Pawlenty: Government is like General Motors; it will fail if it doesn't change

By Rachel E. Stassen-Berger

At the Minnesota Business Partnership dinner tonight, Gov. Tim Pawlenty painted a bleak portrait of automobile giant General Motors, the state of government in Minnesota and in the United States. In doing so, he began to sketch out what may be a theme he'll sound as he explores potentially running for president in 2012.

"There is a great deal of parallel between the rise and now fall of General Motors and the rise and concerns about the United States of America and public policy across this great country," Pawlenty said.

Pawlenty said General Motors had been arrogant, smug and unwilling to change for years.

"We then had a pattern for many decades of management and unions building up cost structures that were unsustainable, irresponsible and reckless," he said. "You might say, 'Why is the governor up spouting off General Motors at this dinner?'"

He explained by quoting this from a corporate governance study of General Motors:

"The history of GM is an instructive story in how success can breed failure; how being the biggest and the best can lead to arrogance and an inability to adapt. GM was the premier car company in the world for so long that it failed to see the need for change. The company was so used to being leader that it couldn't contemplate following others. It was this mindset, this overwhelming belief that it was GM's divine right to be the most successful automobile company on earth that condemned the company."

"So I ask you tonight: Does any of that sound familiar as it relates to public policy in the United States of America in the year 2009? Are there any parallels to be drawn from the decision-making that you have seen in Washington, DC, not just now but over the last several decades regardless of which party has been in power?" Pawlenty said. "Does any of that sound like Minnesota? And if it does, then I hope that concerns you. It concerns me....

Our federal government in the United States of America would make General Motors look like Google in terms of innovation and moving forward," he said.

He said Congress and president don't even try to balance the budget and the country is so deeply in debt to China that it can't negotiate firmly on Iranian sanctions. He decried the "entitlement mentality" in Minnesota that has allowed the state's budget to increase every two years until last year.

"Underneath the hood, now we need to do the hard work of changing this system," he said.

He said part of that work rests on reducing the cost of health care. He didn't offer any ideas on health care he hasn't talked about before but did pitch the proposals he had unveiled at the state Capitol earlier in the day. (Read about those proposals here.)