Obama suggests some auto execs should lose jobs

[Gunny]

By PHILIP ELLIOTT

CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama announced support Sunday for a short-term government bailout of the nation's carmakers that is tied to industry restructuring. He also accused auto executives of a persistent "head-in-the sand approach" to long-festering problems.

Obama said Congress was doing "the exact right thing" in drafting legislation that "holds the auto industry's feet to the fire" at the same time it tries to prevent its demise.

more ... Obama suggests some auto execs should lose jobs - Yahoo! News

 

[mattskramer]

more ... Obama suggests some auto execs should lose jobs - Yahoo! News

Good! Fire them and give their money to the underlings! I wish that the big guys would be held accountable for decisions that they make. It is a shame when executives with multi-million dollar salaries make decisions that result in bad consequences for their company and not have to suffer for it. It is usually the little guy that gets hurt the worst. The peons and lackeys (the low people on the totem pole) who are struggling to make ends meet who get layoffs or pay-cuts or even lose their pensions at the hands of the rich decision makers.

Read this example. Doesn’t it just make your blood boil?

Yeah. We promised you a pension if you would work for us but after so many years of your valuable service, we changed our minds. We lied to you. Our more important people who screwed things up for you get your money.

United Airlines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Most controversial of all, however, was the 2005 cancellation of its pension plan, the largest such default in U.S. corporate history. It renegotiated its contracts with the pilots' and mechanics' unions and the Assosiation of Flight Attendants for lower pay. Criticism was also leveled at the CEO, Glenn Tilton, for demanding pay cuts from employees while receiving the highest salary of any major U.S. airline CEO

Glenn Tilton - I hope you sleep well at night you @#^#%^&(#!!!!

Sorry but this is a soapbox for me if I ever had one!!

 

[TR_GOP]

Granted sometimes the entire business climate turns south or sudden shifts in a market segment catches the largest players off guard because of the organization's sheer size and complexity. I'll also acknowledge the fact CEO positions carry a weight of responsibility no one can fully appreciate from afar. Sometimes the tough decisions that affect people's lives are the right ones when the future of the company hangs in the balance. And just to be clear because I've heard it too many times before and right now I'm not in the mood; I don't envy the rich for the sake of it, nor am I a "socialist."

Barack Obama is exactly right, and since he is preparing to accept the reins of power over an organization that dwarfs entities such as GM there's no one in a stronger position to call for accountability aside from the current officeholder (not that it'll ever cross his mind.). Obama has more conviction that any of the Democrats who's looked the other way while this Wall Street culture of greed took hold. The President administers the SEC, FTC, DOJ, and the rest of the regulatory alphabet soup tasked with overseeing trade, commerce, and industry. But Congress has oversight authority through a litany of committees and sub-committees. Not only did Bush put the interest of the few above the nation's citizens through a hands-off approach, so did Congress. At last I feel there is someone in Washington who intends to reverse course, someone who actually maintains a connection to the people when it's not election time and has the courage to use the office as a bully pulpit.

Think about how far we've fallen over the past 20 or 30 years. The Captains of Industry are now the rats on the ship. H. Ross Perot personally saw to it that two of his employees trapped in a Terhan prison in the midst of the revolution escaped to freedom. These bozos who can't bring their limos and Gulfstreams down from orbit to consider the people and institutions they're ruining need to be shot down.

Fire all of them, federalize the industry, and put Roger Penske in charge of the whole mess. The man knows cars, he know the value of cutting edge technology and changing markets, most importantly he knows how to win. Everybody laughed when he began initial talks with Mercedes-Benz about importing the SmartCar a few years ago. It's a Euro car, nobody will buy it. Look where his Penske Automotive Group ranks in relation to industry peers;

Rank Company 500 rank Revenues
($ millions)
1 AutoNation 138 17,950.6
2 Penske Automotive Group 194 13,448.6
3 Sonic Automotive 298 8,849.1
4 Hertz Global Holdings 304 8,685.6
5 CarMax 333 7,465.7
6 Group 1 Automotive 379 6,393.0
7 Avis Budget Group 411 5,986.0
8 Asbury Automotive Group 421 5,775.9
9 Lithia Motors 622 3,320.1
10 PHH 687 2,920.0

Penske has been a maverick his entire career, shaping his blue-collar businesses into a mini empire on wheels. Starting with a Chevrolet dealership in Philadelphia in 1965, he has built Penske Corp. into a $17 billion amalgamation of public and private transportation enterprises. Its crown jewel is Penske Automotive Group (Charts, Fortune 500), the country's second-largest network of car dealers.

Now that he's eligible for Social Security, Penske could be spending more time at his summer place on Nantucket or cruising on his 150-foot yacht, Detroit Eagle. Not a chance. Penske has no interest in retiring and in fact keeps looking for more mountains to climb.

