They could all pile into an Expedition and carpool down to DC and let Shemp…oops… Ghettofinger drive…It’d be like Driving Miss Daisy…all the way to the poorhouse.

How about Bob Lutz giving them a ride in his West German military jet ?. Wagoner could sit in the 2nd seat, and the heads of Ford and Chrysler could be duct taped to the wings.

Ricky Boy will probably just print out a copy of the “GM Fact or Fiction Website” (a great fictional work if you ask me) and hopes no one notices while he rides in heroically on a pre-production Volt a Hybrid Escalade towing a Volt mockup.

As for Demonic Bob, he’ll claim that a three-headed dog ate his plan while reminding everyone that he’s willing to work for the price of double cheese burger! (Thanks for the millions Home Depot!)

I am confused. Can the car manufacturers shed dealers under Chapter 11 bankruptcy or not?

The numbers are staggering. GM and Toyota both have 20% of the U.S. market but GM has about 7,000 dealers and Toyota has about 1500 dealers.

Even if GM were profitable can you imagine keeping track of 7,000 unruly children and the cost of making sure each one gets the latest memo?

I really want to see what they come up with, particularly GM and Chrysler. I’m putting money on it being more BS like all the PR sh*t we have been getting for the last year about EV’s and alternative energy development and cutting more workers and closing plans and making big bucks in 2010 when the government pays the VEBA for them. Will it address any of the real problems, to many brands, dealers, old business model, lack of product development, stupid management, etc.

I can’t wait to see this plan.

Awesomely picturesque writing – you put me right in the van with them. Perfectly over-the-top, particularly with ‘the grownups’ bit.

Casual Observer nails it – the bailout’s going to go down, just under cover of some other crisis. Now, what’ll they manufacture this time?..

So it was hard to feel sorry for the executives when Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), late in the hearing, reminded them again that “the symbolism of the private jet is difficult,” and mischievously asked the witnesses whether, in another symbolic gesture, they would be willing to work for $1 a year, as Nardelli has offered to do.

“I don’t have a position on that today,” demurred Wagoner (2007 total compensation: $15.7 million).

I guess Red Ink Rick’s commitment to salvaging the company only goes so far. Baby needs new shoes!

http://www.globalautoindustry.com/WardsAuto_MexicoConference_Dec_4.pdf

Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi: “We demand accountability and a plan. That’s okay you guys didn’t prepare for our pop quiz these last few days. Go back to Detroit with this take home test. Come back in a few weeks and read it back to us (out loud). We promise, we’ll put a smiley face on each of your papers and give you money you haven’t earned and don’t deserve as your reward”.

Notice the difference here in party approach:

Dems – Say you want accountability and then not hold accountable the leaders of the D3
Reps – Say you want accountability, and after clearly not receiving it, tell the D3 “leaders” to pound sand.

They’re all going to pack a lunch and carpool to DC in a van… I can see the boys sharing their juice boxes and reading their essays to each other along the way…. pausing to say the big words real slow for Ron.

As they pass through Pittsburgh on the PA turnpike they’ll take a short but scenic detour along the Mon River and through the Steel Valley to show Gettelfinger what happens when a union takes a blood oath to fight to the last man standing. …..it’s not pretty.

Then a brief stop in Gettysburg for some sightseeing.. …there’s a metaphor there somewhere.

Then on to the big city to read their winning essays to the grownups.

Any worthwhile plan to salvage something better than Chapter 11 from a bailout must include details on how one or more of these manufacturers can regain a competitive footing even with an influx of cash. The details will have to include union concessions and a clear plan to drive both the cost and quantity of management layers to where they match or better Toyota. The engineers have proven they can engineer better solutions, the workers have proven they can largely hit Toyota’s quality marks, but management has not shown that they can manage their way out of an afternoon rain shower, much less the perfect storm in which they find themselves.

I agree with many so things posted by the B&B so when they get back to Washington on Dec 2, the CEOs should say 1/ GM is selling itself to China, so “sorry about the closures in the US, but one of the conditions is to headquarters in China – byebye Ren Centre”; 2/ Chrysler is suspending operations until… 2010 or forever – lock the gates and the UAW can sue. BTW, Cerburus will take a tax write-off on this – thankyou, 3/ Ford to say “thanks but no thanks – we’ve got a shot at making it so, bye”. And walk out.

At the press conference on the steps of the Capital RI Rick can then say to the American public “we get the message – you don’t want us so 2 of us are taking the hint, but Ford wants a shot at making itself more attractive to you – good luck buddy”.

Unfortunately this will never happen, like a previous editorial asked “where’s their balls?”

Frankly, I hope they don’t and I hope they do get the $. It’ll clearly show what a sham this whole new Democrat rule is going to be.

I think Wagoner’s report will just be doodles of Volts and hybrid one-tons.

Translation: “The bailout is yours. We just need to distract the American people with another ‘crisis’ for the next to weeks so we can sneak this $50 billion right past them while they’re not looking.”

Did Perino really say that about Reid taking his ball and going home, or was that a TTAC summary?

So, instead Pelosi and Reid assigned an essay to Detroit’s CEOs entitled “how I would spend $25b to turn my company around.” The due date is December 2, and they must be typed and double-spaced. Don’t forget to show your work.

Funny. I can just picture Wagoner, the night before the report is due, with piles of balled up paper on his desk, scribbling out his plan with his pencil, eyebrows knitted and his tongue curled over his upper lip.

This will be really hard for him because nobody’s ever made him come up with a plan before.