February 22, 1978

America's Cup Half Full

Engine Charley should have taken elocution lessons from Tom Murphy, board chairman of General Motors.

Murphy was in town the other day to assure jittery rubber industry officials that all was right with the world.  The occasion was the fiftieth anniversary of the Akron Rubber Group, and his remarks hit the spot.

For a half hour Murphy fielded questions from the press about the effect of the prolonged coal strike on the production, employment and profit of General Motors.

Finally, with just a touch of impatience, the top executive of the world's largest automobile manufacturer unloaded this gem:

"We need to stop dwelling on the negative aspects of the country, the president, and the economy.

"Mr. Carter is the only president we've got, and the only one we will have for at least the next three years.  We are all in this thing (the economy) together and we have got to make it work.  We can't do it unless we all work together.

"Sure we've got problems.  Unemployment is higher than we think it needs to be - particularly for young, Black Americans.  If we could educate and employ young Blacks we would be at full employment.

"We've got to remind ourselves that employment in the United States is at a record high, and unemployment is down two points from what it was last year.

"Sure inflation is higher than we would like, but it is down two points in the last two months and we should be working to continue that trend.

"Sure General Motors didn't have its best year.  But it was a pretty good one, and we would take another one just like it."

Murphy's little sermon failed to make the 30-second television segments, or the dramatic reports of possible mass layoffs due to the coal strike.  Yet, it seems to me worthwhile to step back and find a little perspective.

Our inability to see the broad picture recalls another instance when a General Motors executive tried to properly relate his company to the welfare of the nation and was vilified for his effort.

It was 1953, and Charles E.  "Engine" Wilson, president of General Motors, was being questioned by a U.S. Senator about a possible conflict of interest with his appointment to Secretary of Defense by President Dwight Eisenhower.

"If a situation did arise," asked the Senator, "where you had to make a decision which was extremely adverse to the interests of your stock and General Motors Corporation - in the interests of the United States government - could you make that decision?"

To which Wilson replied in responsible words:

"Yes, sir, I could.  I cannot conceive of one, because for years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa.

"The difference did not exist.  Our country is too big.  It goes with the welfare of the country.  Our contribution to the nation is considerable."

From this innocent and well-meaning statement came the greatest misquote of the century.

As President Eisenhower put it in his memoirs: "This was interpreted and broadcast- it still is - in the form of 'What is good for General Motors is good for the country,' and of course the breast-beaters had a field day."

Being the biggest and best, General Motors has always been an easy target for those who bad-mouth capitalism.  Yet, capitalism has made this country great, still does a better job of sparking the economy than our socialist neighbors overseas, and is our only hope of pulling us back from the brink of financial collapse.

This is not to say that Murphy's optimism is cut from whole cloth.  The stock market has plummeted in the last few weeks, the value of the dollar abroad has sunk to a new low, several of our major cities are near bankruptcy, and the national debt is astronomical.

Taxes are about to wipe out the middle class and the small businesses which are -with all due respects to the income of Murphy, General Motors and the other giants of capitalism - the backbone of any economy.

Murphy professes satisfaction with the competitive market, but still is somewhat bewildered that foreign car builders have cornered 20 percent of the American sales total.

He points out that consumers benefit from competition in the form of lower prices.  Foreign manufacturers who build plants in this country, employ American workers and pay U.S. taxes make a valuable contribution to our economy and compete on an equal footing.

Those car makers who build overseas and export to the United Sates avoid U.S. taxes and thereby enjoy an unfair market advantage.

Murphy would rectify this imbalance with a hefty tax reduction at least twice that proposed by President Carter.  He recalls for us that the last tax decrease we received, in President John Kennedy's administration, stimulated our last economic spurt.

The tools to improve our situation, therefore, are known and lying ready.  We need only the courage to use them.

Murphy senses that courage, and in that respect his premise is well founded.  America's cup runneth not over - yet, it is half full rather than half empty.

Author: Lindsey Williams