"I love to work," he said during an interview with Fortune in New York City. "If you are having fun, it is no problem going into your office."

Roger Penske adds the Smart car to his $17B empire - Oct. 5, 2007

 

[editec]

Now unless we're intimately involved in the day-to-day business of running a car company none of us are qualified to say who should get the axe.

But I do not doubt that these companies are going to downsize their upper and middle management given that they'll undoubtably be downsizing their workforce.

 

[Paulie]

Now unless we're intimately involved in the day-to-day business of running a car company none of us are qualified to say who should get the axe.

Oh I think we all have a pretty good idea where to start. Obviously you start at the top where executive decisions are made, and go from there. The ones who have turned the companies into more of a financial services firm than an automobile company are probably good candidates to get axed.

 

[editec]

Obama suggests some auto execs should lose jobs

You see this is how I KNOW obama isn't REMOTELY a leftie.

A real leftie would be calling for SOME BANKERS TO LOSE THEIR LIVES.

 

[RodISHI]

You see this is how I KNOW obama isn't REMOTELY a leftie.

A real leftie would be calling for SOME BANKERS TO LOSE THEIR LIVES.

No that would be called a true conservative. The one who preserves the lives of others.

 

[WillowTree]

obamalama should apply the same standards to the congresscritters.. they should all lose their jobs,,

 

[BaronVonBigmeat]

"We're going to show those fatcats a thing or two! Heads will roll! It's time for change!"

*gives billions to shitty companies*

 

[editec]

"We're going to show those fatcats a thing or two! Heads will roll! It's time for change!"

*gives billions to shitty companies*

If a man's reach cannot exceed his grasp, then what's a revolution for?

 

[jillian]

"We're going to show those fatcats a thing or two! Heads will roll! It's time for change!"

*gives billions to shitty companies*

nooooooooooooooooooo....they should let 2.5 million jobs and american manufacturing go bye bye....

yeppers.....

 

[editec]

nooooooooooooooooooo....they should let 2.5 million jobs and american manufacturing go bye bye....

yeppers.....

Next you'll be telling me that we shouldn't cut off our noses to spite our faces.

You liberals...

 

[Old Rocks]

You see this is how I KNOW obama isn't REMOTELY a leftie.

A real leftie would be calling for SOME BANKERS TO LOSE THEIR LIVES.

LOL!! A couple of rather conservative fellows I know are muttering about bankers hanging from lampposts.

 

[xsited1]

Moral to the story: Never ask the government to bail-out your company.

The UAW has tremendous pull in Washington. The government bureaucrats will not allow union workers to go a day without pay, regardless of their quality of work.

 

[Old Rocks]

Xsited, I really think that the government should seize all the assets of the CEOs of the companies that they have to bail out. In fact, they should do this right down to the middle management level. For that is what you are stating concerning Union workers. You are suggesting that they lose their jobs, and then their homes. Your hatred of the American worker is very evident, though just why that should be, I cannot fathom.

 

[xsited1]

Xsited, I really think that the government should seize all the assets of the CEOs of the companies that they have to bail out. In fact, they should do this right down to the middle management level. For that is what you are stating concerning Union workers. You are suggesting that they lose their jobs, and then their homes. Your hatred of the American worker is very evident, though just why that should be, I cannot fathom.

Funny post. It sounds like you want Hugo Chavez in charge of our government.

Good workers may lose their jobs, but they usually find employment quickly. If they had a poor work ethic to begin with, it doesn't matter whether they were in a union or not. They either need to get with the program or learn to live on the street. If a man doesn't work, he shouldn't be allowed to eat.

 

[BaronVonBigmeat]

nooooooooooooooooooo....they should let 2.5 million jobs and american manufacturing go bye bye....

yeppers.....

The companies would be restructured and reborn, with different management and ownership, and most of the obstacles to reform swept aside by chapter 11 proceedings. Not everyone would lose their jobs. The ones that did can move to other parts of the country where Toyota and Honda and Mercedes have plants.

And let's not forget the other jobs that will be killed off once the government raises taxes or borrows more. Just because they aren't highly visible like GM layoffs doesn't mean they won't exist.

 

[Zoomie1980]

nooooooooooooooooooo....they should let 2.5 million jobs and american manufacturing go bye bye....

yeppers.....

Wow, I guess we have an attorney here that has no clue what Chapter 11 is...bankruptcy must not be your "specialty".

They need Chpt 11 so that all their contracts, especially the labor contracts, become null and void. Then they can start over from scratch, which is what they need to do. Most of those jobs will remain, only paid at a reasonable rate that makes profitability possible. And, of course, most of the senior management gets the boot, too and new executive contracts can be written as well.