Such A Shame.

       Ya know, I like General Motors. I like Chevrolets and Buicks and even Caddys. I really liked Oldsmobiles, but GM screwed up on this ignition switch thing with it's Cobalt and a few other small cars. Back in May of 2009, all GM's engineers agreed there was a problem with that switch, but GM argued against such a problem with relatives of accident victims. In some cases, vehemently. And it wasn't until relatively recently that they admitted there was any problem.
       Heck, they might still be denying it but they've got a new CEO. Her name is Mary T. Barra. she's now leading the charge to try to make things right. But even she has been around long enough to have known about this situation for at least a little while before GM was forced to make a recall of 778,000 cars. That's right, 778,000 cars. So the problem was in 2003 to 2007 Cobalts and other small cars.
       Does it make you wonder why it took so long for GM to admit there was a potentially fatal flaw in their cars? It all has to do with advanced math. See, engineers first have to admit there's a problem. Then they have to come up with a new switch. But it's the next step that involved the advanced math. The actuarial department had to to figure out how much it would cost to replace all those 778,000 switches. Then they had to figure out how much GM would have to pay injured or dead passengers in those cars involved in accidents. Then they show top management the difference between the cost of replacement as opposed to paying settlements for the flaw.
       It was decided not to mention the flaw. And in fact, deny it. That's what actuarial people do. They show the difference between one solution and another. They don't do the deciding, that's done by the bosses of the company. So somewhere there's a guy or, more likely, several people who decided to keep GMs mouth shut, even if it meant more customers would die.
       It's hard to make funny about something like this, but the funny thing about it is that it's unlikely that those few will ever see the inside of a jail cell. Big, important people rarely do time. Look at that general found guilty of sexual misconduct recently. He got a slap on the wrist. Ya see, it's because big important people pull their pant's on differently than the rest of us. And let's face it. The common thinking is that little people don't suffer from jail like big important people do, right?