This vast gulf was vividly demonstrated in 1998 when German automaker Daimler-Benz took over U.S. automaker Chrysler. As it turned out, the CEO of Daimler-Benz, Jurgen Schrempp, was earning a pay package that was less than one-tenth of the pay package of Chrysler CEO Robert Eaton.
I don't actually want the Big 2.5 to fail, but I'm not going to buy a car that I don't enjoy driving out of some misguided sense of patriotism. The fact is, the only two modern US cars I'd consider owning are the Mustang Bullitt and the Corvete Z06. However, right now I need a car with a bit more passenger space, and virtually everything else from the US is too big, too heavy, or FWD(the Mazdaspeed reinforced my hatred of that particular powertrain configuration). When a US car maker builds-or better yet, imports-a four place RWD sedan that is less than 180" long, weighs less than 3500lbs, and is fitted with a six speed manual I'll actually give it serious consideration. For the time being, an E46 330i ZHP fits those requirements to the letter. And just for a bit of backround, I modified my last Chevrolet equipped as follows: L82 Air filter/valve covers Crane HT Cam/lifters Edelbrock Performer Intake Quadrajet carb(calibrated by yours truly) Recurved Delco Distributor/Mallory Unilite/MSD5 Blackjack Headers 3" dual exhaust with Cherry Bomb Q (Turbo) mufflers B&M Transpak(Street/Strip calibration) Flex-A-Lite 15000 lb.GVW Transmission cooler 3:42 Final Drive Ratio The only work I farmed out was the recurve, theTranspak install and some exhaust pipe bending. And I still rebuild Q-Jets(upon request) from time to time...
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Both of the comments have merit to them and someone will fill the void left by the Big Three. This goes without saying. The transition will happen and maybe even more will evolve as China enters the industry. The imports themselves have to plan for a future with new players entering the industry.
My biggest concern is the negative effect on the economy which is already dealing with a credit crunch as a result of a real estate bubble. Then there is certainly going to be more contraction as the war effort ends. We are being faced with 3, 5, or even 10 years of negative GNP, high unemployment or under employment, and a transition period were workers will have to find other means of supporting themselves and their families. This is no different than when the large main frame computers displaced millions of file clerks. It will work itself out in the long run. Something along the lines of the GI Bill would ease the transition.
I was very disappointed. But I looked around the room and saw all those important folks, many angry, looking down at him. He is a bit shy. Hard to talk to. Friendly, just reserved.
I know I've been hammering on this, but just perhaps he's not the right guy for this job?
It would make more sense for foreign brands to cherry-pick by buying up the most modern of the Big Three plants & then shutting down older plants at home. It wouldn't surprise me if some German auto executives are thinking along these lines; German auto workers are the world's most expensive. In comparison, non-union U.S. workers are a screaming bargain.
If you want a copy of your removed post, zap me an email.
In UAW news (more like playing "what if"):
"And if bankruptcies really do break the back of the UAW, the non-union car makers may again see the Northeast as an attractive place to assemble vehicles, suggested economist Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland, who testified this week at a Senate finance committee hearing that was considering $25-billion in loans for the Detroit Three.
“If the unions are weakened, you might see the Japanese move into the Northeast,” he said."
What ever happened to the Porsche 928? To me that was an awesome car for its time. Like other UAW greats its history. 1996 Impala SS, 2002 Z28 Camaro (Canada), and others cars which were scrubbed, once perfected. Just who is running these car companies? Can anyone think of other bone yard cars, which should still be made? UAW or non-union?
The Pontiac GOOLE as many people called it here in the southwest, also known as the Pontiac 6000 LE. One of Pontiac's most trouble free car, they killed it. :confuse:
It's hard to believe that Wagoner, Mullaly and Nardelli had nothing better to offer than "Business as Usual".
Isn't that what got them into this mess?
Wagoner's story is that GM has *already* done its restructuring (the health care givebacks, two-tier wage scales for the union, some cuts in force, etc.) that have provided the structural change for competitiveness. It's just that this unanticipated economic situation has caused a cash flow problem and the money they want is a bridge loan until the economy improves.
I find it laughable that he thinks that with eight divisions still standing, with the Camaro and Volt coming as the "save the day" models, he's done enough restructuring. What he thinks is restructuring many of us think is just nibbling around the edges. Real restructuring will be far more massive, impactful, and brutal than the efforts they have made so far. And it needs to happen if GM is to be saved.
Real restructuring will be far more massive, impactful, and brutal than the efforts they have made so far. And it needs to happen if GM is to be saved.
Completely agree and the shy arrogance that came across from Wagoner proves he is not prepared for huge change. Congress must demand massive change.
