Richard Wagoner's Gtterdmmerung
Watching the pressed suits in front of Dodd’s Committee made me sad last night. (Yes, we can watch CSPAN in China. On-line. Amazing. Probably a ploy to dissuade the Chinese populace from wanting democracy.) Sad I was, because I had expected an “are you or have you ever been tearing out the very heart of America’s industrial base?” I missed that a lot. Gettelfinger made me sad. How could he throw GM under the bus by giving the employer of his $73/hr union sisters and brothers last rank on the viability scale? Saddest made me Rick Wagoner. If he would have done the Iacocca, if he would have said, “Yes, I work for $1, I’m not worthy of more,” the bailout package would already be in the can. He blew it. Now there I sat, tears in my face, and German as I am, I thought: Rick Wagoner? As in Richard Wagoner? As in Richard Wagner with a typo? Last night was Richard Wagoner’s Götterdämmerung. You watched the funeral march of General Motors. Someone got a napkin? Danke.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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highrpm: Of course we can't advocate murder but you can certainly expect some incidents as the economy bottoms out (no we aren't there yet). Ritual seppuku would be wholly appropriate but as we all know it is patently impossible for American executives to feel shame. For all the talk of our "entitlement class" as it relates to the poor, corporate leaders are now the archetypal examples of entitlement mentality...they can never be convinced that they don't deserve whatever is asked for whenever it's asked for.
Or at least that's the way it' sbeen for the last 8 years (re psarhjinian). Seems we may be changing.