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Mopardan
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Username: Mopardan

Post Number: 1
Registered: 11-2008
Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 10:11 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

In case it hadn't been posted. This article appeared in our paper, but was written by Mark Phelan of the Detroit Free Press.
http://www.statesman.com/opini on/content/editorial/stories/i nsight/11/23/1123detroitmyths. html
Maybe someone needs to jam this in Richard Shelby's face. If anything or anyone is a "dinosaur", it has to be him.
Good luck to you guys up there!
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Pffft
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Username: Pffft

Post Number: 1831
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 10:16 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here's Mitch weighing in today too. Hopefully this went out on the wire as well.

http://www.freep.com/article/2 0081123/COL01/811230371/?imw=Y
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 2741
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 10:32 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Applause!
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401don
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Username: 401don

Post Number: 870
Registered: 11-2007
Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 10:38 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Maybe they should have just a sent a tape of Iacoca's impassioned plea for the Chrysler instead of having these 3 stoic figures. Mulally may be a better CEO for Ford but Bill Ford Jr. would have made a much better presentation.
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Mopardan
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Username: Mopardan

Post Number: 2
Registered: 11-2008
Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 10:49 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks for the link. The execs should've had him as their spokesman for those hearings.
Shelby's way of thinking permeates throughout the south unfortunately. But when you rank 47th in HS graduation rates, it's pretty easy to lead the ignorant or uninformed around.
http://www.theplainsman.com/no de/2663
Coming in at 36th, we can't brag much ourselves. http://www.window.state.tx.us/ comptrol/wwstand/wws0512ed/
That's getting off topic, but it gives you an idea of the mindset many of us have to deal with down here. Seeing all the Bubbas in F-150s, Silverados & Rams on the road, you think they'd side with our guys. Think again.
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Mopardan
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Username: Mopardan

Post Number: 3
Registered: 11-2008
Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 11:14 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

401Don, I agree with you. If Lee were up to it, having him there in person to present the case, then lecture the committee about leadership & responsibility would've been perfect.
It still grates me that Chrysler was sold out to Daimler then driven into the ground.
I have no doubt that, on a level playing field, the US Auto Industry & other areas of our manufacturing sector would dominate again.
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Dannyv
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Username: Dannyv

Post Number: 485
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 11:21 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Perhaps management of the Big Three should offer to work for a dollar a year and arrive on Capitol Hill in a fleet of their own vehicles.
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Danindc
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Username: Danindc

Post Number: 5266
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 11:31 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

Perhaps management of the Big Three should offer to work for a dollar a year and arrive on Capitol Hill in a fleet of their own vehicles.



The time for that was last week.
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Lilpup
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Username: Lilpup

Post Number: 5735
Registered: 06-2004
Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 12:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Bill Ford Jr. worked for a number of years for only $1. It didn't get the company anywhere.
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Jiminnm
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Username: Jiminnm

Post Number: 1880
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 12:18 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Those are indeed myths, but the Big 3 has been unable to dispel them and publicly change the perception of the companies that was formed in the 1970s and 1980s. They've lost at least one generation of buyers, and maybe two.

The Big 3 execs at last week's hearings reminded me of the lineup of tobacco execs who sat there and said we didn't know that tobacco was addictive and harmful. Instead, what we heard was we need the money, we don't really have a plan to use it to change our companies, we don't know if it will be enough, we don't know if we'll back asking for more, we don't know if it will solve our problems, we don't know what will happen if we don't get the money, etc. They were unprepared to address the issues, which tells me that they are unprepared to run their companies during these times.

Lilpup, Bill Ford would never have been CEO if his name wasn't over the door. Mullaly is a far better CEO than Ford was and is likely the best in the Big 3. Ford is in much better shape than GM or Chrysler primarily because of him. Maybe he should be CEO of the new Big 1.
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Lilpup
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Username: Lilpup

Post Number: 5736
Registered: 06-2004
Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 12:32 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

No, what they were being honest about is not knowing when the economy will turn around since everything the dipshits in Washington have done hasn't improved anything, realistically has made things worse.

These companies constantly look 4-5 years out. All you have to do is read one of their contracts to see that. But they aren't going to go in there and give away their game plans. Wagoner said as much when he said they'd share that information with the appropriate people (who AREN'T the partisan hacks sitting in those chambers). Anyone who knows business knows such information is proprietary and not guarding it is bad business.

Yes, I know Mulally is better as Ford CEO that WCF Jr. was. Why do you think WCF Jr. went out and got him? And do you think he would have been successful at getting Mulally if he was only going to pay him $1 a year? It's a stupid, worthless gesture in this industry at this point. It's a political gesture and right now there's no room for politics.

Pelosi will get her business plans so she'll be able to save face, but if the politicians stupidly throw the Big 3 under a bus there will be hell to pay.
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Buzzman0077
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Username: Buzzman0077

Post Number: 207
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 1:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mitch has written exactly what I've been thinking this whole time but much more eloquently.
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Warrenite84
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Username: Warrenite84

Post Number: 439
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 1:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

If those self righteous idiots in Congress let the Big 3 die, IMHO the Democrat Party will lose all support in the rust belt. Like the Democrats had the,"Solid South" after Reconstruction, they will lose this areas' support for a generation.

Here's a wild possibility: It is possible the Pelosi and Waxman California Democrats want to see the big 3 fail to vanquish their nemesis, then wail that we need to enact nationalized healthcare to help the working man. Two birds with one stone. Remember, the union has lost its influence a long time ago.

The teamsters will be next because Mexican truckers can drive their loads in America. Who needs a trucking union then? The Teamsters and every union should rally on Washington supporting the loans for the big 3 under threat of going Republican, and MEAN IT.

P.S. My hat off to Thaddeous McCotter, who tells it like it is.

(Message edited by warrenite84 on November 23, 2008)
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Sstashmoo
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Username: Sstashmoo

Post Number: 2933
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 1:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Quote: "$1 a year? It's a stupid, worthless gesture in this industry at this point. It's a political gesture and right now there's no room for politics."

You said it, these guy's salary and private jets are not even a blip on the radar compared to the real problems. Some attention hungry politician made an issue out of it. Showed his ignorance.

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