Blog
I believe the most important thing Americans must do is to secure their economic well-being in an increasingly challenging, complex world. What I have written about all these years is the process of creating wealth, not for any one individual, but for the United States as a whole. Ever since I was a young correspondent witnessing the emergence of China after the country opened in 1979, I’ve believed we have to get more serious about creating wealth. I retain faith in the resiliency of the U.S. economy and the enterprise of American people. If Americans have the right strategies, we can once again create widespread wealth. Come with me on this journey.
Mary Barra at GM: What It Really Means
December 23, 2013
Much of the media coverage of the selection of Mary Barra as CEO of General Motors has focused on the fact that she is a woman. That’s very interesting, but it’s not all of the story. Here are the other elements that are being largely ignored: –She is part of a generation of GM people […]
The New York Times And Its Weird Take on Japan
December 15, 2013
Here they go again! The New York Times, for years, has persisted in putting trivialized pieces like this one on their front page. I recall one about farmers in a remote area who couldn’t find wives and I recall another about the high-pitched sing-songy voices of elevator women in Japan, who greet riders when they […]
Daimler’s Investment in Alabama, and Other Auto Topics
November 4, 2013
Years go, we at Business Week discovered that Detroit was moving south, resulting in a cover story called Detroit South. Boy, did we get that one right. Major auto plants have sprung up in Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi, just off the top of my head. One of the companies that has made […]
Whither the U.S. Economy?
October 23, 2013
There is a school of opinion that if the United States simply waits long enough, we will have a “recovery.” Proponents of this school point to the unemployment numbers which have just trended downward to 7.2 percent. But if you read the lead editorials in today’s Wall Street Journal and New York Times, a very […]
The Chevy Volt Comes Down in Cost
October 18, 2013
General Motors CEO Dan Akerson made a splash at a meeting of Safeguard America’s Future Energy (SAFE) in Washington, which I attended, by announcing that GM will introduce a Malibu that can be powered by compressed natural gas. But that’s off sometime in the future. What he said that was perhaps even more exciting was […]
Will The Toyota Empire Strike Back?
October 17, 2013
This is the fourth and final post from a Toyota press trip. As we entered Toyota’s headquarters in Toyota City, I realized I hadn’t written or edited a major story about Toyota since 1985 when we put “Toyota’s Fast Lane” on the cover of Business Week. Most of my automotive writing since that era was […]
