LESS HUM FOR THE HUMMERS - AT 4:48 P.M. ET:  The Hummer is, in a way, a symbol of American power and patriotism.  It's the civilian version of the Army's best-known transport vehicle.  Hummers are made by GM.  Well, they were made by GM.  Seems there'll be some changes made, and they may say a lot about the decline in American industrial power.  From The New York Times:

UANGZHOU, China — General Motors has reached a preliminary agreement for the sale of its Hummer brand of large sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks to a machinery company in western China with ambitions to become a carmaker, a person with knowledge of the Chinese government approval process said Tuesday.

The Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company Ltd., based in Chengdu, concluded the agreement with G.M., said the person, who insisted on anonymity.

COMMENT:  Maybe I'm being irrational, but I find this sad.  It's like the Chinese buying Boeing.  It reminds me of all those great European and British companies that had to be sold because they failed under socialism.  Is history telling us something?

June 2, 2009