Comments on: Bailout Watch 224: GM CEO Rick Wagoner Resigns. Almost. But Not Quite.

By: cdotson

cdotson — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:12:15 +0000

1996MEdition – you forgot an adjective:

Feckless.

I think it to be the perfect descriptor for Wagoner’s leadership. Miriam-Webster online defines it as synonym to weak, ineffective, worthless, irresponsible.

By: 1996MEdition

1996MEdition — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:45:47 +0000

Just to be clear here…

Alan Mulally was paid $25m in HIS FIRST YEAR at Ford. That’s just obscene. Period.

RF – I agree that this amount is obscene, but Mulally can’t be faulted for it. That was his price for leaving Boeing and going to Ford. The Ford BOD is responsible. Of course, if this was not the offer, would Mulally have come? Or would they have ended up with an RW clone? I think Mulally is doing his job. As long as there is a free market, exec salaries are going to be large. Don’t tell me that Toyota execs take smaller salaries out of the goodness of their hearts and dedication to the company.

By: fallout11

fallout11 — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:44:01 +0000

Economic commentator (and frequent Harper’s contributor) Eric Janzen over at Itulip.com had such a great article mentioning the GM debacle that I just had to put up a link. Well worth a read for the snarky humor alone

“When an indebted Consumer is facing unemployment, the last thing on his or her mind is committing a big chunk of the next four to six years’ household cash flow to a poorly engineered American gas hog. The gas hog manufacturer’s financing arm, not thrilled about lending money to the indebted, soon to be unemployed Consumer, has raised lending standards so high that fewer than half as many applicants can make the hurdle as could this month last year.
In retrospect shorting GM was like shooting fish in a barrel.”
http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?p=60223#post60223

By: CliffG

CliffG — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:31:29 +0000

First of all, I own the “Aruba Baby” moniker, I think I trademarked it about two years ago. This is the probable scenario: Ricky will resign – with pension intact – when it looks like he is doing it for the “Best long term interests of the Company he has devoted his lifetime to…” in order to get that first $25b through Congress. Nothing like making the ultimate sacrifice for the Company he loves, see, even I, hardhearted schmoe I am, have tears welling up at this point, even though the sacrifice entails long evenings on a beach with a Cohiba and a straight scotch.

By: Robert Farago

Robert Farago — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:25:51 +0000

Bunter1 :

Just to be clear here…

Alan Mulally was paid $25m in HIS FIRST YEAR at Ford. That’s just obscene. Period.

By: Bunter1

Bunter1 — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:18:21 +0000

I don’t have any problem with Big Al holding on to his compensations.
He didn’t create the mess, and left an excellent position with a more stable company to try to fix Ford.
He already sacrificed a stable position.

Rick is indefensible. But we know that.

By: NickR

NickR — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:09:07 +0000

If this was sex, that was premature ejaculation.

By: indi500fan

indi500fan — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:24:40 +0000

Hey at least Rick lives in Detroit.
Those other guys spend all their time commuting to Seattle, Atlanta, and Miami.

By: 1996MEdition

1996MEdition — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:23:51 +0000

“arrogance is not a word that I would use to describe GM or our leadership team”

OK, how about:
Incompetent
Useless
Inept
Bungling
Ineffectual
Hopeless
Weak
Feeble
Unimpressive
Unsuccessful
Inadequate
Inefficient…..so many words

By: debushau

debushau — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:15:15 +0000

I am surprised that the Board of Directors has backed Wagoner to this point. Don’t they know that they will all spend years defending d&o law suits if they don’t act now. Can’t they just throw Wagoner to the wolves, it’s not like he would hesistate.

By: jaje

jaje — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:29:55 +0000

I was about to pop the cork of the champagne reading the first half of the title.

By: CarnotCycle

CarnotCycle — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:25:50 +0000

I think Rick will hang as long as there even is a whiff of either getting some coin from Uncle Sam now, or if the company can survive to Obama’s inauguration and the surely immediate session of Congress that will follow, and get the coin then.

Once the options for more coin have been exhausted, Rick will punch out. Its not fun cleaning up a mess for damn near free, its only fun making one and getting millions for it. Plus, Rick I am sure wants to have set in legal stone his stream of checks ’till death, before the death of GM itself.

By: brettc

brettc — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:21:54 +0000

I wonder if he’s ever asked himself “is this good for the company?” when he makes stupid decisions that will eventually result in the loss of jobs for hundreds of thousands of employees. All of these idiot executives should have the Office Space DVD on repeat, because they all remind me of Lumberg. “thumbs up their asses” or “no talent ass-clowns”, as Michael Bolton would say.

By: toxicroach

toxicroach — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:17:36 +0000

I am positive that if you could concoct a situation in which it looked like Rick had saved the company, he would be willing to bail in a heartbeat. He just doesn’t want his place in history to be the guy who killed GM. If you gave him the chance to escape that anathema he’d do his best Flash impersonation.

By: TexN

TexN — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:14:31 +0000

I happened to hear Phil LeBeau’s interview with RW on CNBC yesterday. Phil asked Rick if he thought that the tone of the hearings was some sort of payback for GM’s arrogance over the years. Rick’s reply: “Well, Phil, arrogance is not a word that I would use to describe GM or our leadership team.” You can’t make this stuff up, folks!