With Obama in back of a Prepackaged Bankruptcy, it's seems more possible that needed change will be enough. Just loaning them the money is like giving Mike Tyson another $50M to play with!!
A few years from 1989 through the 1990s I would rent those T-Birds from Hertz the 3 weeks I was off from my schedule in Alaska. I cruised all over the country in them. The small engine version would get 30 MPG out on the highway. I stopped using Hertz when they quit building that model. Three weeks in an ugly Taurus and I swore off on Ford and Hertz for good. I would rent the recent version of Mustang if they were not so high priced rentals.
Ford built some horrible Thunderbirds from 1958 till about 1989. The new one in the early 21st century is nothing to write home about.
None of which you can blame on the UAW, good or bad.
So does anyone have anything to say about the Saturn project. The Tennessee experiment in which labor(UAW) and management would partner up to beat out the Japanese car companies. They started out with a worthwhile goal, but the end result questions if eastern ideology can ever transition into the western culture.
Cadillac wanting to entice younger people (YUPPIES) tried the Catera as its bridge to this new market. Built in Germany by Opel, a GM division. High end Bosch parts, Recaro seats, Bose sound system, and basically bastardized as most euro cars are (sharing common parts from common brands). In any case this failed here in America to make any dent in the young urban professional euro market. Given that most German companies are union represented as is Opel in Germany. The car has been redone today CTS (Catera Touring Sedan) and can't keep up with demand in these trying times. Then its a UAW built car from Michigan. What went wrong with its initial offering? It should also be noted that the Catera is now the Opel Omega and a big hit in Europe.
The original Catera handled well but was underpowered relative to its weight (it was something of a porker, as I recall), suffered from bland styling & was sold only with an automatic.
I was surprised at the time (late 90s) that Cadillac's 1st shot at this market missed so badly. You refer to this market segment as new, but yuppies had been identified as a separate market way back in the mid 80s - more than 10 years earlier. By the late 80s, jokes about "yuppies in their BMWs" were standard comic fare. Given that Cadillac was so many years late to this party, you'd think that their entry would have shown a much clearer understanding of what yuppies wanted in their cars.
Understand that I'm not a reflexive Cadillac basher. The 1st-gen (2003-07) CTS was vastly better than the Catera, & the current CTS is easily the best Cadillac in 50 years, & one that I'll seriously consider as a replacement for my BMW. It's just too bad, though, that it takes GM so long to bring genuinely compelling cars to market. IMO, that's the biggest single reason why the company is in trouble today.
Back when the UAW/unions were strong, CEO's weren't compensated what they are today. I recall, if memory serves me right, that the GM CEO was making $400,000 a year. That was more than the president was making. As PATCO and other unions were weakened, CEO/board of director pay has gotten out of hand.
I have no problem with the risk taker and or someone with special talents being compensated well. The entrepreneur making absurd sums is just fine. However, to pay these folks who aren't even our brightest for mismanaging is just not right. Most of this countries finest and brightest go into engineering, science, medicine, and other fields which create innovation. Higher education weeds out the best and brightest. Many college freshmen change majors when they can't overcome a class or classes which are required for the sciences. I would venture to guess the less than 10% have the ability to complete the science/engineering/medical requirements. I'm also aware that all these engineers coming out of India are not even close to the product American universities and colleges produce.
Business schools are fine and dandy. If there is anything hard in their discipline, it might be the option of sitting in on the CPA exam. Most opt for the many other specialties. So why on earth would we allow these folks who took the low road in getting a degree to operate a large corporation? Economic axioms of banks/insurance concerns being a sure thing have to be rewritten as these fools have proven us wrong. The chore of removing postulates from text books is at hand. This talent pool is not exactly the best and brightest of what higher education has to offer. Village idiots put in charge of corporations is just not wise. The union made me do it, the sun was in my eyes, I ate paint chips, I wasn't breast fed/nursed or other lame excuses should not be accepted.
Its been my experience that if I put my mind to anything, I can get it done. Trained in the scientific disciplines, but interested in other fields has given me the ability to invest well and make money is a safe manner in the financial markets. Rewarded for both risk and talents/abilities has more than rewarded me with, something I consider rather simplistic, a higher standard of living. In fact I made, what I consider reasonable, second income advising others up until this last year.
This leaves me wondering if those CEO's will be able to manage their compensation/wealth, because of the very fact that they did a poor job managing the corporations they operated. If they do it the same manner, they might well be in front or behind you in the unemployment line.
Catera handled well but was underpowered relative to its weight (it was something of a porker, as I recall),
There is an "S" on the shifter for sports mode. That causes the gears to 6000 plus RPM. There is a snow button which starts the car off in third gear. The current Opel Omega comes with a 4, 6, or VETT 8. Its considered one of the most reliable cars in Europe.
