Globalization Isn't Killing GM

Despite such alleged shenanigans, Miller has made globalization and cost-cutting the focus of Delphi investors. Everyone on Wall Street wants to know, will Miller be able to get the cost cuts he needs to fix Delphi?

Focusing on globalization and cost-cutting makes sure the issue at Delphi isn't, as it's not at General Motors, the competence of the managers who got the company into this mess in the first place. It's not the likelihood that short-term cost-cutting is just a short-term fix. (If GM keeps losing market share and cuts production, you think the fix will stick at Delphi, its former parts division?) And it's not on the lack of a long-term vision that would lead to long-term growth.

The saddest, funniest comment I've heard out of GM CEO Wagoner recently was about growth. The company's strategy isn't limited to cost-cutting, he told Wall Street. "We continue to be equally committed to revenue drivers," he said, referring to the launch of such new products as its large SUVs in January. Yep, large SUVs. That's where the auto market is headed, with oil at $60 a barrel.

Not Just the Unskilled at Risk

The other advantage of all this focus on globalization and the sacrifices that U.S. workers have to make is that it takes attention away from how these "struggling" companies are investing their money.

While GM is trying to close plants in the U.S., GM Daewoo Auto, its South Korean subsidiary, is spending $150 million on a new design center and $100 million on a technical center near Seoul to develop new diesel engines that are critical for GM's sales growth in Europe.

Delphi's Asian division was exempted from the company's bankruptcy filing because it is not just profitable but expanding. The company now has 35 plants and technology development centers in Asia.

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