Where'd the bailout money go? Shhhh, it's a secret
It would be kinda nice to know where that money disappeared to, but most of the banks the AP were obtuse or generally broad and vague with their responses. I guess that's what we get for not imposing any standards for the obnoxiously large sums of money they received from the government; to expect ethics from corporations is a fallacy to begin with anyway. Corporations aren't people; they don't hang out in the same playground of ethics and morals that people do.
I wouldn't be terribly surprised to find that a large batch of reconstruction and renovation projects have started in the last month or so on bank CEOs' and high-level executives' second and third homes. Maybe a new toy or two on the garage?
(Later that morning....)
AP study finds $1.6B went to bailed-out bank execs
12.22.2008
12.20.2008
Vroom
Will the auto bailout work?
Most of the talk about the bailout so far have been about what the union and the car companies' management need to concede, but I haven't heard any talk about what new cars they'll release to meet consumer demand, how they plan to adjust to changing consumer interests today and in the future, and how they'll adjust their processes to account for 21st century manufacturing.
The car companies didn't just get into this situation overnight. It's been decades of reacting slowly after the fact to consumer interests, being tone deaf to the market, executing poor brand management, engaging in monumentally stupid deals (Fiat??), releasing cars that no one wants, producing cars up to manufacturing capacity even though the demand isn't there. I could go on...
I understand the economic disaster that could unfurl if one or more of the Big 3 fail, and that's pretty much the only reason that I agree with propping the companies up with loans. However, no one ever said they were entitled to do business. Management over the years and the UAW negotiated themselves into obsolescence. Decades of not paying attention to the market has caught up to them, basically.
I can't believe how GM has squandered away all the cool brands they worked to develop between the 40s and 60s. They brought the Corvette to the market...damn! Where and when did they go so totally off track?
GM: sell Saab for cash (maybe to Porsche?!)? Consolidate into GMC, Chevrolet, Buick or Pontiac, Cadillac?
Chrysler...hmmm. Keep Jeep, and consolidate the other brands into one?
Ford: I'll consider the Fiesta when it comes to the market. They can import into the US a whole bunch of the neat cars they already make in Europe. They seem to be on top of things.
Most of the talk about the bailout so far have been about what the union and the car companies' management need to concede, but I haven't heard any talk about what new cars they'll release to meet consumer demand, how they plan to adjust to changing consumer interests today and in the future, and how they'll adjust their processes to account for 21st century manufacturing.
The car companies didn't just get into this situation overnight. It's been decades of reacting slowly after the fact to consumer interests, being tone deaf to the market, executing poor brand management, engaging in monumentally stupid deals (Fiat??), releasing cars that no one wants, producing cars up to manufacturing capacity even though the demand isn't there. I could go on...
I understand the economic disaster that could unfurl if one or more of the Big 3 fail, and that's pretty much the only reason that I agree with propping the companies up with loans. However, no one ever said they were entitled to do business. Management over the years and the UAW negotiated themselves into obsolescence. Decades of not paying attention to the market has caught up to them, basically.
I can't believe how GM has squandered away all the cool brands they worked to develop between the 40s and 60s. They brought the Corvette to the market...damn! Where and when did they go so totally off track?
GM: sell Saab for cash (maybe to Porsche?!)? Consolidate into GMC, Chevrolet, Buick or Pontiac, Cadillac?
Chrysler...hmmm. Keep Jeep, and consolidate the other brands into one?
Ford: I'll consider the Fiesta when it comes to the market. They can import into the US a whole bunch of the neat cars they already make in Europe. They seem to be on top of things.
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