Dealers weren't too keen on training their service people. The oil cooler is in the middle of the engine. In a bath of coolant. If oil was detected in the coolant, the heads were assumed to be leaking. Never-mind a leak in the oil cooler unit.
By 2001 most of the issues were fixed (most were electrical). With the exception of the crank sensor. Engine heat would over time, melt the wire insulation. $60 part, $500 to $700 to get the dealer to fix this. Then there was a heater control unit which failed from time to time, cheap plastic, and it was a $40 part and hundreds to have the dealer fix it. Then the plastic overflow tank would break, also common to the Mini Cooper.
The timing belt on these cars last 100,000 miles and $2500 to $3500 for the dealer replacement. Tensioner, pulleys, bearings, water pump, belts, and other preventive maint is done. This is common in Volvo's and many other euro cars, but here in the states seen differently.
So the CTS is suppose to be the Americanized version. Now the UAW gets to make it too.
Village idiots put in charge of corporations is just not wise.
A Harvard education and a good line of BS and you can be President of just about any company or the President of the United States of America. Grades are not available to inquiring minds. You pay, you pass. Most CEOs did work up through the ranks somewhere before becoming CEO. Unless their dad started the company.
I do agree that the money given to executives that run a company into the ground is just WRONG. When you have people sitting on multiple Boards of Directors, you get a lot of the good old boy treatment. I vote for your raise and you vote for mine.
So does anyone have anything to say about the Saturn project. The Tennessee experiment in which labor(UAW) and management would partner up to beat out the Japanese car companies. They started out with a worthwhile goal, but the end result questions if eastern ideology can ever transition into the western culture.
Given that Saturn is now a set of rebadges except for an imported Opel, I'd say the experiment is a failure and there is no need for Saturn.
I hate to break up your illusion. Maybe you read too many rags to riches Alger's novels. Major shareholders elect their friends and families into boards of directors, They exchange votes and wheel and deal from company to company. Its very common for someone to be a CEO at one company and on the board at a few others. Majority shareholders decide at country clubs and golf courses. This is part of being the leisure class/idle rich. Most CEO's are rarely seen going to work once in any given month. I've seen $15,000 in greens fees racked up in one year, billed to the company of course.
Columbia and Harvard are extremely hard to get into. However, the legacy is alive and well. An endowment will do wonders also to by pass merit. A reverse of affirmative action. Prescott Bush might have been brilliant, but his genetic traits didn't carry down to his offspring two generations away.
Science and political science are two different disciplines. One is open to many and the other is limited to few. Country Club/golf course gathering has only held mankind down in the wheeling dealing/nepotism/cronyism where inbred mongoloids champion their own agenda of promoting their incompetent offspring. Lobbying for the unworthy friends and offspring of the well to do bypasses the competitive system and dooms us to failure.
They exchange votes and wheel and deal from company to company. Its very common for someone to be a CEO at one company and on the board at a few others.
If it is my illusion it is also yours. That is exactly what I said. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Something the SEC should be able to control.
Steve maybe its time to get the UAW conscience committee to visit these folks? I have a feeling that someones life supports system are going to be shut down.
SEC deals with insider information, after hours trading, and illegal stuff. If you proxy me your 10 million votes to do with as I please, whats illegal? One share equals one vote and as little a 20% of the shares give you power to install your folks. Its as democratic as it gets.
There are many things that are legal that have led to the current lopsided compensation for executives. I still do not understand how the board let Ovitz walk away with $140 million. I understand contracts are legal and binding. It is still something the Government could address. Cut over bearing corporate taxes and raise individual taxes above a million. That does not solve the stock options. Though that at least has some bearing on the health of the company. It would be ironic if Wagoner had all his assets tied up in GM common stock.
Stock options are a good thing. Let say that the stock price is $10 a share at the beginning of the year and the CEO manages to increase the value to $100 at the end of the year. He buys all the shares he was allowed at $10 at years end and profits $90 a share and all of the shareholders stock has risen to $100 and that incentive was well worth it. However, if the stock was worth $5 a share at year end, that CEO would not exercise the stock options.
My main point is that these folks operating these companies are not the cream of the crop, but rather the bottom of the barrel. Many schools have 70% of the student body doing a business major and while some are managers at Payless Shoes, some go on to operate large corporations. When an ENRON occurs it affect many lives all because moral corruption, ethical bankruptcy, and lack of character by upper management. Just what is a CEO's justification for compensation beyond the average Americans rational comprehension?
No 7 here. Mine is a 3 with sport package & stick.
