they measured the fins…admired the chrome…and listened to the roar of GM horsepower.

The highway system was getting better and better. Salaries were increasing – at least, until 1973. Gasoline was 25 cents a gallon. Everyone wanted to ‘See the USA in a Chevrolet.’

But nothing fails like success. GM was the world’s biggest and most successful company. Naturally, it attracted parasites. The unions wanted more and more – more paid time off…more health care benefits…better retirement programs. Management became parasitic too. It was too comfortable and too well-paid to resist. Everyone went along…getting what they could get…all the way to bankruptcy.

GM was a victim of its own success says Bill Bonner. Does this apply to the economy as a whole as well?