But the reason it went into the recession in better shape was because management made the tough decisions a few years before, and so got ahead of the competitive curve. Frankly, I think it is more praiseworthy that they avoided the problems of the other automakers with smart management rather than simply surviving better after the fact.
You and I are in agreement - their decisions for some years before 2008, and into 2008 made them stronger, when it came to dealing with the downturn in 2008 - and yes, they had BETTER management, and I praise them for that.
All that said, as American corporate managment goes, had not enough of those good decisions been made, or had those decisions not worked out as well as they hoped, and THEN IF they too had entered 2008/9 in not so good shape, like GM, I do not believe the kind of people they have in management to be SO DIFFERENT that they too, under those different circumstances would not have asked for and taken gubernut assistance.