Comments on: GM CFO: “It’s fair to say there’s no crisis here”

By: GE Levecque

GE Levecque — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:45:49 +0000

Its the idea of “I dont care” attitude of GM executives that really tells the Truth of this whole sordid mess, what they said yesterday via the Chief Mouthpiece is what they said Six weeks ago, they just keep cutting and cutting, eventually there will be nothing left to cut!

By: Stein X Leikanger

Stein X Leikanger — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:21:16 +0000

“Ah, wonderful! Fresh ice. Anyone care for a Polar Bear on the Rocks?”

By: Johnson

Johnson — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:14:13 +0000

Just so we’re clear on all this, Toyota despite all their success is operating as if they are in a crisis, yet according to GM they are “far from” a crisis?

By: Banned User

Banned User — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:25:33 +0000

I worked on contract for GM for years. Laziest bunch of engineers you could imagine. They had some good ones who did about 99 percent of the work and the rest were great at making bad decisions.

The chickens come home to roost.

By: John Horner

John Horner — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:08:40 +0000

“I keep on reminding our organization that cash is king”

So tell us again why you just spent a pile of it on Michigan real estate?

By: mel23

mel23 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:39:51 +0000

It’s a misunderstanding. The “we” he’s referring to is the execs, and he’s right. “They” don’t have any problem at all. As for the poor bastards whose lives have been or will be wrecked, yeah, they’re in a crisis. Ditto for the people who make and deliver the seats, headliners, tires, etc. I wonder if Wagoner ever thinks about it.

By: picard234

picard234 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:16:08 +0000

The little toy cars remind me of “Dark Helmet” getting caught playing with his action figures in the movie Spaceballs.

Helmet: Did you see anything?
Colonel Sanders: No sir! I didn’t see you playing with your dolls again!

By: B.C.

B.C. — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:55:30 +0000

Perhaps Mr. Young’s choice of tenses is correct. “Were [past tense] in crisis”. “That’s far from the truth [present tense]“; i.e. we were not in a crisis back then, but the truth is, we sure as hell are now.

Mud-slinging at this level is a bit juvenile. Ever notice that the spelling/grammar nazis are never the most popular guys on the forums? Stick with attacking the stuff that his proofreader couldn’t fix, i.e. overall cluelessness.

Can we assume the Chinese guy with the car models on his desk is Ray Young? I’m really not that intimately familiar with Detroit–or any–CFOs. The photo identifier says something about Brazil, so that’s no help…

Possibly. Lots of Chinese people in Brazil, surprised me too when I ran into a Chinese dude who was fluent in Portuguese.

By: kjc117

kjc117 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:50:23 +0000

LOL, GM execs don’t care. They are getting paid handsomely regardless of GM financial health.

RW and the “boys” get 10x plus what Watanabe gets at Toyota.
Yet, are GM products 10x better than Toyota’s????
I think not.

By: Stephan Wilkinson

Stephan Wilkinson — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:14:17 +0000

By: Bill Wade

Bill Wade — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:14:12 +0000

Baghdad Bob would be truly embarrassed at this man’s skill of obsfucation of reality.

http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/

By: megaphone

megaphone — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:09:30 +0000

Why is this man smiling, could it be the cool, little toy cars they gave him. He really should be worried about job security or a federal indictment ala Enron when the ship sinks and GM has mislead investors on the security of the company.

By: charleywhiskey

charleywhiskey — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:06:27 +0000

By: Nemphre

Nemphre — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:44:00 +0000

Of course GM’s execs will claim that there is no crisis. They’ll do anything to avoid being held accountable for the situation they have wrought.

By: Dynamic88

Dynamic88 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:16:32 +0000

…I’m not sure what it would cost to eliminate a channel, but when we closed Oldsmobile that cost $1 billion. That’s a lot of money.”

It is when you have to borrow to keep the lights on.

By: picard234

picard234 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:10:02 +0000

Young: There are reports that we were in crisis. That’s far from the truth.

Lareau: Will this plan save the corporation?

These guys should have rehearsed this better. If there (is? was?) no crisis, why does the corporation need to be saved?

By: Facebook User

Facebook User — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:55:57 +0000

I keep on reminding our organization that cash is king.

Versus quality, product, the customer. Now I wonder why they can’t sell any cars?

By: oboylepr

oboylepr — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:36:36 +0000

Maybe they should try a deck of Tarot cards, or a Ouija board

and stay away from the liqor cabinet!

By: RoweAS

RoweAS — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:08:37 +0000

Maybe they should try a deck of Tarot cards, or a Ouija board

By: Cicero

Cicero — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:41:13 +0000

“There are reports that we were in crisis,” Young said, confusing his tenses. “That’s far from the truth.”

Nice to see GM has matters well in hand. Nothing to see here, folks, move along.

By: toxicroach

toxicroach — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:37:40 +0000

Cash is king.

Three word summary of the problem.

By: HPE

HPE — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:37:25 +0000

Every fibre of my being, everything I know implicitly and explicitly about the workings of GM, tells me I shouldn’t be surprised that this is the attitude emanating from RenCen 24/7. But all the same, your jaw drops when it parades itself, nakedly and unabashedly, in the harsh light of day.