Toronto’s Globe and Mail has an interesting story about Detroit and its significance in a recent edition.  Excerpt and link:

DETROIT — In the soaring atrium entrance of the global headquarters of General Motors Corp., you’ve got your Christmas theme and you’ve got your auto theme.

Christmas-wise, note the two majestic trees that rise, at a guess, 40 feet skyward. “Paid $300,000 for the two trees,” says a maintenance worker, adding, “It’s all re-rod inside of there.” Three hundred thou seems a lot. “That was when everything was going good,” Mr. Maintenance says.

The twin trees, with their red star/red ball/red poinsettia adornments, sit adjacent to twin 2009 CXL FWD Buick Enclaves in gold mist metallic with cashmere cocoa accents. Note the leather “seating surfaces,” the leather-wrapped steering wheels and the proudly branded Bose sound system. If you tag $7,315 (U.S.) in options – and, really, who could resist? – onto a base price of $36,440, you’re looking at $43,755 worth of very big car. The ultimate Christmas gift, the ultimate consumer good.

There are no notes of corporate contrition on display. No whiff of the violation of the trust of the American consumer, a message GM suddenly seized upon this week as part of its apologia to the buying class, before the U.S. Senate failed to agree on a proposed bailout, before the auto maker was brought to its knees.

Full story:

http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081212.wrcover1213/BNStory/Business/home

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