As you get older, you need more things." General Motors has the biggest company pension plan in the United States, an obligation of almost $90-billion in 2004, placing a further burden on the company. General Motors wasn't always this troubled. In the 1950s, most middle-class Americans wanted to drive a GM car. Analysts say GM held more than half of the U.S. automotive market share until the 1970s. But when Japanese, German and Korean automakers entered the U.S. market, consumers began to turn away from General Motors. Today, GM's market share has dropped to just 25 percent. In April, the company reported a loss of more than $1 billion for the first quarter of 2005. And credit agencies recently cut the company's bond rating to junk status. General Motors declined VOA's request for an interview. But Bob Crandall, an auto industry expert at the Brookings Institution research group in Washington D.C., says that the Baltimore plant closure is just one of more to come.