GM trying to load the dice?

Evidently it takes the looming prospect of bankruptcy and dire straits to get an apology from an American car company, as we can see in this open letter from GM:

“We are in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great
Depression,” said GM in the missive. “Just like you, we have been
severely impacted by events outside our control. Despite moving quickly
to reduce our planned spending by over $20 billion, GM finds itself
precariously and frighteningly close to running out of cash.”

Also:

“At times we violated your trust by letting our quality fall below
industry standards and our designs become lackluster,” wrote GM. “We
have proliferated our brands and dealer network to the point where we
lost adequate focus on our core U.S. market.”

MAGICAL MC TRANSLATION TOOL: "Yeah, we need your money, we're sorry we screwed up and lost your money, please be nice and give us more of your money."

I am not sure that requires an apology, except in a government-controlled market. In a free market, if your product is clearly inferior, you lose. Minimal damage is done, except to the employees, perhaps, who have to find new jobs. No apology to consumers necessary, they have already moved on to other products, which is why you are in trouble in the first place.

But with enough government interference, it's not a question of just changing to other products.
For example, our airline industry. If foreign carriers were allowed to compete for the US domestic air travel market, most US carriers would cease to exist. But stifling competition forces consumers to make do with their limited options.

Now that GM has apologized, I am waiting for others to follow. A liberal congress should respond well to this kind of thing, but public opinion is against the auto bail-out, so we'll see...

-()4|<.