From Buzzle.com:
The three carmakers’ chief executives have faced heavy criticism for their performance at this week’s congressional hearings, where they resisted accepting any blame for difficulties they attributed entirely to the evaporation of credit markets. The executives were also condemned in the press for flying private jets to Washington to ask for public money. When asked by Democratic congressman Brad Sherman to raise their hands if they would sell their company jets to prevent bankruptcy, none of the three did so.
I wonder if these execs brought Tiffany designed tin cups with them as well?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Paulson won the lottery and now he has to deal with all his dead-beat cousins. Though I can’t blame Detroit for wanting a piece of the action.
Detroit just lost it’s protector in congress. Waxman will replace Dingell. In his zeal to protect the auto industry, it seems that Dingell’s stubborn clinging to dismal CAFE standards and obstruction of environmental legislation may actually play into the auto industry’s ultimate demise. I’m old enough to remember the 1973 oil shock and long gas lines. Detroit’s answer was cars like the Chevette, a cheap little car that still didn’t get great mileage. When those small cars didn’t sell, Detroit turned to tank like gas guzzling SUVs and got caught by the short hairs once again when we faced “DUH” another oil shock.
I have a lot of relatives who have worked in the auto industry and I respect all of their hard work and feelings, but Detroit management has had a head in the sand attitude for 30+ years about fuel efficiency.
I don’t want to see my friends and relatives lose any more jobs or have their pensions in jeopardy, but GM, Ford and Chrysler management all need to be fired if they do receive an industry wide federal bail out. Rick Wagonner, Alan Mullaly and Robert Nardelli can stand on line to pay 15 bucks for a checked bag to fly coach like the rest of us. BTW…Nardelli already ruined Home Depot. Why did Chrysler hire him?
Dave, I think you hit the nail on the head.
Larry, give this a read: Why the government should bail out the Big 3.
I’m with this guy. I know, or at least know of, and respect a few of the people he cites in the article (among other things, I did their website and my wife used to work for their Sr. Director for Global Strategy and Sponsor Development).
We can’t let the domestic automakers die. It’d be just too painful in our current climate.
Too painful is an understatement. How about economic apocalypse. I don’t think there is any climate where this can be allowed to happen. I’m sure you’ve heard the stats. 1 in 10 jobs in the US depend on the auto industry. No question there needs to be a plan in place though. You can’t just throw money at a sinking ship.
Believe me, Dave. I want the domestic auto industry to succeed. But, I’ve been in and around GM as a news guy and some time supplier of corporate films, along with staging NASCAR special events, and their management has had me baffled for decades. I’ve known individual GMers that greatly impressed me while at the same time knowing others who literally threw their industry under a bus. It’s likely they’ll get a bail out, but maybe Congress is right to demand that they give us a plan for success. When Lee Iaccoca came to Capitol Hill seeking help for Chrysler, he laid it all out down to specific cars that Chrysler would produce. The Detroit 3 can do the same. I still have no use for Bob Nardelli. I think he’s one of America’s worst managers for running Home Depot into the ground.