The GM fraud and some words from Iococca (wisdom)

Another story o fool the people - how would the 25-50 bil. be the end of the story is they shut down the borders and do not allow for any imported cars. The management of US carmakers were plainly spoken morons who never deserved to take the post. Wagoner (CEO GM) takes away multi million bonuses every year for bankrupting America's biggest industry (every 10th job is said to be connected to it - thats a statistic exaggeration).Anyway the accomplishment of the BUSH administration is catastrophic it was so obvious that this situation had to come up. The lies of the managers of the car industry is a case for prosecution asw were the lies of the wallstreet managers - they have cost the world trillions and yet they get away with their pockets loaded with stockowners money. Is the lesson here do a damage big enough and you get rewarded - thats insane. I get the impression the wrong guys sit in Guantanamo - since the harm these guys have done to America is far bigger than any terrorist could ever have done. This phony grillings in senate or congress hearings does not change the matter of fact that the lawmakers are as responsible as they were supposed to oversee the actions of this people. What can be bailed out, needs to be supervised before appropriately. But as Iococca (ex CEO of Chrysler - I do not agree with his position being made as Republican below, which he is, but what he says has still some very essential truth) says

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Lee Iococca is BACK! Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
Leadership insights from Iococca balances old-style leadership with frontline experience. The world is changing...do you think leadership needs to change as well?

Remember Lee Iacocca, the VP at Ford credited with the birth of the Mustang, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from their death throes, and the owner of the famous quote 'Lead, follow, or get out of the way'? Well, he's back! He has a book published in 2007, and even though things are changing rapidly...it has a lot of common sense in it. Here are some excerpts from "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" by Lee Iococca.
Lee Iacocca writes:
Lee Iacocca on Leadership My friends tell me to calm down. They say, "Lee, you're eighty-two years old. Leave the rage to the young people." I'd love to—as soon as I can pry them away from their iPods for five seconds and get them to pay attention. I'm going to speak up because it's my patriotic duty. I think people will listen to me. They say I have a reputation as a straight shooter. So I'll tell you how I see it, and it's not pretty, but at least it's real. I'm hoping to strike a nerve in those young folks who say they don't vote because they don't trust politicians to represent their interests. Hey, America, wake up. These guys work for us.

'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course'

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned 'Titanic' I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the ' America ' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.

The Biggest 'C' is Crisis !

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess. So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great Companies are all moving offshore. We're getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are the worst in the world. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership and we are getting ready to put the most Liberal Senator in the U. S. Senate in as our next President because we want to be fair and elect someone just because of his race. We don't have time to be fair, we need a strong leader.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I hope you get the point.

Now they sell again with fear (standard Bush-doctrin) as with the banks thats just the first step
the 50 bil do not save the issue at all - more money will be needed going forward. Finally the globalisation theme starts to come expensive and uncomfortable - what I do not get is that people do not think ideas to the end - that was inevitable and its not the high gas prices. US producers are loosing market share since 20 years on their own turf. Why does an average american consume 5 times more energy than anyone else on this planet and I do not see the benefit one got out of it anyway. Just waste of resources which are also responsible for the price inreases.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0Ee7HIsw7Ao&refer=home

GM Collapse at $200 Billion Would Exceed Bailout Tab, Firm Says

By Alex Ortolani and Mike Ramsey

Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., burning through cash as sales slump, would cost the government as much as $200 billion should the biggest U.S. automaker be forced to liquidate, a forecasting firm estimated.

A GM collapse would mean ``more aid to specific states like Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, and more money into unemployment and extended benefits,'' Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts, said yesterday in an interview.

Behravesh's projection of $100 billion to $200 billion in costs dwarfs the $25 billion industry bailout plan that will be debated in Congress next week to prop up Detroit-based GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC. The drain on taxpayers from a rescue or a GM failure is a central issue for U.S. lawmakers.