Also as many states are alos lining up for bailouts , why is it that thay also don’t call for their workers to take cuts in retiree benefits?

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_37/b4099060491065.htm?campaign_id=rss_topEmailedStories

bottom line is, we promote excellence in our society because it spurs competition, innovation, and entrepreneurship. If we are not going to reward people, then why bother? the reality is, companies and society does not function without leaders. Most people do not have the faculties to be leaders. Yes, there are bad apples in everything, but I like to think they are atypical.

@Generation: I agree, it seems that the american cars we owned and people who we knew all needed major repair between 40k-60k miles. don’t know why, but that is what it seemed. I think there is some truth to the notion that you have to make unreliable cars to a certain extent in order to sell new cars and to keep spare parts profitable. The profit margins on spare parts seems to be much higher, definitely costs more than the sum of the parts.

If the American Automakers would have taken this issue seriously – Toyota and Honda would never have had a chance. Especially because they are more expensive.

All your arguments about management and executives being evil are kind of a moot point for the GM companies at this time, it is far too late. It is kind of fun to read the different views though.

think about enron….all those people lost jobs and got nothing. the executives got a nice parachute when they left. one set of people worked…the other set fiddled while rome burned.

mike,

i also worked for that failure of a baseball team that folded for a couple years…there is a reason it folded

are there bad managers? yes, but there are a ton of good managers out there too. the problem i see is over a decade’s worth of irresponsibility in our work force from rank and file to the managers. it isn’t manager specific by any means; moreover, those managers grew up in this work climate of rather uncontrollable employee base. employees were very spoiled the past decade. People jumped ship if they didn’t like the color of the post it notes.

the problem i see with all this manager and executive bashing for the sake of bashing executives and managers is what are we telling ourselves? you shouldn’t seek to excel anymore? being an executive is bad somehow? you shouldn’t be rewarded for hard work? don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of folks who need to be called to task for doing a poor job, but how much of all of this is pure whining on our part? I would say quite a bit of it. We have to shore up our individual responsibility before casting dispersions.

Yes, without the rank and file, the companies wouldn’t succeed; however, without leaders, the company wouldn’t succeed either. Not everyone is cut out to lead, and I would say that our work ethos and culture this past decade produced many weak leaders; however, not every manager is bad. Look at all the companies that did right, saved a ton of cash. They are the reason why we aren’t at 25% or higher unemployment right now. That was because managers at many companies were leading. It is much easier to whine about management than to be a manager and a leader.

i don’t get how executive compensation is insulting to the american worker. that makes no sense. if you feel insulted, then become one of them. the fact is, there are far more people who would rather not lead than there are who want to lead.

As for what we have from Holden, we have the Commodore, rebadged as the Pontiac G8 (lauded by critics btw).

From Opel and Vauxhall (both GM brands), we have the Aura and Astra (now Saturns), also welcomed by critics. And Ford is finally bringing over its Fiesta, which is an awesome car over in Europe.

But I do want to point out that your professional experience is working in state government, not for-profit corporations. Having worked for both sides (currently as a fed contractor seeing in on how the feds work), I can say they’re vastly difference.

There’s always a way to sneak your incompetence past your boss, and so on up the line, especially in an up period. But when times are tough, your lack of accomplishments and capabilities are noticed quickly by the bosses. The only place where it doesn’t seem to work by design is with the top executives, but that’s because it’s a “boys club”, just like in the government.

1. pretty sure we are talking about the big 3 automakers, not about all companies as a whole.

2. lets use a real world example…john ashcroft lost an election in the US senate to a dead guy…so what does bush2 do, puts him as US attorney general. but yes, people get promoted because of incompetance or who they know…does it happen all the time, no, but to say it doesn’t happen is lunacy. yes, i would love to see incompetance get fired all the time, but when you have “golden parachutes” to the high ups as opposed to the lowly peons, it is downright insulting to the american worker.

3. i was referring to importing of cars. foreign countries tax the hell out of everything that is imported into their countries from outside….meanwhile, the united states does not do that. am i happy that foreign companies want to set up shop in america to cut costs…yes i am. do i own a foreign car made in the united states, yes i do. would i buy an american car made in america, yes i would (the fiance wants a ford 500).

what car companies: Opel , Vauxhaul, Holden apparently make great cars overseas, but we will never see them.

but i will say this, this may be the first time in my 8+ years of working my current job that i ever had someone in rank and file say that management is well worth what they get paid. if it wasn’t for rank and file in any industry busting their humps, the company would go belly up and management wouldn’t be able to get paid the wages they do to sit in their cushy office and push papers.

(disclosure…i have a bigger office then any of you with two restrooms in it…sure, it is a converted front lobby, but it is still applicable)

1. You make a blanket statement that all managers are producing trash. Are there not at least some successes that you can point to?

2. Managers get promoted and make more money for screwing up. This is simply not true, they are held accountable. Would you have them fired at the first sign of a mistake? This is not how business works.

3. While it is true that foreign auto makers get some breaks on tariffs there are still some that they must pay. Would you rather the foreign auto makers make the cars completely in their home country without using American workers?

Finally, what specific car(s) would have them make here that they are not making as you state that they make excellent cars “over there”.