The article in the August 8, 2005 New York Times reporting on a General Motors light truck that is manufactured in a GM plant in China and dominates that country’s minivan market has stayed with me. Perhaps, it was yesterday’s announcement of new efficiency regulations by the Bush regime that brings me to the keyboard this morning. The story, G.M. Thrives in China With Small, Thrifty Vans by Keith Bradsher reports on the history of the development of this minivan over the past ten years. “Their development was led by an American, Philip F. Murtaugh, a native of Ohio and a maverick executive who was willing to zig while the rest of G.M. was zagging. Mr. Murtaugh was able to create in China the kind of innovative environment that G.M. has struggled for decades to achieve in its American operations.”

This van gets 43 miles per gallon in city driving! GM actually can build efficient vehicles. How did this happen? It turns out that the Chinese government has vehicle efficiency regulations and simply requires this level of efficiency. So, if even GM can do this in China, imagine what they could do here if we had a government that was serious about improving our use of petroleum.

So that is the first tale.

The second tale is to imagine the fate of Mr. Murtaugh who pulled of this amazing feat of GM ingenuity. You might be entertaining thoughts that he would be brought back to Detroit to show the car city boys how to do it here. No such luck.

“A soft-spoken man in a company known for autocratic leaders, Mr. Murtaugh ran the China operations for more than nine years from his base in Shanghai, repeatedly making some of the best calls in the industry. Now he finds himself unemployed and living in a small community in rural Kentucky.

His resignation in March, at the age of 49, came shortly after senior company executives reorganized management to give more power to Detroit executives to oversee design, engineering and various manufacturing disciplines all over the world, including operations in China.”

I have been telling people for years that GM is a dinosaur, still standing perhaps, but a dinosaur waiting for the next deep recession to move it from its present status as a junk-bond-rated behemoth to the bankruptcy courts. This second tale of GM management brilliance is further evidence to bolster my case.

By the way, “Mr. Murtaugh said that he was playing a little golf now, but found himself with many idle hours.

“I’m looking for work,” he said, and then joked, “do you have a deck that needs painting?””