Shoot. May 1st went by and you could hear the crying of Republicans all over the land. Bin Laden was still dead! They could no longer pull him out at elections to scare people into voting for republicans. But as VP Joe Biden reminds us – not only is Bin Laden dead even though Republicans were able to keep him alive for a long time, but GM still lives, despite Republicans best effort to kill it and the jobs it brings.

Well, that made me think. GM has been around for a long time, but most American probably know little about the Company that has been the symbol of many of the ills and the good of corporate America.

1) Who was the original CEO of General Motors?
a) Ransom E. Olds
b) William C. Durant
c) Louis Chevrolet
d) Horace Dodge

2) What year did General Motors spring into existence?
a) 1905
b) 1913
c) 1899
d) 1908

3) What was the first auto brand under the General Motors tent?
a) Buick
b) Oldsmobile
c) Cadillac
d) Oakland

4) GM gained a major advantage over rival Ford in the late 1910s using what innovation?
a) color car bodies.
b) safety features, including safety glass
c) credit and financing
d) automatic transmissions

5) To counter falling sales of Cadillacs in the Depression, GM took what steps?
a) drastically reduced prices
b) rescinded a policy forbidding sales to African Americans
c) introduced auto air conditioning
d) gave huge discounts to military families.

6) From 1936 to 1950 GM with other companies conspired to
a) Replace city electric trams with buses
b) Replace trains with highways
c) undermine the expansion of passenger air service
d) lower gas mileage to increase oil sales

7) Unions and the auto industry have quite a shared history. When and where was the first UAW strike?
a) Detroit, 1933
b) Pontiac, 1934
c) Janesville, 1935
d) Flint, 1936

8) In the 1960s GM built an air-cooled car to compete with the VW Beetle. This car was
a) The Pontiac Firebird
b) The Olsmobile Starfire
c) The Chevrolet Corvair
d) The Opel Kadett

9) One of the most outspoken critics of General Motor’s recent policies is
a) Glen Greenwald
b) Roger Moore
c) Robert Reich
d) Timothy Geitner

10) One of the main keys to GM’s turnaround is its innovative hybrid vehicle the
a) Opel Ampera
b) Cadillac Escalade
c) Chevy Volt
d) Buick Regal

Well, these question only scratch the surface of a huge company. Maybe we’ll peek in a little deeper later.
But for today, without hesitation, here are some answers:

1) b) William C. Durant

2) d) Sept. 16, 1908

3) a) Buick (which Durant was the head of at the time)

4) c) financing. GM established GMAC, while Henry Ford was morally opposed to credit

5) b) rescinded the policy of not selling to African Americans

6) a) This is known as the Great American Streetcar Scandal

7) d) Flint sit-down strike of 1936

8) c) I was the proud owner of an air-coole Chevrolet Corvair – the unsafest car in America

9) b) Roger Moore (from Flint, Michigan)

10) c) The Chevy Volt