Rick Wagoner Necessary Quotations

While this sounds like a large number, we recognize that it only goes part of the way we need to go to put GM North America in the fully competitive position that is necessary to maintain and enhance our future viability and growth.

The decisions we are announcing today were very difficult to reach because of their impact on our employees and the communities where we live and work. But these actions are necessary for G.M. to get its costs in line with our major global competitors.

To make this happen, we need to bring down costs and build the necessary infrastructure -- and the best way to do that is by business and government working together.

This is a difficult but necessary decision, and it was made only after the greatest deliberation. A number of other U.S. companies have already taken similar action in the face of these rising costs and increasing global competition. In particular, U.S. health-care costs continue to rise at high rates. When these benefits were conceived decades ago, no one could have foreseen the explosive cost inflation that we have been experiencing in recent years. These costs are simply not sustainable.

These actions are necessary for GM to get its costs in line with our major global competitors,

These actions are necessary for G.M. to get its costs in line with our major global competitors.