No tears for GM

A lot is being said about GM these days.

With the automaker fast approaching what appears to be certain bankruptcy, it's not a fun time for anyone - the company, the consumers who buy General Motors products and the investors who have seen GM's stock fall to 75 cents a share.

But the biggest losers will be the employees. These are the people who have gone to work each day to produce the cars millions of Americans drive. It's been their livelihood, their lifeline to put food on the table, send their kids to college and help pay for their retirement.

But now scores of GM workers are facing layoffs - about 21,000 as the company plans to shutter 14 of its plants by year's end.

I have nothing but sympathy for those people. But GM? This is a company that overexpanded with far too many dealerships, a company that wasn't nearly fast enough on its feet when foreign competition began ramping up.

It's a business that was quick to pull in profits while they could be had, but slow to adapt to a rapidly changing industry. In short, GM was run like an overloaded freighter - slow to change course and slow to get where it was going.

The automaker already has plans to retool one of its factories to make its smallest U.S. cars ever. It will also allow the company to make 160,000 cars a year and create about 1,200 jobs.

That's good for those 1,200 people. But the fallout from this automaker's miscalulations will be felt for years to come.