I figure that if Cadillac went to the trouble to build a RWD sedan that can actually be had with a stick, then the least I can do is include it in my evaluation process. It doesn't hurt Cadillac's chances that the CTS is, in my eyes, a real looker.
I have to agree with Obama, there are problems in this country that are much more important than the automakers lack of ability to handle a recession.
A trio of crises — housing, credit and financial — have badly damaged the economy, and financial analysts have projected the country's economic hardships will continue through much of 2009.
Obama acknowledged Saturday that evidence is growing the country is "facing an economic crisis of historic proportions." He noted turmoil on Wall Street, a decrease in new home purchases, growing jobless claims and the menacing problem of deflation.
Obama says he will spend a lot of money on the infrastructure such as roads & bridges. I would like to see FDR, CCC and WPA type programs. UAW workers that need a job, sign up to work on bridges and roads. You get 3 square meals and a roof or tent over your head. During the 1930s thousands accepted hard work over starvation. Will today's workers have what it takes to survive a real depression?
The Japanese, left Japan, because us dumb americans would accept their terms and working conditions. If you lose your arm well you are on your own thus good-bye !!! ....Where's that new hire !!!
Toyota and Honda started building cars in the USA for several reasons. None of them relating to your statement. They hired hard working Americans and gave them a living wage for the area they were in. You lose your arm at work, Union or non Union you deal with Workman's Comp controlled by your state. Unless the UAW has some deal other Unions do not have. Building cars in the USA is good business for the Japanese, Germans, Koreans and soon to be Chinese. Ask yourself why not the Big 3? I think you can trace it to the UAW. It would be interesting to see the percentage of disgruntled UAW workers to Toyota workers. If the UAW is all you say it is, UAW workers should be 100% happy campers. At least until GM files for bankruptcy. They will join the 1000s of GM dealerships that have already gone bankrupt because of their lack of good GM management.
"....Stock options are a good thing. Let say that the stock price is $10 a share at the beginning of the year and the CEO manages to increase the value to $100 at the end of the year. He buys all the shares he was allowed at $10 at years end and profits $90 a share and all of the shareholders stock has risen to $100 and that incentive was well worth it. However, if the stock was worth $5 a share at year end, that CEO would not exercise the stock options"
Problem is, and this goes along with your previous post, if the stock drops to $5, the the board says "Awwww you poor thing, we'll rework your stock option so the price is $1 per share, and double the number of shares you can buy." Then he cashes in at essentially an $8 profit, before getting the boot with more millions in severence. And if that isn't enough of a kick in the family jewels to the hard working employees whose paltry 100 share option for $10 is still worthless, he now has a couple million votes to keep perpetuating this nonsense.
product that moves me. A 1969 Dodge Super Bee, no doubt built by UAW labor, back when Detroit's stuff really got my motor running.
I bought this model two days ago from a man running the Worldwide Hobby Shop in downtown Willcox, Arizona, my home town. He recently moved to a new location downtown, paring his inventory down to a very small amount of merchandise. He is also doing computer IT help work on an outcall basis and tells me that the calls for help are slowing down to an unprecedented level, because of the economy.
I'm going to paint this one Transparent Candy Apple Red with a grey carbon fibre hood. Putting together models like this are a slow labor of love for me.
Obama says he will spend a lot of money on the infrastructure such as roads & bridges. I would like to see FDR, CCC and WPA type programs. UAW workers that need a job, sign up to work on bridges and roads. You get 3 square meals and a roof or tent over your head. During the 1930s thousands accepted hard work over starvation. Will today's workers have what it takes to survive a real depression?
Sounds like Japan not too long ago. It took 9 or 10 years to recover and 70% of stock market value was wiped out.
Problem is, and this goes along with your previous post, if the stock drops to $5, the the board says "Awwww you poor thing, we'll rework your stock option so the price is $1 per share, and double the number of shares you can buy." Then he cashes in at essentially an $8 profit, before getting the boot with more millions in severence. And if that isn't enough of a kick in the family jewels to the hard working employees whose paltry 100 share option for $10 is still worthless, he now has a couple million votes to keep perpetuating this nonsense.
I hope you know that is illegal. The buying and selling by officers is reported (in clear print at each brokerage for all to see) and the SEC demand this by law. INTENT TO SELL OR INTENT TO BUY IS FILED and not insider information. Besides, those others on the board of directors are more than likely share holders and they have lost money. Losing money is considered serious business. Just name one case where the original stock options were rewritten. The golden chute is one thing and stock option are another.
Last time I did one, an SS 396, it got stolen off the church parking lot. I had hell just getting about $15,000 from the insurance company. That only covered parts and no labor whatsoever. I did enjoy it for about 3 months.
It should be illegal. I just assume that contracts get rewritten and they "cancel" one option and offer up another. It just seems that all boards of directors are professionally incestuous.
