A number of years ago, Charles E. Wilson, president of General Motors, said, “What’s good for the country is good for General Motors, and vice versa.” Our whole auto industry, in its usual mortician philosophy of long-range planning (look only inside the box), quickly adopted this mantra. We now see the sad results in their greed and pushing the Detroit gas guzzlers.
It was interesting to hear Ford say how they were making money elsewhere but not in North America. I’d bet my bottom dollar they only make fuel-efficient cars in those other countries.
On a recent news program, oil industry officials were being taken to task for their greed, and wouldn’t you know they were proclaiming the same old mantra, “What’s good for oil is good for the U.S.”
I’m reminded of the story about the hunter and his faithful dog going hunting in a big forest and getting lost. After many days and on the verge of starvation, the hunter finds a small pond of water and an old bucket. He fills the bucket with water, starts a fire with his last match and looks around for something to put in the bucket to make some soup.
He can’t find anything and then he notices his faithful dog’s long tail. He takes out his knife, lops off the tail, and proceeds to make a pail of nourishing soup. When he is full he takes the few tail bones remaining in the pot and gives them to his dog. After the dog gulped down the bones he went over and licked the hands of his kind old master.
William L. Rose
Pinehurst
