GM's List

GM is supposed to notify its dealerships about closings today. Bill has worked for a small dealership in southern Utah since 1986; before that he worked for another dealership for 8 years. That dealership also sells Pontiacs, so they're probably suffering right now. Boy, those old Trans Ams will be worth a mint!

Bill has been quiet and concerned, but oddly, not mentally ill at the prospect, which is new for him. He usually is a nervous wreck. He's the senior salesman, if GM does end its contract with the dealership, he will probably still have a job, unless the business closes altogether. That's not really a realistic assumption, though. They do sell a lot of used cars and have a body shop and mechanics. A lot of people would be out of work.

I guess it would be quite disastrous. Bill's 62 and we still have a small savings (I have no idea how much or where, I do know we lost a lot in the stock market debacle, but with our marital problems, I have no clue about the IRA or 401K funds), so we might be okay for awhile.

I feel very badly for the young families who depended on GM for their future. I'm not making any judgements about economic realities; I'm fairly ignorant about that stuff. I just feel badly for people.

Not so much for us, though. I think if we lost everything and had to sell our house and get into a smaller one, it might be the beginning for us. We never got to have "our" house. It was all about practicalities based on the fact that we had three kids when we started our marriage. We just jumped into it running. If that's even remotely grammatical.


General Motors has been good to us. Bill complains about his job all the time---the insecurity of it. It's really up and down at the best of times. Because he is a good salesman---and by that, I mean, he cares about his customers and takes care that they buy a good product for their needs---he has a lot of repeat customers who are older and secure financially. We've been able to tread water the last few years.
But all the economic stuff will surely catch up to us as well.

If the worst happened and the dealership closed, we would survive. The other families who depend on it for a living, not so much. It's really easy for people to toss off condemnation of GM and the other big car companies, but if you look at the small picture, peoples' lives are affected.

For us, for today, things are okay.