That reminds me. The other day I was talking to this young kid. He was a smart PHD who was going on about this missile. I thought it was a model in his hands. I was no more than two inches in diameter and a foot or so long. That was the missile, its full size and he went on telling me about miniaturizing all the components.
Then I saw the joint venture were airless tires were developed for the MULE. They will in no time be out for the general public, that is the non pneumatic tires.
Like mayor Daley told a reporter once when he gave a bridge contract to his son in law without the bidding process. What kind of man does not look out for his own Kin? That was the end of that conversation. Politics and business are all run like a family operation. Corporations feel it is OK because our government does it.
LA TIMES, 2005 - At least 17 senators and 11 members of the House have children, spouses or other close relatives who lobby or work as consultants, most in Washington, according to lobbyist reports, financial-disclosure forms and other state and federal records. Many are paid by clients who count on the related lawmaker for support.
But Harry Reid is in a class by himself. One of his sons and his son-in-law lobby in Washington for companies, trade groups and municipalities seeking Reid's help in the Senate. A second son has lobbied in Nevada for some of those same interests, and a third has represented a couple of them as a litigator.
In the last four years alone, their firms have collected more than $2 million in lobbying fees from special interests that were represented by the kids and helped by the senator in Washington. So pervasive are the ties among Reid, members of his family and Nevada's leading industries and institutions that it's difficult to find a significant field in which such a relationship does not exist.
was the bumper sticker I saw with a UEW/CWA line on the sticker. Their plant is still closing here in Moraine.
It's a plant I would hope would be used by some auto manufacturer. It's relatively new. It's on rail lines and at the crossroads of America (I75-I70) for truck transportation. The only negative is there're a large contingent of union-thinking workers here.
Just as Indiana and governor allowed Honda to draw a line around Anderson Indiana area because it has a lot of unemployed union workers, the same will happen/has happened throughout the midwest here and into Michigan. But that's okay because we all deserve to have our economies repressed because of past union worker mentality in this area.
Most companies (human resources/labor relations) that are non union set wages or wage ranges by surveying the local economy. This is know as the prevailing wage rate/compensation package for a certain job description. The high union rates do affect the average to a higher rather than lower prevailing rate. Companies do this to attract qualified applicants and its just a economic calculation. These companies compete with each other for the qualified available workers in the market. If anything the UAW drives up even the non union wages, not to mention benefits which unions have attained for their membership historically. Remember they are the folks who brought you overtime and weekends.
You really didn't think they just pulled numbers/wages out of their azz? So many who pay no dues benefit from unions indirectly.
Buy her 16 year-old daughter a Mercedes? Shoot, kids certainly are spoiled these days! Heck, I saved my money from my meager paychecks and bought a 13 year-old 1968 Buick Special Deluxe for $650 when I was 16. It turned out to be a really great car as it was still running eleven years later.
Maybe he meant the Z4 roadster? My friend bought one a couple years back and let me drive it. It was pretty brave of him 'cause I don't know how to drive stick! I started to get the hang of it after stalling the car twice.
Mine was a 13 year old 1947 Pontiac convertible for $60. The rag top was a rag that leaked like a sieve. And I saved money from mowing lawns for mine at 17. There is something decadent about buying a child a car. My experience is they really do not appreciate what you have done for them.
PS I would bet it was ALL made in the USA by UAW workers.
There is something decadent about buying a child a car. My experience is they really do not appreciate what you have done for them.
I will not buy my kids anything extravagant regarding their first car, I can see buying them something that is reliable and safe. The work restrictions on school age kids are to the point that it is almost impossible for them to if they are involved in a lot of after school activities. I'd say something like a 2-3 year old Focus/Cobalt or a used domestic midsize car can be had cheap enough for the kids to use.
I got my drivers license in '87 and my grandpa gave me his '75 Buick Regal with a 130k on it for my first car. I drove it until i saved enough money to buy three year old Escort by working at a grocery store.
Comments
http://www.beggarscanbechoosers.com/2005/04/ceo-pay-soared-in-2004-as-us-economy- .html
And just for a bit of backround, I modified my last Chevrolet equipped as follows:
L82 Air filter/valve covers
Crane HT Cam/lifters
Edelbrock Performer Intake
Quadrajet carb(calibrated by yours truly)
Recurved Delco Distributor/Mallory Unilite/MSD5
Blackjack Headers
3" dual exhaust with Cherry Bomb Q (Turbo) mufflers
B&M Transpak(Street/Strip calibration)
Flex-A-Lite 15000 lb.GVW Transmission cooler
3:42 Final Drive Ratio
The only work I farmed out was the recurve, theTranspak install and some exhaust pipe bending.
