Planes, Pains And Automobiles

I never believed I would agree with something Mitt Romney had to say but today I do. For the past two years most statements coming from him were mired in presidential campaign hokum. In today's Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, however, we were given the chance to read a lucid, succinct approach to sorting out the auto industry quandary.

While I write this CNN is on in the background. It reports that the executive buffoons begging for billions of our dollars arrived in DC on a fleet of private jets. What? Granted they're in a rush to state their case but did their PR firms even suggest that this may not impart a good impression? It's like walking into a soup kitchen wearing Armani, holding a tin of Beluga and asking for fresh crackers and a silver knife. The PR firms at GM, Ford and Chrysler probably did suggest this might send the wrong message, but the memo was obviously trashed by these bloated egoists. This barefaced arrogance alone answers the question as to how they have nearly flushed these once majestic companies into fecal oblivion.

Romney outlines it beautifully in his piece: stop the brainless waste, learn to make a superior product by way of a respectable business plan (just like every business 101 course teaches) and earn trust while honoring your customer--America. Humility is lacking to a devastatingly large degree in these Emirs of Ego. They solicit and inveigle with the best when it comes to the needs of their companies but what is in fact at the core of the plea is the fate of their own personal fortunes and importance. What is obvious is that this cry for 25 billion is simply lies wrapped around malodorous panic at the prospect of being dethroned.

The unhappy aspect to all of this is that many honest, hard working people will, unfortunately, have to fall along with the companies. There is no easy answer for that. The arguably innocent laborers without private jets will be left to their own pains, sacrificed. Here is where America, collectively, would likely prefer any monies go--to assist unemployed workers until their personal stability is recovered. We are a nation who does this--always has and always will. Unlike the greed-blinded CEO's we, as a nation, tend to take care of our own in the end.

As for the remaining dilemma, as soon as GM goes ka-put one can bet that within a year Ford and Chrysler will miraculously unveil new cars that get 75 miles to the gallon and better built than any Volvo, BMW or Honda. The shame of perhaps following GM down the path of obliteration will spark a new kind of American automobile company, one that could have emerged decades before but was stifled by corporate greed, wide-ranging negligence and unbridled irresponsibility.

Business is just another word for well thought out gambling. When one sits at the table and witness another player lose a fortune one learns quickly how not to screw up similarly. These overpaid, egomaniacal "players" begging us for house credit should heed Romney's counsel and start playing sensibly, like honorable men. And their first ante in this new game should be their own prompt resignation.

Comments

[delayfx]

"As for the remaining dilemma, as soon as GM goes ka-put one can bet that within a year Ford and Chrysler will miraculously unveil new cars that get 75 miles to the gallon and better built than any Volvo, BMW or Honda."

Not really, no. If Ford and Chrysler (or GM, for that matter) could build cars that get 75 mpg to the standard of Honda (given that American quality already is as good as or better than European quality, and has been for several years) *they would*. The obstacles to doing so are engineering obstacles, not management obstacles. (And even if they could build them, it'd take 3-4 years before they went to market; production lead times in the auto industry are long for everyone, not just the American makers.)

It's sort of insulting to see people state things like that, as if the enormous auto industry is somehow suppressing these wonderful designs. Do you really think if they could build something like that, they wouldn't? Imagine the amount of market share it would take away from every other maker. They'd be insane not to manufacture that car, from any perspective.

[Dwayne Raymond - Huffpost Blogger]

Michael Moore said this last night on CNN and I tend to agree: "The problem is the cars they've been building. They've never listened to the consumers. They've just gone about it their own wrong way. I'll tell you, you know, I'm of mixed mind about this bailout, Larry, because I don't think these companies, with these management people, should be given a dime, because that's just going to be money going up in smoke or off to other countries. GM is currently building a $300 million factory in Russia right now to build SUVs, right outside of St. Petersburg. That's where your money's going to go, no matter what they say."

[kstuff]

Romney courted the people of Michigan while running for President. And now, he advocates for their devise. What a creep. Bankruptcy is not an option for the Big 3. The people best positioned to help the auto industry are people who know the industy, not outsiders in Washington. Look what they've done to our economy already? They're the solution? Give me a break.

[tompoe]

Dwayne: Why are you ignoring the fact that in January, we receive the Obama national policy for transportation, infrastructure, green technology? Our automobile industry will be converting itself in accordance with the Obama policy. The automobile industry will be converting to radically different transportation needs to meet our goal of transforming out society into the 21st century. Do we really want to shut it down? Mass transit will become more prominent in all our lives. Might we not want the automobile industry to focus on how to serve our near-term needs? Why do we want to pursue policies of the past? Why do we want to preserve failed free market policies that did not work? Bankruptcy is an option, but does it help move us forward? Romney spews garbage, outdated garbage. He's also a member of the Party of Corporate Welfare. Bankruptcy simply unloads the pension and healthcare burden onto taxpayers, and suddenly reemerges to continue on as if nothing ever happened. Bad advice, I think.

[talking snakes]

My usual route to work and back takes me by an auto salvage yard that is the resting place of a Chrysler k car that once was my ride. Thinking of that car brings back memories , mostly happy, but also reminds me of all the labor it took me to pay off the damn thing. Yet there it sits rusting in the sun.

The big three have been making cars for over a hundred years but that k car lasted a little more than 130,000 miles. In this new age when we are striving for a sustainable planet, what could be more sensible than a sustainable car.

But what about the economy you ask ? What about millions of people earning a living by producing a product that becomes land fill ? What about the earth , the place we live ? And what are the ultimate goals of capitalism ?

No one wants to talk about it........but making no decisions does indeed have consequences.