GM's swan song.

An American giant is lying down and crying uncle. General Motors is claiming bankruptcy. We could blame the economic climate, and that's certainly a huge factor, but I think we also need to acknowledge one truth underlying old fashioned capitalist economics: If you can't compete, you won't make it.

For years Japanese automakers have shamed us with their reliability, low gas mileage, and overall quality. American cars might not be total lemons, but if you take a look at Consumer Reports, it becomes clear that Japan has been outperforming Detroit for quite a while.

I always thought it was pretty odd that when American car makers saw their balance sheets being sucked dry by Japanese manufacturers, their solution was to launch huge, impressive ad campaigns imploring us to "buy American." The subtext of these ads: True patriots buy American cars. Only traitors buy foreign.

Well, guilt-tripping your potential clients isn't a good long term strategy. Eventually people are going to figure out that they don't owe American car makers any favors, and they're better off buying economical, reliable cars. They're not traitors, they're merely living out the central pillar of American values: laissez faire capitalism.

The tragedy is that so many families will be losing their livelihood. It's not their fault their bosses were making huge mistakes. All their hard work over the years suddenly counts for nothing, and my heart goes out to them. This is the dark side of capitalism. The wealthy people at the helm call the shots, but the good people who work for them pay the price.

I wish the GM workers the very best of luck as they weather this storm.