And I still rebuild Q-Jets(upon request) from time to time...
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
My biggest concern is the negative effect on the economy which is already dealing with a credit crunch as a result of a real estate bubble. Then there is certainly going to be more contraction as the war effort ends. We are being faced with 3, 5, or even 10 years of negative GNP, high unemployment or under employment, and a transition period were workers will have to find other means of supporting themselves and their families. This is no different than when the large main frame computers displaced millions of file clerks. It will work itself out in the long run. Something along the lines of the GI Bill would ease the transition.
I know I've been hammering on this, but just perhaps he's not the right guy for this job?
Oh so now you want to bombard us with logic?
If you want a copy of your removed post, zap me an email.
In UAW news (more like playing "what if"):
"And if bankruptcies really do break the back of the UAW, the non-union car makers may again see the Northeast as an attractive place to assemble vehicles, suggested economist Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland, who testified this week at a Senate finance committee hearing that was considering $25-billion in loans for the Detroit Three.
“If the unions are weakened, you might see the Japanese move into the Northeast,” he said."
The Detroit Three ... Two? One? (reportonbusiness.com)
And the UAW is the topic in here.
/hint
Isn't that what got them into this mess?
Wagoner's story is that GM has *already* done its restructuring (the health care givebacks, two-tier wage scales for the union, some cuts in force, etc.) that have provided the structural change for competitiveness. It's just that this unanticipated economic situation has caused a cash flow problem and the money they want is a bridge loan until the economy improves.
I find it laughable that he thinks that with eight divisions still standing, with the Camaro and Volt coming as the "save the day" models, he's done enough restructuring. What he thinks is restructuring many of us think is just nibbling around the edges. Real restructuring will be far more massive, impactful, and brutal than the efforts they have made so far. And it needs to happen if GM is to be saved.
Completely agree and the shy arrogance that came across from Wagoner proves he is not prepared for huge change. Congress must demand massive change.
With Obama in back of a Prepackaged Bankruptcy, it's seems more possible that needed change will be enough. Just loaning them the money is like giving Mike Tyson another $50M to play with!!
Regards,
OW
A few years from 1989 through the 1990s I would rent those T-Birds from Hertz the 3 weeks I was off from my schedule in Alaska. I cruised all over the country in them. The small engine version would get 30 MPG out on the highway. I stopped using Hertz when they quit building that model. Three weeks in an ugly Taurus and I swore off on Ford and Hertz for good. I would rent the recent version of Mustang if they were not so high priced rentals.
Ford built some horrible Thunderbirds from 1958 till about 1989. The new one in the early 21st century is nothing to write home about.
None of which you can blame on the UAW, good or bad.
The original Catera handled well but was underpowered relative to its weight (it was something of a porker, as I recall), suffered from bland styling & was sold only with an automatic.
I was surprised at the time (late 90s) that Cadillac's 1st shot at this market missed so badly. You refer to this market segment as new, but yuppies had been identified as a separate market way back in the mid 80s - more than 10 years earlier. By the late 80s, jokes about "yuppies in their BMWs" were standard comic fare. Given that Cadillac was so many years late to this party, you'd think that their entry would have shown a much clearer understanding of what yuppies wanted in their cars.
Understand that I'm not a reflexive Cadillac basher. The 1st-gen (2003-07) CTS was vastly better than the Catera, & the current CTS is easily the best Cadillac in 50 years, & one that I'll seriously consider as a replacement for my BMW. It's just too bad, though, that it takes GM so long to bring genuinely compelling cars to market. IMO, that's the biggest single reason why the company is in trouble today.
I have no problem with the risk taker and or someone with special talents being compensated well. The entrepreneur making absurd sums is just fine. However, to pay these folks who aren't even our brightest for mismanaging is just not right. Most of this countries finest and brightest go into engineering, science, medicine, and other fields which create innovation. Higher education weeds out the best and brightest. Many college freshmen change majors when they can't overcome a class or classes which are required for the sciences. I would venture to guess the less than 10% have the ability to complete the science/engineering/medical requirements. I'm also aware that all these engineers coming out of India are not even close to the product American universities and colleges produce.
Business schools are fine and dandy. If there is anything hard in their discipline, it might be the option of sitting in on the CPA exam. Most opt for the many other specialties. So why on earth would we allow these folks who took the low road in getting a degree to operate a large corporation? Economic axioms of banks/insurance concerns being a sure thing have to be rewritten as these fools have proven us wrong. The chore of removing postulates from text books is at hand. This talent pool is not exactly the best and brightest of what higher education has to offer. Village idiots put in charge of corporations is just not wise. The union made me do it, the sun was in my eyes, I ate paint chips, I wasn't breast fed/nursed or other lame excuses should not be accepted.
