San Francisco
How the mighty are falling. I remember spending several days at Saab-Scania headquarters and at various manufacturing facilities in and around Stockholm as a graduate student there in 1980. Saab-Scania enjoyed both a rich history in automobiles, trucks, engines, and airplanes as well as a distinctly bright future. The company was nimble and technologically innovative, and it seemed to value its employees.
Saab-Scania was ultimately split up in the mid-90s and, left to the vagaries of the global automobile market, Saab Automobile AB began its long slide into oblivion. The company's deterioration was predictably exacerbated when General Motors acquired a major stake in the firm at the same time. Now, having lost $343 million last year, Saab Automobile is on the brink of failing.
The intriguing part of this sad tale is that the Swedish government has no intent of bailing out the company, despite French, German, British and American government support (actual or intended) for their ailing automobile firms. This is not to say that a bailout is the right thing to do; far from it. But who would have imagined that Sweden would be the nation to say, "Nej, tack." After all, the traditional Swedish "third way" between Darwinian capitalism and socialism was supposed to present capitalism with a human face. One might wonder what will happen to those workers in Saab company towns like Trollhattan?
The center-right Swedish government seems to have drawn a line in the sand on this issue, citing the usual mush about market forces taking care of themselves. They won't. Enterprise Minister Maud Olofsson told The New York Times last month that, "The Swedish state is not prepared to own car factories" although they were prepared to own the failed banks they nationalized in the recent past. So Saab may well fail some day very soon.
Of course, the real issue here appears to be the General Motors role, which has clearly (and understandably) irked the Swedes. Olofsson told the Times that "We are very disappointed in G.M., but we are not prepared to risk taxpayers' money. This is not a game of Monopoly." G.M. has indicated that it will pull out of Saab by the end of this year, further infuriating Minister Olofsson. "They're washing their hands of Saab and dropping it in the laps of the Swedish taxpayers," she said. Hey Maud, it's G.M. What did you expect?
p.s. There is no doubting why One Market ranks as one of this city's best restaurants. It's a marvelous room with exquisite views of the Ferry Terminal and the Embarcadero trolleys. Plus, Billy Philadelphia's renditions of Kern, Porter and the Gershwin tunes make a great place even better.
How the mighty are falling. I remember spending several days at Saab-Scania headquarters and at various manufacturing facilities in and around Stockholm as a graduate student there in 1980. Saab-Scania enjoyed both a rich history in automobiles, trucks, engines, and airplanes as well as a distinctly bright future. The company was nimble and technologically innovative, and it seemed to value its employees.
Saab-Scania was ultimately split up in the mid-90s and, left to the vagaries of the global automobile market, Saab Automobile AB began its long slide into oblivion. The company's deterioration was predictably exacerbated when General Motors acquired a major stake in the firm at the same time. Now, having lost $343 million last year, Saab Automobile is on the brink of failing.
The intriguing part of this sad tale is that the Swedish government has no intent of bailing out the company, despite French, German, British and American government support (actual or intended) for their ailing automobile firms. This is not to say that a bailout is the right thing to do; far from it. But who would have imagined that Sweden would be the nation to say, "Nej, tack." After all, the traditional Swedish "third way" between Darwinian capitalism and socialism was supposed to present capitalism with a human face. One might wonder what will happen to those workers in Saab company towns like Trollhattan?
The center-right Swedish government seems to have drawn a line in the sand on this issue, citing the usual mush about market forces taking care of themselves. They won't. Enterprise Minister Maud Olofsson told The New York Times last month that, "The Swedish state is not prepared to own car factories" although they were prepared to own the failed banks they nationalized in the recent past. So Saab may well fail some day very soon.
Of course, the real issue here appears to be the General Motors role, which has clearly (and understandably) irked the Swedes. Olofsson told the Times that "We are very disappointed in G.M., but we are not prepared to risk taxpayers' money. This is not a game of Monopoly." G.M. has indicated that it will pull out of Saab by the end of this year, further infuriating Minister Olofsson. "They're washing their hands of Saab and dropping it in the laps of the Swedish taxpayers," she said. Hey Maud, it's G.M. What did you expect?
p.s. There is no doubting why One Market ranks as one of this city's best restaurants. It's a marvelous room with exquisite views of the Ferry Terminal and the Embarcadero trolleys. Plus, Billy Philadelphia's renditions of Kern, Porter and the Gershwin tunes make a great place even better.