In the past I have touched on General Motors and the drain that its many liabilities have on its overall competitiveness. One of my investment friends forwarded me this interesting piece, As GM Goes, So Goes the Nation by Bill Gross, which argues that GM is just a harbinger of things to come. It’s up to you to think about an asset shift, but Gross makes the compelling point that given the choice would you buy a car at a premium to fund someone else’s healthcare and pension plan? Or do you buy an equally solid but cheaper vehicle, made in Asia? If you think this has serious implications for the US, think about how ugly things are going to be in Europe when sustained emerging market strength will wipe out its manufacturing sector.