Its been my experience that if I put my mind to anything, I can get it done. Trained in the scientific disciplines, but interested in other fields has given me the ability to invest well and make money is a safe manner in the financial markets. Rewarded for both risk and talents/abilities has more than rewarded me with, something I consider rather simplistic, a higher standard of living. In fact I made, what I consider reasonable, second income advising others up until this last year.
This leaves me wondering if those CEO's will be able to manage their compensation/wealth, because of the very fact that they did a poor job managing the corporations they operated. If they do it the same manner, they might well be in front or behind you in the unemployment line.
There is an "S" on the shifter for sports mode. That causes the gears to 6000 plus RPM. There is a snow button which starts the car off in third gear. The current Opel Omega comes with a 4, 6, or VETT 8. Its considered one of the most reliable cars in Europe.
Dealers weren't too keen on training their service people. The oil cooler is in the middle of the engine. In a bath of coolant. If oil was detected in the coolant, the heads were assumed to be leaking. Never-mind a leak in the oil cooler unit.
By 2001 most of the issues were fixed (most were electrical). With the exception of the crank sensor. Engine heat would over time, melt the wire insulation. $60 part, $500 to $700 to get the dealer to fix this. Then there was a heater control unit which failed from time to time, cheap plastic, and it was a $40 part and hundreds to have the dealer fix it. Then the plastic overflow tank would break, also common to the Mini Cooper.
The timing belt on these cars last 100,000 miles and $2500 to $3500 for the dealer replacement. Tensioner, pulleys, bearings, water pump, belts, and other preventive maint is done. This is common in Volvo's and many other euro cars, but here in the states seen differently.
So the CTS is suppose to be the Americanized version. Now the UAW gets to make it too.
A Harvard education and a good line of BS and you can be President of just about any company or the President of the United States of America. Grades are not available to inquiring minds. You pay, you pass. Most CEOs did work up through the ranks somewhere before becoming CEO. Unless their dad started the company.
I do agree that the money given to executives that run a company into the ground is just WRONG. When you have people sitting on multiple Boards of Directors, you get a lot of the good old boy treatment. I vote for your raise and you vote for mine.
Given that Saturn is now a set of rebadges except for an imported Opel, I'd say the experiment is a failure and there is no need for Saturn.
Columbia and Harvard are extremely hard to get into. However, the legacy is alive and well. An endowment will do wonders also to by pass merit. A reverse of affirmative action. Prescott Bush might have been brilliant, but his genetic traits didn't carry down to his offspring two generations away.
Science and political science are two different disciplines. One is open to many and the other is limited to few. Country Club/golf course gathering has only held mankind down in the wheeling dealing/nepotism/cronyism where inbred mongoloids champion their own agenda of promoting their incompetent offspring. Lobbying for the unworthy friends and offspring of the well to do bypasses the competitive system and dooms us to failure.
Does it come with a 6 and an 8? Do the rear seats have electric controls? Does it have a first aid kit? Would Lady Di have survived the wreck in it?
Face it you can buy two Caddy's for the price. Its rather just plain looking and would only appeal to older folks.
If it is my illusion it is also yours. That is exactly what I said. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Something the SEC should be able to control.
IUI /A\ \W/
Stock options are a good thing. Let say that the stock price is $10 a share at the beginning of the year and the CEO manages to increase the value to $100 at the end of the year. He buys all the shares he was allowed at $10 at years end and profits $90 a share and all of the shareholders stock has risen to $100 and that incentive was well worth it. However, if the stock was worth $5 a share at year end, that CEO would not exercise the stock options.
My main point is that these folks operating these companies are not the cream of the crop, but rather the bottom of the barrel. Many schools have 70% of the student body doing a business major and while some are managers at Payless Shoes, some go on to operate large corporations. When an ENRON occurs it affect many lives all because moral corruption, ethical bankruptcy, and lack of character by upper management. Just what is a CEO's justification for compensation beyond the average Americans rational comprehension?
I figure that if Cadillac went to the trouble to build a RWD sedan that can actually be had with a stick, then the least I can do is include it in my evaluation process. It doesn't hurt Cadillac's chances that the CTS is, in my eyes, a real looker.
A trio of crises — housing, credit and financial — have badly damaged the economy, and financial analysts have projected the country's economic hardships will continue through much of 2009.
Obama acknowledged Saturday that evidence is growing the country is "facing an economic crisis of historic proportions." He noted turmoil on Wall Street, a decrease in new home purchases, growing jobless claims and the menacing problem of deflation.
