Why GM is in it's current mess

Twenty-five years ago, I accepted my first job out of college - sportswriter at a newspaper in Georgetown, South Carolina.
I needed a car. We went to the GM lot and picked out an 1984 Chevrolet Chevette, just eight miles on the odometer, and paid for it with money my parents had set aside since I was born.
Packed up the car and backed out of our garage. There was a puddle of transmission fluid on the floor. It made the 500-mile drive to Georgetown, but the next morning when I went to work there was transmission fluid on the parking lot.
Never bought or considered GM again. I'll always remember the transmission fluid on the ground.