GM CEO Rick Wagoner: "I Won't Resign for Bailout Bucks"
Well, well, GM CEO Rick Wagoner had a little chin wag with the boys over at Automotive News [AN, sub]. “General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner says GM’s financial distress is so dire that it must line up financial assistance from Washington before President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January. ‘This is an issue that needs to be addressed urgently,’ Wagoner said.” And that’s just for starters. “Now is the time to ‘overshoot, not undershoot; when it comes to assistance for the auto industry,” Wagoner pronounced, revealing that he’d rather be safe than sorry with your money. Makes sense to me, in a “TTAC earns a rep writing Gneneral Motors Death Watches” sort of way. In exchange for the money, Rick’s “willing to offer the government preferred stock, set limits on executive compensation and speed the introduction of fuel-efficient vehicles.” How… beneficent. And last but not least, Wagoner reckons the man who’s steered GM straight into the iceberg is the best guy to, uh, keeping ramming the ice. “Wagoner said he is not prepared to resign in return for government aid. ‘I don’t think it’d be a very smart move,’ he said.'”I think our job is to make sure we have the best management team to run GM. It’s not clear to me what purpose would be served…'” Love the ellipsis guys! Did Rick’s voice really trail off into silence? Nice touch.
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""Now is the time to ‘overshoot, not undershoot; when it comes to assistance for the auto industry,” Wagoner pronounced." If Obama reads that, perhaps he can direct his bailout people to neither under or over shoot, but hit the target dead on. Why bother with near misses? As for all the hand-wringing going on about nationalization: ever heard of adapting your tactics to reality? It's hardly business as usual out there. Things are falling apart in all areas of the economy. At the very least, some hard-nosed government accountants need to get in there and look at the real books and fast, before ANY money is handed over. Offering the government preferred shares for bailout money? If I were on that team, I'd pretend to not even hear that. "You think there's a negotiationgoing on here, Wagoner? You must be shitting me! Go out and get a coffee until we need to talk to you and tell you what we're willing to do, take it or leave it!" This is serious shit, and American taxpayers should expect some really tough bargaining from their representatives, not namby-pamby debates about whether this is nationalization, socialism or other perceived diminution of the American way of life. The government guys should give Wagoner all the respect he deserves -- none. And get on with the business of maybe saving jobs, if that's possible given the circumstances. Wagoner is destined to fall, the sooner the better. That'll be a sweet day for small time GM investors and for all on this site who know how truly incompetent he is, but even so, that satisfaction will always be tempered by the knowledge that he ruined GM. Read up on how the US government ran business in WW2. It was dictatorial, and it worked during exceptional circumstances, and nobody complained. I don't want to be reading here in six months at the beginning of a real depression that the bailout was too lavish and wimpy. The current business model is not working, period. Outsourcing on the one hand, and companies rife with labor whose ideas are firmly welded to the 1950s on the other. It's shakeout time, folks. Farting around with philosophical ideas does not cut the mustard. Whatever's to be, it's time to get on with it.
“Wagoner said he is not prepared to resign in return for government aid. ‘I don’t think it’d be a very smart move,’ he said.’”I think our job is to make sure we have the best management team to ruin GM. It’s not clear to me what purpose would be served…’” Fixed that for ya.
Those three guys sitting together is a revulsive picture. WTF are they doing, flirting with each other while everything goes to hell? If it were funny, I'd make a crack about them using the bailout money to get a room... But it's just disgusting, seeing them all jovial and frittering away time and opportunity.