Obama says he will spend a lot of money on the infrastructure such as roads & bridges. I would like to see FDR, CCC and WPA type programs. UAW workers that need a job, sign up to work on bridges and roads. You get 3 square meals and a roof or tent over your head. During the 1930s thousands accepted hard work over starvation. Will today's workers have what it takes to survive a real depression?
Toyota and Honda started building cars in the USA for several reasons. None of them relating to your statement. They hired hard working Americans and gave them a living wage for the area they were in. You lose your arm at work, Union or non Union you deal with Workman's Comp controlled by your state. Unless the UAW has some deal other Unions do not have. Building cars in the USA is good business for the Japanese, Germans, Koreans and soon to be Chinese. Ask yourself why not the Big 3? I think you can trace it to the UAW. It would be interesting to see the percentage of disgruntled UAW workers to Toyota workers. If the UAW is all you say it is, UAW workers should be 100% happy campers. At least until GM files for bankruptcy. They will join the 1000s of GM dealerships that have already gone bankrupt because of their lack of good GM management.
Problem is, and this goes along with your previous post, if the stock drops to $5, the the board says "Awwww you poor thing, we'll rework your stock option so the price is $1 per share, and double the number of shares you can buy." Then he cashes in at essentially an $8 profit, before getting the boot with more millions in severence. And if that isn't enough of a kick in the family jewels to the hard working employees whose paltry 100 share option for $10 is still worthless, he now has a couple million votes to keep perpetuating this nonsense.
And it's all legal :sick:
I bought this model two days ago from a man running the Worldwide Hobby Shop in downtown Willcox, Arizona, my home town. He recently moved to a new location downtown, paring his inventory down to a very small amount of merchandise. He is also doing computer IT help work on an outcall basis and tells me that the calls for help are slowing down to an unprecedented level, because of the economy.
I'm going to paint this one Transparent Candy Apple Red with a grey carbon fibre hood. Putting together models like this are a slow labor of love for me.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Sounds like Japan not too long ago. It took 9 or 10 years to recover and 70% of stock market value was wiped out.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/astevenson/credit_crisis_101_building_bri.html-
I hope you know that is illegal. The buying and selling by officers is reported (in clear print at each brokerage for all to see) and the SEC demand this by law. INTENT TO SELL OR INTENT TO BUY IS FILED and not insider information. Besides, those others on the board of directors are more than likely share holders and they have lost money. Losing money is considered serious business. Just name one case where the original stock options were rewritten. The golden chute is one thing and stock option are another.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Valid point, many CEO's introduce their wives as cousinauntniecegrandmother. Not many branches on them family trees.
Then I saw the joint venture were airless tires were developed for the MULE. They will in no time be out for the general public, that is the non pneumatic tires.
Hmmm. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
LA TIMES, 2005 - At least 17 senators and 11 members of the House have children, spouses or other close relatives who lobby or work as consultants, most in Washington, according to lobbyist reports, financial-disclosure forms and other state and federal records. Many are paid by clients who count on the related lawmaker for support.
But Harry Reid is in a class by himself. One of his sons and his son-in-law lobby in Washington for companies, trade groups and municipalities seeking Reid's help in the Senate. A second son has lobbied in Nevada for some of those same interests, and a third has represented a couple of them as a litigator.
In the last four years alone, their firms have collected more than $2 million in lobbying fees from special interests that were represented by the kids and helped by the senator in Washington. So pervasive are the ties among Reid, members of his family and Nevada's leading industries and institutions that it's difficult to find a significant field in which such a relationship does not exist.
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/23/opinion-the-real-cost-of-unionized-auto-worke- rs-70-hour-try/
It's a plant I would hope would be used by some auto manufacturer. It's relatively new. It's on rail lines and at the crossroads of America (I75-I70) for truck transportation. The only negative is there're a large contingent of union-thinking workers here.
Just as Indiana and governor allowed Honda to draw a line around Anderson Indiana area because it has a lot of unemployed union workers, the same will happen/has happened throughout the midwest here and into Michigan. But that's okay because we all deserve to have our economies repressed because of past union worker mentality in this area.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
You really didn't think they just pulled numbers/wages out of their azz? So many who pay no dues benefit from unions indirectly.
PS
I would bet it was ALL made in the USA by UAW workers.
I will not buy my kids anything extravagant regarding their first car, I can see buying them something that is reliable and safe. The work restrictions on school age kids are to the point that it is almost impossible for them to if they are involved in a lot of after school activities. I'd say something like a 2-3 year old Focus/Cobalt or a used domestic midsize car can be had cheap enough for the kids to use.
I got my drivers license in '87 and my grandpa gave me his '75 Buick Regal with a 130k on it for my first car. I drove it until i saved enough money to buy three year old Escort by working at a grocery store.