In a 6/3/09 WSJ op-ed, Pulitzer prize author Paul Ingrassia employs his considerable background with both GM and the automotive industry to summarize what went wrong at GM.

What was news to me was that, at the height of its market dominance in the 1970s, GM thought the lucrative contracts that it signed with the United Auto Workers (UAW) would prove too costly for smaller Ford and Chrysler, who would be forced to meet similar labor terms at their own factories. GM’s strategy and the gas crises of the 1970s helped pave the way for foreign automakers to competitively enter the U.S. market.