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I am from Washington DC, and I am Here to Make Cars! Clearly, the U.S. carmakers suffer from decades of poor management and political policies. Failure to pay attention to the market in terms of the kind of vehicles people want and the quality level demanded has handed a huge opportunity to German, Japanese and Korean manufacturers of cars. Government pressures to produce cleaner engines and government support of labor power for over half a century have restrained our auto industry. The big three, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have played victim by acquiescing by appeasing these forces. This is no way to defend capitalism. How do we expect that the U.S. automobile industry to be managed any better by politicians and government bureaucrats? These people are among those who created the problem. These are the same people who brought us the “end of big government” and “the end of welfare.” Who runs GM? The Board of Directors G. Richard Wagoner, Jr., Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Director since 1998 Percy N. Barnevik, Retired Chairman, AstraZeneca PLC, Director since 1996 Erskine B. Bowles, President, The University of North Carolina, Director since 2005 John H. Bryan, Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sara Lee Corporation, Director since 1993 Armando M. Codina, President and Chief Executive Officer, Flagler Development Group, Director since 2002 Erroll B. Davis, Jr., Chancellor, University System of Georgia, Director since 2007 George M.C. Fisher, Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Eastman Kodak Company, Director since 1996 E. Neville Isdell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Coca-Cola Company Director since 2008 Karen Katen, Chairman, Pfizer Foundation, Retired Vice Chairman, Pfizer Inc and Retired President, Pfizer Human Health, Director since 1997 Kent Kresa, Chairman Emeritus, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Director since 2003 Ellen J. Kullman, Executive Vice President, DuPont, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Director since 2004 Philip A. Laskawy, Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ernst & Young, Director since 2003 Kathryn V. Marinello, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ceridian Corporation, Director since 2007 Eckhard Pfeiffer, Retired President and Chief Executive Officer, Compaq Computer Corporation, Director since 1996 Day-to-day Operations Management The Solution? Is it likely that the decision-making skills of all of these people will be bettered by having their actions overridden by politicians and government bureaucrats? How many more would it require compared to the above list? According to Robert A. Hillman of Boston College, critics contend that CAFE has backfired and attribute the increase in the U.S.’s dependence on foreign oil. If the anti-automobile members of Congress only could display some honesty about the situation, admitting that they participated in strangling Detroit, and triggered the financial debacle dragging down our economy, perhaps we could allow natural market forces to return to normal. However, I doubt that they will want to see what is the plain truth. They will assert with pride that they were innocent, that George W. Bush and corporate greed is to blame, and huddle to strangle some more. Between the efforts of all of the above people (incompetent owners, directors, management, senators, representatives and environmentalists), we will live to see GM, Ford and Chrysler dead as doornails. It will cost all of us less if they sought bankruptcy protection or liquidation now. Peter says:The road to hell is paved with good intentions... Peter also writes for Ada Byron's Blog. |
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