Will America Go the Way of General Motors?: Nachrichten of Switzerland

According to Swiss columnist Patrik Etschmayer, the United States bears a striking resemble to GM just before it collapsed.

For Nachrichten, Etschmayer writes in part:

“The United States today seems like General Motors did not too long ago. It’s still the greatest power in the ‘market,’ but customers are beginning to turn away from the goods it offers. … Brand ‘USA’ now has some nasty blemishes.”

Etschmayer then outlines the legacy he sees as lost:

The triumph of U.S. ideology after the Second World War was in no small measure due to the positive associations connected to America. Brand ‘USA’ was attractive and appealing. To befriend this country held the promise of some day living in a glittering world shining with chrome-plated cars. But this attraction – just like the status of Cadillac as a dream car – is long since gone. Instead there is a general unease toward the United States, a country regarded as aggressive, financially ailing, the birthplace of a global recession and partly autistic when it comes to understanding the sensitivities of other countries and their cultures. ”

And the challenge for Obama?:

“His first dance on egg shells will be to establish a new relationship with the Arab world without stepping too badly on Israel’s toes. Next, without loosing face, he must get close enough to the Iranians to keep them from obtaining the A-Bomb … and in the far east he needs to make lunatic Kim Jong-il see reason and keep him from playing too much with his new bomb. And Obama must do all of this against the background of a worldwide recession.”

By Patrik Etschmayer

Translated By Patrik Etschmayer

June 4, 2009

Switzerland – Nachrichten – Original Article (German)

The last few months – actually ever since his inauguration – have been a hellish time for Barack Obama. Wherever he looked, there was crackling and crumbling and at times, entire walls came tumbling down. The legacy of the Bush era was manifold and disastrous: Horrid diplomatic standing wherever you looked, an ailing domestic economy, a collapse in the financial sector, bankruptcies, unemployment, exploding deficits and a crisis in the Near and Middle East that seemed to be increasingly volatile.

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